Louis' Look (08-04-2020)

Passion is what sets you apart. I know this sounds cliche, but it resonates with me, and here’s why. 

When I talk to my friends about charts, they yawn. And I don’t blame them. They’ve been discouraged from markets by teachers and financial personalities with no enthusiasm for the topic. Even my university lecturers, people who have committed their lives to this stuff, seem a bit uninterested. 

Meanwhile, I’ll see the guys here online at ridiculous hours of the night pouring over charts - it’s their passion, and that passion translates into their content. I learned more in the new Charting School from JC’s excitement alone than an entire semester of university listening to monotone lecturers. 

Passion matters.

In life, you always need to look at what’s in front of you rather than worry about the past or the future. It’s one of many ingredients to a happy life. Trading and finance are no different.

Though I’ve always known the guys here to value the data above all else in their process, that concept has been further reinforced in my first weeks. While most financial firms may take pride in the percentage of calls they get right, the guys here pride themselves on their adaptability. In other words, if the data changes or conflicts their prior views, they simply adjust accordingly and move forward.

I think that virtue stems from the sheer number of charts these guys go through - it’s hard not to see what’s staring you in the face when you go through thousands of charts every week.

Focus on being adaptable rather than being right.

Now if you’re a big reader of the content here, you’ll always hear JC ranting about two characteristics, “relative strength and momentum”. And that makes sense. You need to be in positions that are outperforming the alternatives and they need to be moving, now.

A month back, I made an effort and dug into Healthcare following this chart I posted on Twitter.

Click on the chart to enlarge view.

Despite Technology and all the other Tech industry groups showing momentum and relative strength, I was focusing on boring, old Healthcare. Don’t get me wrong, maybe Healthcare stocks are resuming former strength but who cares? The entire space is still underperforming its alternatives and a lot of names in the sector are yet to reclaim the February highs. Do your digging once the sector breaks out and starts exhibiting momentum and relative strength, not the other way around.

But all in all, if my first weeks at All Star Charts have taught me anything, it’s that I’ve still got a lot to learn and I can’t wait to learn it from these guys.

Thanks for reading, and I encourage you to share with me all the cool stuff you’ve learned this week too. Shoot me an e-mail at louis@allstarcharts.com

Louis