Page 27 - THE MARKET WHISPERER

26 Introduction

found in any dictionary. “The stock exchange is a gambling club in which
the house members (pros, institutional traders, the State) take advantage
of the public’s greed in order to profit from their mistakes.”

Yes, I said “take advantage,” no less! Words such as equities, stocks,
bonds, options, and futures hide a far greater truth known to the
professional players in the capital market: “Profit at the public’s expense.”
Call it “commissions,” or “management fees.” Call it “capital gains tax” or
whatever you will. Once the professionals and the country have stripped
you of these, you’re left with no money. Instead, they’ve scooped it
up. To the professionals’ amazement and sheer joy, this truth remains
concealed from the biggest player of all in the stock exchange: the public.
I have frequently said this, and will repeat it once more: if you’re not a
professional, do not go anywhere near the stock exchange. The more
I say it, the more people think I’m just crazy. Conclusion: if the public’s
compulsion to gamble cannot be suppressed, there is only one thing left to
do: profit from its money.

Who Knows How the Market Will Move?

The person able to constantly, correctly foresee how the market will develop,
or how a particular stock will move, has yet to be born. Nonetheless, there
exists a multitude of analysts and fund managers who claim otherwise,
attempting to justify an investment with academic intellectualism, and
thus preserve their source of income.

The well-oiled academic system and stock market requires self-
nurturing, justifying its “raison d’etre.” I have no reason to be angry with
the system, because it’s impossible to fight human nature. It is quite
reasonable that those involved would want to justify their knowledge, and
preserve their incomes. Most mature and smart folks in the stock market
would privately agree with methat in actuality they know nothing at all
of the future. But they would never admit as much in public, as a public
admission is tantamount to announcing the failure of the entire enterprise.
They are comfortable with cooperating with the system and continuing
to assure the public by offering empty promises, which they hope will be
realized with a good bit of luck.

Trying to predict the future can be compared to traveling in a fog. At a
distance the fog looks thick, but seems to thin out as it gets closer. So it is
with the capital market. The shorter we make the prediction framework,
the clearer things become, even if there is still a degree of fog preventing
us from seeing things perfectly. If I ask you where you will be in exactly