From the Market Misbehavior mailbag: “What predictive power does technical analysis really have?  Sometimes the signals are just plain wrong.” The short answer is that nothing’s perfect, there is no holy grail, and yet I’ve still found technical analysis to be an important piece to a holistic investment process.
Here’s the long answer…

I’ve launched a new Market Misbehavior channel on YouTube, with the goal is providing short-form educational commentary exploring the relationship between behavioral psychology and the financial markets.

I started a mindfulness routine a couple years ago, during a particularly stressful period in my life.  A daily meditation practice was a life changer for me, bringing a new sense of awareness and calmness to how I approach everything from work to food to my family. As with pretty much anything in life, I would often relate what I was learning through meditation back to my professional efforts.  How could the lessons of mindfulness be applied to the investment process?

From the Market Misbehavior mailbag: “Dave, how do you think about candles?  Specifically, weekly and monthly vs. daily candles?  What if the signals conflict?” That’s a great question and the short answer is I pay attention to weekly and daily candles because I feel they are good representation of investor behavior during a well-defined period of time. The somewhat longer answer is as follows…

The market will move up.
The market will move down.
I will think the market’s going to go up, and it will actually go down.
I will think the market’s going to go down, and it will actually go up.
I will think the market will go up or down, and it will actually go sideways.  Frustrating.

January 6, 2019 marked the two-year anniversary of Market Misbehavior. My goal with the blog was to help myself find a voice during a time of personal and professional transition. Getting my thoughts out there helped me gain the confidence to write for other websites and later to launch an independent research firm, Sierra Alpha Research.

I love to read. My goal is to read every day. For hours and hours. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have told me that taking the time to read and think is one of the key roles of the CEO. Yet despite my lofty goal of a daily reading binge, I find that I rarely, if ever, meet that goal.

What a bittersweet pleasure this week to watch the tributes to late President George H. W. Bush. From Bob Dole standing to salute his fellow statesman, to President George W. Bush breaking down as he gave the eulogy at the National Cathedral, there were so many meaningful moments.

This post has nothing really to do with food, except my Uber driver this morning was from Brazil. He was telling me all about Brazilian delicacies such as coxinha and pao de queijo and by the time we arrived at the hotel I was pretty much starving. But three quick market/behavioral observations to share with you on a Wednesday…

I’m traveling back home to Cleveland today after a ten-day trip to Asia.  This was my first time to Kuala Lumpur, where I spoke at the IFTA Annual Conference.  This has become one of my favorite annual events as it rotates to a different country every year and gives you a chance to learn about the people and their culture.