In a practical investment world, sometimes a stock with strong business may stay undervalue for many years, while another stock with little fundamental but exciting rumors or corporate news, could double in share prices over a few days.
For high probability stock investing, a smart investor or trader would align the decisions (Buy, Hold, Sell, Wait, Shorting) with 3 key buyers in stocks: investor, traders and speculators.
1) Investors (Smart Money)
Smart investors, regardless big funds or retail investors, usually apply Fundamental Analysis to select stocks with strong business (eg. company with wide economic moats with strong and consistent growth in earning, assets, cashflow, dividend, etc), then wait patiently for a reasonable market correction to buy low. Patience is required for this strategy alone. Diversification over a portfolio of stocks is another strategy. Within a short term (weeks) or medium term (months), a strong fundamental stock price may not move up but over a longer term (years), it is more predictable, especially when entry is based on reasonable low price below the value (many types of valuation models are available), protected by a portfolio of stocks, not just 1 stock.
Many investors who have holding power, even buy a stock at sky high price, could still be a winner eventually because the investment is protected by a strong business, time will shows its true strength.
2) Traders (Mass Market)
Smart traders, either professional or amateur, learning to follow the stream of stock prices to move up or down, not only knowing the entry or exit, also know when to cut loss when the market is going against the original setup. Strong emotional control is required within the timeframe of trading (eg. days, weeks, months) to manage the expected gains and potential risks, surrounded by daily market noises (rumors and news). Successful traders also apply position sizing to reduce risk with smaller size, increase potential gain with larger capital when trend is aligned with initial setup.
A smart investor who could integrate trend-following trading into investing, the entry and exit will be smoother, having the best of 2 worlds (fundamental and technical). The probability of success would be higher with leveraging in both investing and trading strategies which form the backbone of stock market.
3) Speculators (Losers / Inconsistent Winners)
We should not be a speculator (eg. follow rumor to buy a stock based on “insider news” with 100% life saving) in stocks but we do need their help to push up the price. A speculator may not be a loser all the time, sometimes they could make some quick money as well but they are inconsistent winner, the actions are similar to gambling because a speculator could throw all the capital with past profits into the next speculative stock without any risk management, potentially could lose everything, similar to a gambler who stay in casino for long term.
A smart investor not only leverages on traders for entry/exit but also making use of speculators to maximize the return with speculation in stock prices, integrating all 3 key buyers in stocks. For example, an investor or trader may sell high to speculators but trend has started to turn bearish with declining volume at peak prices. In fact, speculation is a key contributor to form low optimism (<25% in a bearish market or stock) and high optimism (>75% in a bullish market or stock). For example, China stock market is relatively more volatile and speculative than other global stock markets, therefore even a strong fundamental stock (eg. national banks) could be speculated with cyclic stock prices. At the same time, when a rumor with negative news comes, a stock price could surge 2 times or drop to less than half of the prices within 1 day.
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Integration of Investing, Trading & Speculating
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To maximize the return in a stock with consideration of safety, one may integrate all the 3 key forces in stocks
Investors could help to support a share prices 10% yearly in a gradual way (buy low & hold) while traders could push up another 50% in a few months (Buy High Sell Higher) but speculators could help to multiply any share price (including Bitcoin) by a few times within a few weeks (Buy High & Hope).
When DBS (SGX: D05) or Venture (SGX: V03) was less than $15/share, investors start to Buy & Hold. Traders would consider to buy the same 2 stocks, riding the uptrends from $15 to $30/share with support of bullish stock market (STI) last year. Speculators who collected some tips from free investment seminars or listen to some rumors, also start to enter these stocks from more than $25/share, making peanut return of 10%, when trend is reversed since early 2018, still hold on to the same stocks with falling knifes in prices based on “investing” mindset (enter as a trader for small profit, exit as a long term investor to keep paper loss). In fact, a smart investor and trader, regardless buying at less than $15/share with undervalue price or following from $15 to $25/share with uptrend momentum, they could leverage on speculators to sell high after confirmation of ending in momentum after falling down more than 10-20% from the peak prices.
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