I have 0 followers and follow the trends. Are you a trend?

I am following Seeking Alpha just to understand how people are investing and how they build an argument about investing. You have to understand not only the argument but also the position of the author: does she buy the stock, does she have skin in the game or is just a concerted effort to push stocks and create momentum. Keep in mind that transactions happening in seconds based on the arbitrage positions discovered by complex algorithms are the norm in hedge funds.

"Many, sadly, fit the description of the American adage (often attributed to Mark Twain) that a mine is a hole in the ground with a liar at the top."

I have the same impression about some of the websites pretending they know what are doing. I remember it dearly because although I canceled the notifications for certain web sites promoting their investing letters, it was impossible to stop the flow of offers. That's a sign of very compelling investment ideas...

Following the great investors (Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, George Soros, Jim Rogers, etc...) will reveal luck and preparation but mostly is about (un)crowded financial space. How many funds were in 70s or 80s compared with 2000-2005? What bubbles you heard of in 80s and 70s? Real-estate ? Oil ? Commodities?

Stepping back and looking at the bubbles, it's all about crowds. People rushing to put money in sectors, ideas, vaporware engineering. A lot of people. Have you heard of important deals closed by Soros or Rogers lately? The industry has changed and people stayed closed to their style which is not in sync with technologies, quantitative theories.

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