Learning the weird rudiments of high finance for ‘Totally Wired’ is one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. Now I’m trying to deepen my knowledge by taking a course in market trading – though whether I’ll ever use it remains to be seen. What I can confirm is that the more general impressions I formed while researching hold good, especially in relation to the role of the ‘retail’ – ordinary - investor over here with my new pals on the dark side.
After finishing ‘Wired’, I half-imagined that I might do a book about trying to become an investor for a year. But the more I learnt, the more I came to wonder how I could ever hope to compete with the pros, who had an inside track on data and a network of contacts with shared interests. The very notion of ‘insider trading’ came to look ridiculous. Of course insiders would nod and wink when things were about the happen. How could they not? Which begged the further question of how I could ever be anything other than a patsy in this environment? Because by the time information reached me, insiders would have taken their positions, like mantises on a twig, waiting for me to amble past munching crisps and wondering what a ‘put’ is?
So I was curious to see how my clever, honest and decent tutors could hope to transcend this problem. And no more than a couple of classes in, Eureka! – the answer. How had I been so stupid? The pro investors weren’t going to teach that. Their stern instructions were to forget about the insiders, the pros and MarketMakers who could jump a stock or commodity in a nanosecond. What they are teaching me to do is ‘target’ the dumb rump of my brother and sister retail investors, who are essentially there to provide capital for the pros. And now, of course, me. Because the fresh money has to come from somewhere, right? So why not you?