Over the past several years, I have heard the usual tag attached to me: "The Big Bear".
Of course, like in most things in this world, this monicker is neither accurate nor particularly sensible.
It represents an under-analysed and oversimplified perspective, based largely on two seminal events of the past 20 years.
First: The massive meltdown in Year 2000, of tech stocks in India and worldwide.
Second: The sub-prime precipitated global bear market of 2008.
In both cases, I was probably the only one in India, to get the two bear markets right.
And thus, the term "Great Bear" was born.
But let's analyse this a bit.
What's a bull?
Somebody who is an eternal optimist, and believes all market dislocations are temporary, and will correct themselves. This may appear to be a sensible perspective too, if one goes by what's generally accepted. Warren Buffet can qualify as that.
But remember, if you were a Japanese investor in 1989, believing in this theory, where would you have been 30 years on.
Or, of course, a tech investor in 2000.
What's a bear?
This is tricky. Usually a bear, in a developed market sense, is a person who analyses company financials with the aim to uncover fraud. Jim Chanos, David Einhorn, Muddy Waters come to mind.
Or a Macro trader like John Paulson who have bet on something falling (eg, sub-prime assets).
Now, here's the thing.
When I analyse my 30 years of investing, trading, analysing career, I find I have been bullish and bearish both.
Here is a quick list of the major ones:
So what does the above look like?
You guessed it!
It looks like a Hare.
It has both entry trades. And exit trades.
Often in the same asset class!
A hare is a quick animal.
It can run fast in a direction.
And then, it can stop and go right back in the opposite direction.
It is flexible.
It doesn't indulge in unnecessary, mindless activity (many bulls do that!). But when it does, it's lightning quick and thoroughly decisive.
It has no fixed pattern to its movement. Unlike bears and bulls, who can become very predictable.
A hare is nimble.
In fact, a hare has very, very low fat. Under 10%. A hare is all muscle and sinew.
Unlike bulls and bears, both of which are lumbering, clumsy animals, incapable of great dexterity. Their body fat % generally lies between 25-40%!
A Hare has something called "panoramic vision", allowing it to see in all directions - an amazing near 360° vision.
That means, unlike humans, it can see on the sides, even what's behind it.
So opportunities and dangers both become very quickly apparent.
On the other hand, a bull is generally color blind. And a bear has quite poor vision.
The animal that I relate to most, in life and in investing, is therefore, a Hare.
This permeates our entire approach to Investing, at First Global.
We are always alert. Always scanning.
Always in a state of relaxed alertness. Think Bruce Lee: A Perfect Hare, no?
To be able grab an opportunity or run away from danger.
We have no fixed directional biases. Just like a Hare.
We can play an aggressive game when the situation warrants.
We can drop anchor and play defense in troublesome situations.
We don't get over-committed to any shot or strategy.
We will pivot.
Which is why we exited our most profitable investments of 2019 (Tech, Russia, Brazil) in a day, in early February, 2020.
Before the meltdown.
We had no emotions invested in these trades.
Just money.
The whole objective in investing is to Be One Step Ahead.
That's our philosophy at First Global.
And that's also the philosophy of the Hare.
So don't be Bullish.
Don't be Bearish.
Be Hare-ish
Warmest Regards,
Shankar Sharma
Want to open your trading account? Email us on [email protected] and we will get you started super fast!!
Economists Think Dollar's Fall May Explain the Recent ‘Rally’ by Steve Liesman
Einstein taught us about relativity in nature. Now come Devina Mehra and Shankar Sharma of First Global to teach us about relativity in financial markets -- and raise some serious questions about just what is driving stock prices.
First Global reports are quite credible and, on occasion, more than that.
What prompts this mention is Intel's earnings report and the fact that First Global has had a pretty good bead on the company and its stock.
AMD up again following First Global upgrade to ‘buy’ (AMD) By Tomi Kilgore
Analyst Kuldeep Koul at First Global upgraded Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to "buy" from "outperform," given the "exceptional traction" that the chipmaker's Opteron line of processors has been able to get.
Baidu Climbs on First Global’s ‘Outperform’ Outlook
Baidu Inc., the operator of China’s most-used Internet search engine, rose to the highest price in two weeks after First Global rated the shares “outperform? in new coverage.
Personality counts: Walmart's frugal, but Target charms
"It's better to take a slight hit on [profit] margins and keep on moving and inventing," says First Global Securities. And at least for now, Target is inventing in a way that appeals to consumers with money to spend.
Dead Batteries
At 11 times trailing earnings, Energizer is cheaper; Gillette's multiple is 25. But cheaper doesn't mean better, says First Global.
Bipinchandra Dugam @bipinchandra90
@devinamehra @firtglobalsec
invested in both GFF-GTS and Super I50. Thank you very much for such wonderful investing experience with completely new approach. In my 15years of investing first product I felt which close to what customer want.
Shishir Kapadia @shishirkapadia1
@firstglobalsec @devinamehra
by far you are the best, I have not come across transparency, acumen, global expertise, exposure, protection of capital, delivering return from any fund/ fund managers. Invested very small size in 3 products will keep on increasing it over the period
Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved. Developed By : Hvantage Technologies Inc. Maintain By : Aarav Infotech
