Trading journal

A friend was talking to me about Bloomberg Terminals.

I found this article.

Then I came across this thread.

I think the Bloomberg terminals look cool.

But, after all the books I’ve read, I’ve learned that more information doesn’t necessarily make you a better trader.

We’ve all heard that 90% of traders lose money. Sure, that number is debateable, but it would still be rather high. So, if there are more books, indicators, and news sources available than ever before, then that number should be going down.

Apparently, that’s not the case. I mean, look at this guy!

What the hell is he doing? Maybe I’m being naive. You know, I probably am. I imagine that tons of institutions have Bloomberg terminals. Like it’s an industry standard. You must be a serious fundamental trader to need all this information.

This certainly does NOT fit my style of trading. Then again, I’m not a trader at a hedge fund or bank. I have no idea what goes on within those walls. But, I’ve learned that just because something is normal/common, that doesn’t mean it’s good.

And if everyone is doing something that is not healthy/constructive, that doesn’t mean I should do it. It’s possible for everyone to be wrong. Just look at the housing market crash and that whole story about the mortgage bond market. Lots of banks were recording tremendous profits in their books while they were actually losing money.

Think about when traders are on the floor, yelling, buying, selling, just because the next guy has a hunch. Do you think those guys are making better decisions because they have more screens and more data?

At what point does it start to become nonsense? We think something is professional because someone in a suit said so. We admire it. We respect it. We pedestalize it.

I understand how some people who trade H4 or H1 could have multiple screens. You get tired of switching between M1, W1, D1, etc. Just have a dedicated screen for each one. I get it.

But $30k/yr for a Bloomberg terminal? How much news could you possibly be getting to justify that? Where could that news possibly be coming from? How much faster do you think you’re getting it than everyone else? What data could possibly be worth that much?

Or is it about the convenience of all that news in one place, from one source? So basically, you subscribe to a monopolized news source? Sure, it’s supposed to be more transparent, but if one company feeds all your news, that sounds like a monopoly to me.

What do I know? There’s a possibility that all the pros use this, and it makes a huge difference. But there could also be a possibility that they use it because they think they’re supposed to.

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