The current financial news cycle is dense, with a range of policy and international developments unfolding simultaneously. These moments naturally attract attention. Even for those trained to analyze information rather than react to it, the volume of competing narratives can be difficult to ignore. That tendency is not a flaw. It reflects how humans process […]

Seasonal patterns are useful only when they provide context. Once the window closes, the focus shifts away from the narrative and toward what the market actually delivered. That is where clarity begins. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Santa Claus Rally and its place in market history. Now that the seasonal window […]

One of the most persistent questions facing investors today is whether the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence resembles the technology bubble of the late 1990s. The comparison is understandable. A transformative technology is reshaping business models, capital has concentrated in a relatively small group of companies, and market leadership has narrowed in ways that feel familiar […]

Christmas carols like “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” are still in the air—and hanging over Wall Street. This is the time of year for the widely anticipated Santa Claus rally. One popular explanation for this market phenomenon is captured in the saying, “If Santa Claus should fail to call, bears may come to Broad […]

Clarity is the most sought-after commodity in the market, and also the rarest. Traders spend extraordinary amounts of time trying to predict what comes next—what the Federal Reserve will say, which sector will rotate, which headline will matter. Yet after fifteen years of analyzing volatility and even more time spent studying uncertainty in intelligence work, […]

I was recently asked a thoughtful question about whether a stock that is strongly tied to a commodity or sector can still be traded safely when using a volatility-based system. The question stuck with me because it gets to the heart of why our approach works in the first place. The concern was simple: If […]

I read constantly, especially before the market opens. My morning routine sends me down plenty of unexpected paths, and recently I was reading about how systems respond to stress. No matter where you look, the same pattern appears. Stress builds, peaks, and then fades. Nothing stays stretched forever. Markets behave the same way. Whenever fear […]

People who have followed my work for some time know about Hetty Green. She was one of the greatest traders of the early twentieth century and, in my opinion, one of the most misunderstood figures in American financial history. If you have heard of her, you may recall her nickname, the Witch of Wall Street. […]