How Does Algorithmic Trading Affect Your Investments?

By www.ForexConspiracyReport.com
How Does Algorithmic Trading
Affect Your Investments?

http://profitableinvestingtips.com/profitable-investing-tips/how-does-algorithmic-trading-affect-your-
investments
The US stock market just experienced
one of its more impressive down days
ever, with the S&P 500 losing 783
points out of 27,782.

investments
This was not the worst percentage
drop ever but it vied for the most
points of the S&P 500 lost in one day.

investments
There are lots of valid concerns about
the longevity of the current bull market
such as an uncertain trade war, rising
interest rates, and tepid earnings.

investments
However, much of the blame for the
one-day drop in the market is being
placed on trading algorithms that
control roughly 80% of daily stock
trading.

investments
That being the case, how does
algorithmic trading affect your
investments?

investments
Algorithmic Trading

investments
CNBC writes about machines that
control 80% of the US stock market.

investments
“Eighty percent of daily volume in the
U.S. is done by machines, so what
you get is a lack of focus on earnings,
a lack of focus on outlooks and you
just get short-term movements based
on very specific data that is released
every day and that creates noise,” Guy
De Blonay, fund manager at Jupiter
Asset Management, told CNBC’s
“Squawk Box Europe.”

investments
The daily volume of algo trading can
change according to volatility.

investments
But over the last few years its impact
has become more visible.

investments
In 2017, J.P. Morgan said that
“fundamental discretionary traders”
accounted for only 10 percent of
trading volume in stocks.

investments
This is when traders look at
companies’ performance and outlook
before deciding whether to buy or sell
the shares.

investments
This is the shape of the modern stock-
investing world.

investments
So, you cannot change it but you can
invest in such a way that algorithmic
trading does not hurt your investments
or even helps them!

investments
Yesterday’s S&P 500 freefall was 782
points out of 27,782.

investments
That is a 2.8% decrease in value
across the S&P 500.

investments
But, going back to 1929 there have
been twenty days with larger
percentage losses, including October
19, 1987, with a 22.61% loss in the
Dow Jones Industrial Average.

investments
Although there were typically good
reasons for many of the down days of
the Dow or S&P 500, the immediate
market movements in recent times
often came from computer programs
that were designed to sniff out early
cues and make trades before the
market fell.

investments
And, as more programs sold, the other
programs followed suit, and in a
matter of hours, minutes, and even
seconds, the market fell more than the
fundamental or intrinsic value of any
of these stocks would have predicted.

investments
How does algorithmic trading affect
your investments in these cases?

investments
It depends on how you react to the
market changes.

investments
Using Intrinsic Value as an
Investment Guide

investments
On this site we so often write about
the use of intrinsic stock value as a
guide to long term investing.

investments
How does that advice square with the
seeming control of the stock market by
machines that make 80% of daily
trades?

investments
First of all, consider what CNBC writes
about intrinsic stock value and how
Warren Buffett uses it to choose
investments.

investments
Buffett’s long-term associate and the
Vice-Chairman of Berkshire-Hathaway
is Charlie Munger.

investments
He discussed how hard it can be to
put the intrinsic value approach into
practice and how exceedingly
selective they are in making their
choices.

investments
Munger went on to deflate the hopes
of any investor who is confident
enough to think they have valuation
mastered.

investments
When it comes to valuation of
companies, even he and Buffett draw
a blank most of the time.

investments
“We throw almost all decisions into the
too hard pile, and we just sift for a few
decisions that we can make that are
easy.

investments
And that’s a comparative process. And
if you’re looking for an ability to
correctly value all investments at all
times, we can’t help you.”

investments
In short, much of the success of
Berkshire-Hathaway comes from
avoiding the vast majority of
investments as “too difficult to call”
and directing their attention to those
investments where determining future
cash flow is easier.

investments
This approach has proven successful
in their hands and is the “gold
standard” for how the intrinsic value
approach should work.

investments
Long-term Versus Short-
term Investing

investments
If you are going to compete with the
trading algorithms that control most of
the daily stock trading volume, you
need to be very good and insightful or
just plain lucky.

investments
On the short term basis, these
programs are faster than you will ever
be.

investments
However, they really do follow a herd
mentality in both US and global
investing.

investments
As such, there is always the possibility
of picking up bargains the day after
the algorithms take the market down.

investments
In fact, we often see an up day in the
market immediately after a significant
market downturn.

investments
But, this approach means that you are
always second guessing a bunch of
computer trading programs and how
they analyze stocks instead of
analyzing the stocks yourself.

investments
Buffett and Munger and many others
have proven that a patiently-applied
intrinsic value approach makes money
over the long term.

investments
S&P 500 Dec 4 2018

investments
This certainly looks like, and is, a
significant price decline in one day.

investments
However, what if we look at the last
twelve months?

investments
S&P 500 Dec 4 2018 Last Twelve Months

investments
Now we can see that in the last year
the S&P 500 is up about 70 points,
after flirting with a much higher range
before correcting.

investments
But, if we look at picking an
investment to hold for five years, as
we did recently, here is the S&P 500
going back to December of 2013.

investments
SP 500 Dec 4 2018 Last 5 Years

investments
Here we see that the S&P 500 has
increased four-fold since five years
ago despite a fair amount of up and
down volatility.

investments
Anyone who was a passive
investor and just put his or her money
in an ETF that tracked the S&P 500
over this time would have done well
and not experienced any pain from
fighting the trading algorithms that
control Wall Street daily trading.

investments
In fact, one could have routinely
bought the day after an algorithm-
driven downturn and picked up
bargains along the way.

investments
How Does Algorithmic
Trading Affect Your
Investments?

investments
The “bottom line” is that day trading
and short-term stock picking are
different games than long term value
investing.

investments
The other “bottom line” is that when
investing for the long term is it wise to
limit yourself to stocks and other
investments where you understand the
business plan and where you can be
assured that the investment will
generate reliable returns year after
year.

investments
This is why a stock like Coca Cola is
always a favorite of investors like
Buffett and why many long-investors
avoid tech stocks because of the risk
of a new invention making a current
technology obsolete and reducing a
tech all-star to a penny stock in a
matter of months.

How Does Algorithmic Trading Affect Your Investments?

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

More from InvestingTips

More from InvestingTips (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

How Does Algorithmic Trading Affect Your Investments?