@adam-l I mean maybe, right? It’s a new paradigm so who knows what it will actually look like.

There’s more to, I assume, Russia’s isolation than their expansionism. For a start, the EU and member states almost committed suicide virtue signalling against Russia with the sanctions on Russian oil. The liberal hegemony of the EU has been so complacent over these decades that it hasn’t thought to buttress its position against aberrant behaviour from more powerful entities like the USA.

In short, Trump is calling it out. What the hell are you going to do about it? The EU can’t survive enforcing sanctions on the US, they didn’t prepare for it, like they didn’t prepare for Russian expansion.

Despite this reality, the EU still aren’t signalling a kind of unity or preparation. They’re absent, high on their own supply. In a pragmatic universe, that’s the definition of an unreliable partner. So “we” either shake of the malaise and face the reality of the situation, or we get consigned to the history books.

I know which I’d rather.

@deeplydisturbed Do you think there is a formula? I know there are a lot of formulae out there but soon enough everyone else has them and the bots are happily using them all over. I don't think formulae work well in market re-sets. A market re-set comes when hope, enthusiasm and greed have over run. Then communal fear snaps the market back. The big falls are usually emotional. People suddenly realise value has been exceeded by price and they bail out. The formulae that made the market rise suddenly don't work as people trade on fear not reason.

Guys who short falling markets trade on and add to the fear. I think they are actually reading emotion as well as value. They usually love to boast how they bought it all back cheap next week. They didn't actually think the stock was worthless, they just used the fear to put frightened people's money into their pockets.

I am sure there are ways people check for a strong down trend and check it is because of over valuing to start but then I think you have to go with "feels" (other people's). A lot of people having a justified fear at the same time usually produces hysteria -an irrational and over blown fear.

A very simple method of using other people's rational fear (and yes its too simple for the big guys but it still does work) is to think "where have most people set their stop losses?" People like round numbers. It depends on the stock or commodity but (talking about something I used to know about) gold is usually set by a lot of people at crossing the 200 day moving average. When the falling price breaches that lagging line there will suddenly be a heap of automatic sales. A wise man takes out a short contract when a strong trend approaches that line.

@deeplydisturbed it is true I didn't give any direct answer. I assumed that with all likelihood you already know the answer.

There is no reliable way to say are the people that claim to be so goooood [so called grifters] aren't just pile of shit-talkers.

In your list you have missed

• market manipulation with huge pile of money - prominently didn't work in case of GameStop

• providing some information that is false, the opposite from the insider

The main "fake news" about free insulin involves a viral 2022 fake tweet from an impersonator of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, falsely announcing insulin was free, causing stock drops and confusion;

One I use is learning the stock. I have chosen speculation stock because you need some sharp drops and rises on company that is legit.

There was this dude that APPARENTLY have leant to use QQQ stock and made his fortine on it.

One of the strategies would be to have hacker insider and know when they.him attack several platforms - real important accounts- with fake news to load the shares right after the drop.

@deeplydisturbed presumably its highly leveraged and that is where you get the huge percentage returns. Spot a strong down trend backed by market fundamentals early and buy highly leveraged contracts to short the market. This works very well in commodities and would work with options in stocks but is very dangerous if you mess up on the trend.

If you get it right it is a self feeding effect all the way down. The bigger you are the better the self feeding effect as people crap themselves with your short sales. JP Morgan in silver is a great example of how to do it over the years. All the small investors pay for JP Morgan's occasional pay day. Right now I think anyone buying silver is going to do this. (I sold half my holding the other day which means what is left is paid for out of profits from the half sold. I won't buy till they have rinsed the market again but I still hope to sell the other half for more, if not its still free silver).