Life Learnings from Stocks

I’ve been trading stocks using technical analysis since January 2024 and although I’ve been too young to open an account and trade with real cash, the practice has given me plenty of insights into how the world works.

I don’t know what comes to mind first when we talk about “technical analysis,” but I hope it’s not some occult knowledge, nor something reserved for geniuses.

The truth is, it can be learnt by anyone.

Technical analysis is the study of patterns in market data to forecast future movements. We chartists usually do this by looking at candlestick charts.

To most people, these charts must look like a grassy mountain range covered in blood…

However, upon further study, you can notice patterns in the chaos.

By connecting one peak to another peak and extending the line, we can—almost unbelievably—line up several peaks and troughs together!

Patterns in the charts hint at how the world itself works. As you study more and more charts, one pattern appears again and again: the bull flag.

This pattern is characterised by price shooting up and consolidating sideways for a period of time before shooting up again.

If it’s fancy finding this in the charts, then identifying it in real-life is sumptuous.

A bull flag, in essence, is a period of rest after a period of progress. It applies to sports, academics, economics, psychology, etc. Quite literally everything.

For example, when I learn a new subject, I experience days where mystical energy galvanizes me to charge through the challenge. All the same, there are days when I feel like I’ve forgotten everything and I wonder whether I’m not, in fact, made for this venture.

However, I take solace in the fact that it’s normal to have a small amount of regression as long as it's outplayed by progression. It’s normal to cycle between feeling good and feeling bad. It’s normal to swing from peak to trough, peak to trough.

What I’ve taken from the metaphor of the bull flag is this: the world oscillates between lows and highs, and that only when you step back and see the big picture can you notice the trend. It’s given me wider horizons and greater peace in times of uncertainty.

There’s so much more to learn from technical analysis and I hope that your eyes will start to open to the secrets hidden inside of the red and green.