Trading and Ethics

[trendie]

Given the tragic events of today, what are traders views on the ethics of trading today, or over the next few days ?

These events have happened on "home soil", so perhaps, we in the UK, feel more affected.

Would you still trade, and make profits, by assessing which stocks are "cheap", buying/selling currencies, such as Swiss, or buying gold, etc.

Bear in mind that traders are hedged oil, traded futures to profit from outcome of Iraq invasion, by shorting Dow, etc.

Is it easier to profit from tragedy, as long as the blood is being spilled "far away" ?

Will you still trade? If so, will you keep the profits ?

Or do you shut out the news, and still trade the "price", irrespective how/why it moved ?

 

[barjon]

each to his own conscience, trendie

i was very deep under water earlier but it didn't seem important.

jon

 

[charliechan]

yes - buy the dip.

the underlying value remains unchanged. the lower prices caused by a panic sell off represent bargains as the assets real value will not have changed in many circumstances.

if ethics worry you, then remind yourself that you are helping to restore the value to someones pension fund or something.

while on the subject of ethics, people may want to avoid purchasing stocks of caterpillar in the usa. they have signed numerous deals with israel and are the bulldozers of choice when demolishing innocent palestinian settlements.

sorry to go off on a tangent.

 

[sulong]

Personly I don't think "ethics" has anything to do with it.
If "tragedy" happens and your emotional level rises to a point where you are working from the hart and not the brain, then you need to stand aside until your hart gets healed and your brain takes over again.

 

[frugi]

Trading does not increase the misfortune of people directly affected by tragic world events so I think it is not immoral to try and remain detached and carry on as usual.
it is simply part of our job to react to news, good and bad and I have no ethical problem with trading on days like this. Perhaps you could call it a position of amorality: though obviously personally affected by events such as this morning's, professionally I must try to remain unaffected.
I certainly haven't particularly enjoyed trading today, although it has been profitable.
I hope this doesn't sound callous.

 

[turtle trader]

One of the main aims that these people have is to disrupt our way of life. In this respect at least, we should carry on as normally as possible. (It's worth considering though, that the markets may not behave normally, so the way we usually trade them might not work as expected)

Simon

 

[manchester84]

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If You Read This Do Not Trade With Them They Will Take All Your Money And Give You Nothing In Return

They Are Not Associated With Any Exchange They Simply Tamper With Your Positions To Solely Get Your Money

If You Invest Money With Gci I Strongly Advise You Not To It May Look Like Good Margin Rates But They Are Not Authorised To Deal In Forex Or Equities

Also They Were Revoked Their Trading Licence From The S.e.c. In The Usa For Illegal Trading Practices

Take Heed Of My Warning And Pass It On

 

[danfreek]

I won't be trading until the markets return to normal, because until they do the marets will be too news sensitive for my method to work. Although I might go long on a few of the indicies, I'm not sure yet. Personally though, I don't believe that it's immoral to continue to trade through today's events.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

Why don't you turn this thread into a poll Trendie ?

The results might be interesting.

 

[Captain Haddock]

Trading does not increase the misfortune of people directly affected by tragic world events so I think it is not immoral to try and remain detached and carry on as usual.
it is simply part of our job to react to news, good and bad and I have no ethical problem with trading on days like this. Perhaps you could call it a position of amorality: though obviously personally affected by events such as this morning's, professionally I must try to remain unaffected.
I certainly haven't particularly enjoyed trading today, although it has been profitable.
I hope this doesn't sound callous.

Summed it up perfectly frugi

 

[fxknight]

I have to agree. As traders - our job is make money. I once heard someone quote Jim Cramer about investing in tobacco companies - dont smoke, it will kill you but we can still make money off of them. Granted there are differences between tobacco and terrorists (although which one kills more) but the principal is the same. If there are oppurtunities its our job to find them and profit from them. I also hope this didnt come out bad.

 

[mauzj]

Short term traders provide significant liquidity to the markets, and if we'd all left, those who wanted to dump their positions would have had no where to dump them. This would have caused a big panic. So if your trading methodology tells you that you should be piling into a stock at the offered price it is your duty to do so.

 

[trendie]

thanks for all your replies, guys.

I was trading this morning, and the obvious blip was an interesting event.
I traded the moves. ( lost on EURUSD, but gained on GBPUSD ).
I dont have a news feed switched on. Nor bbc.co.uk.

I thought old Bush broke something, cos he ran into a policeman when out biking last night.
Anyway, I checked up bbc.co.uk, I realised the reason.

I closed my positions, and took the rest of the day off.
I agree that we should trade unemotionally, but I couldnt.

As a previous poster has said, perhaps ironically, ( re: caterpillar ), and about smoking, companies are so globalised and so diversified, you cannot trade without avoiding suspect activities.

Anyway, I am surprised the events didnt have such a major impact business-wise, as the currencies returned to where they were, except gbp/swiss.
even Dow recovered to close up.

I am sure we will all have a quiet moment of reflection over today.
I suppose, I just need to get on with it tomorrow, and stop being a wooss.

 

[JillyB]

Hi Trendie

You're not being a woos. You are just expressing what a lot of us are thinking - that you have to live for today and not worry too much about tomorrow, next week, next year. Do any of us really know that we will definitely be here next year? Life is too short, to spend it worrying about things, or working in a job that we hate.

A lot of us trade because we see the potential financial freedom that it will give us. That it could possibly enable us to spend more time with our loved ones and attain a better work/life balance. So I ask you what is wrong with that?

Remeber if you have traded today, you are not profiting from the direct pain and suffering of the people involved in this terrible incident. We are trading effect on the large companies, institutions and the markets themselves. We are not adding to anyones misery or suffering. However if, in doing this, it gives us the freedom to be able to spend time with our children/partners/loved ones etc and to enhance their lives and ours, then how can it be wrong? We are not profiting from the direct grief of others, only from what the markets and companies perceive.

 

[Windlesham1]

If the market's uncertain,then the market makers aren't-the vol (that's volatility to non-options traders) has evaporated this morning,and at 1.30 we have US non farm payrolls to move the market . As a friend once said,if you profit from someone else's misery you can always donate some of the profits to a worthy cause.
I didn't sell a future yesterday morning although every indicator I use, told me to.-why? I had a prediction of a market crash in a dream,and don't believe in that stuff.

 

[trendie]

O, oh! Here we are again.
Last few weeks, markets have been a steal!
DAX is giving multiple 100 pip moves every fricking day.
I am trading moves off the 1-minute, it's that manic.
Done by mid-morning. Don't even bother with afternoons; and if I do, it's small stakes, just because.

BUT, this is down to the coronavirus possible pandemic.
Does morality and ethics come onto this?
We are not responsible for the external situation, nor would NOT trading resolve it.
It's not as if we are preventing a vaccine being created or distributed.
Yet, I sometimes feel a tad dirty, even though I am just trading the chart. Just some patterns.
The story behind the moves are out of my control, nor affected by my actions.
And yet....

 

[Windlesham1]

Pips? You mean ticks -but well done on your trading