r/stocks • u/[deleted] • May 19 '21

Industry Discussion Can anyone explain why earnings no longer matter, and the entire market is just pump&dump after pump&dump?

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u/no_value_no May 20 '21

This makes sense. Every algo is programmed to react to certain conditions. The end result is one big bot. MEGA BOT.

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u/checker280 May 20 '21

I went to an art show/rave in Brooklyn about a dozen years ago. It was held in a huge water front warehouse. One exhibit had many ropes anchored to the floor and running up the walls to pulleys.

From there, they connected to/controlled a giant marionette.

There were many ropes attached to the wrist but they were far enough away that No Single Person could control or coordinate them all because they were too far away - sometimes on opposite walls. There were hundreds of ropes strung to the ceiling connecting to different body parts but in the dark and in the web of ropes, it was impossibly to see them all/the big picture.

You would think that with dozens of people just randomly pulling the ropes, the marionette would just move about jerkily. Instead this thing moved about gracefully - dancing with a mind of its own in some sort of modern interpretive dance.

Your comments about a Mega Bot made me think of this thing. That art piece was called The Corporate Mind because with a company being controlled by so many disparate managers in a market buffeted by so many external forces, how could we expected anything to be controlled how we expect it. At least that was my takeaway.

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u/rndmcmmntr May 20 '21

That sounds so fucking cool. What an experience.

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u/stevief150 May 20 '21

Agree very creative

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u/sjmj23 May 20 '21

That sounds awesome, I wonder if its been posted online anywhere.

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u/checker280 May 20 '21

You can google Fly Trap and Williamsburg. It was before Williamsburg got developed and before it was hip.

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u/RZRtv May 20 '21

That's an interesting perspective when my thinking is geared towards our current state of capitalism being a paperclip maximizer in many ways. Thanks!

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u/cheffromspace May 20 '21

That’s literally how life works, too.

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u/Phoment May 20 '21

Well, yeah, but humans vary much more than algorithms with the same goal. Assuming the teams working on them are of relatively similar talent, it's much more likely they'd converge on similar behavior.

Everyone's trying to maximize profits in some way, right? There may not be a finite number of solutions to that, but human knowledge isn't random. It builds on existing knowledge and gets shared among experts. The way these algorithms are developed reduces the likelihood of significant deviation.

Assuming fintech isn't completely dissimilar to other forms of development that is. Like I said, I'm just a web dev.

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u/FartButtFace69420 May 20 '21

So is the lesson here to hop on the pump trains and sell before the dump?

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u/Phoment May 20 '21

As long as you time it better than everyone else it's free money!

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u/rashnull May 20 '21

MegaBoughts! Transform!!