Last Friday, I published a rather personal stack: A Critical Decision.
Honestly, I was pretty nervous to be writing that up and sharing it online. It’s fair to say that putting something of that nature out in public is outside my comfort zone, as a professional ghostwriter and also as a fairly private person by nature. (Which, by the way, added to my initial hesitation about accepting the public book credit.)
That aside, sharing such news could easily be badly received by readers here, particularly given the poor timing — shortly after coming back from a holiday, and within a few weeks of starting this Substack.
I love my readers
But it seems that I was worried over nothing. I mean — wow. Just wow. I have such wonderful readers. Seriously, thank you. I’ve had nothing but positive reactions, with people largely saying to go with — as I called it — option 1: accepting the publisher’s offer and posting less frequently on Substack.
I also really appreciate just how detailed and thoughtful a lot of your comments were — many of you raised great points, some of which I had already thought of, but also some that I hadn’t considered yet. They all contributed to helping me make my mind up, and also make me feel like I’m really making a well-informed and thought-through decision here: accepting the publisher’s offer, and reducing my output on Substack — though only in quantity, not quality. I’ll never sacrifice quality, and in fact am always looking to improve it so, as ever, please do share improvement suggestions if you have any!
And to repost part of a related tweet from Sunday:
I started [this Substack] to:
Become a better trader.
Become a better writer.
Give back to the community/help others improve.
With the success I’ve already had on all three, I’m absolutely continuing the Substack journey. Admittedly on a less frequent basis, but at the same — if not improved — quality.
Honestly, I’m very passionate about this side project (as it’ll remain for now). It’s truly satisfying to see my own obvious improvements already, not to mention how so many of you really do regularly make my day when you let me know how valuable my writing is to you. Some of you have even voluntarily pledged — so an extra special thank you to them!
My vision for The Trading Resource Hub
I’ve so far largely been concentrating on Kristjan Kullamägi, aka Qullamaggie, as he not only hugely influenced me as a trader, but also puts out so much top-quality content, albeit somewhat unstructured (which is where my notes come in!). However, I’ve learned a lot from other great traders too, who will, over time, be featured on my Substack in some way.
I’ve always intended for my Substack to become a general trading resource hub — thus the name choice — with a wealth of information inspired by different traders. That said, there will inevitably be a bias towards swing and momentum trading, as well as the US stock market, since that’s how I trade myself — but I will also be covering topics that should be useful to any trader, like quantitative analysis (see below).
My plan is also — as far as possible — to focus on timeless information. I don’t give financial advice, and I certainly don’t provide stock picks, but even with the Qullamaggie stream notes on specific streams from specific days, I tried to write them in such a way that they offer value regardless of when they’re read. I personally actually see the main value of Kristjan’s streams as getting a true insight into the mind of a great trader, as well as the real work required to reach his level of mastery.
Another thing I find the streams (and notes) really useful for is getting a sense for good ways of handling particular market conditions. These obviously change all the time, but there are only so many different environments we can be in, which you’ll need to get a handle on so you know when to trade aggressively, when to be cautious, and when to sit on your hands. As Jesse Livermore said:
“There is a time to go long. There is a time to go short. And there is a time to go fishing.”
Quantitative analysis
Quantitative analysis is definitely a topic I’m going to be writing more about in future. I don’t think people can be reminded too much about how they must take a hard look at their past trades if they’re to improve their future ones. But I also understand that many people just don’t know how to go about it effectively — I once had the same problem — so will try to help by providing concrete, practical suggestions you can use in Excel. This is also a good topic for the ‘timeless’ aspect I’m aiming for, as well as being able to offer value to a range of trading styles.
Also, I believe quantitative analysis — crunching the numbers, getting the hard data — to be a powerful psychological aid. In my view, trading mostly consists of having a good system and having the right mindset. That means that I do believe in trading psychology, but not in your typical trading psychology book. I do stress that this is just my opinion, but I find typical psychological advice to not be terribly actionable or practical. I just don’t believe that words on a page can actually fix typical psychological issues — only doing the hard work yourself can, whether that’s studying hundreds (if not thousands) of charts, knowing your journal inside out, or both.
Do I feel the same way about my own words on a screen? Unfortunately, yes. I can try to help guide your studies, but cannot fix psychological issues for you. (Kristjan said something similar during the stream from 8 June 2023, as well as during other previous streams.) I can share Excel techniques and formulas, but building the conviction you need comes from applying them yourself. I’ll do my best to help, as others have helped me, but the real work has to come from you.
Deep dives/focus pieces
Another area I’d like to do more with are deep dives or focus pieces. Collating information from various different sources, and putting them together as one coherent and sensibly structured piece. That could be something like my post about AI and quantum stocks, a type of manual on EPs, different types of market filters, and so on. The options are endless. Several of the ideas that are in my notebook come from you, my readers, so please keep them coming! I read all your comments, and do my best to respond to as many of you as possible.
Stream notes
As for stream notes — it’s more likely that I’ll take either the ‘deep dive’ or ‘focus piece’ approach to singled-out lessons from Kristjan, and/or do ‘top lessons’ type posts (such as this one), but I’m simply not sure at this stage. I haven’t worked out yet how much time I can allocate to Substack on a daily or weekly basis going forward.
Direct notes
I’d quite like to also start posting notes from other good free resources, that are a bit like the stream notes I’ve been publishing, except the resources in question are more intended as timeless to begin with — good interviews, for example, or the videos by Dr. Mansi or Tom Dante.
I don’t want to make a full list of all the different resources I could cover at some point, or I might go on all day, but the point is that more ‘direct’ notes with only occasional insights and/or additions that are my own will continue to appear on this Substack. Again, until I have more clarity on the time required to do my other work, I can’t be too specific about schedules or proportions, but will update you as soon as I can.
Pledges and paywalls
Again, to those of you who have already pledged: thank you so much! Seeing such a clear expression of how valuable my writing is to you really does mean a lot to me.
If you haven’t subscribed yet but would like to keep up with my work, you can do so for free!
As for paywalls: direct notes on free resources will never be paywalled. As I’ve previously explained, I simply don’t think it right, and stick by my principles. That said, I’m not taking paywalls completely off the table as a future option, but would only use them on stacks that I can actually describe as truly my own.
Another idea that’s been playing on my mind — and has also been suggested by a few of you — is to put together some sort of trading manual or handbook, in my typical writing style, just expanded, and probably in e-book or PDF format.
Would more readers like to see something like this in the more distant future? Let me know in the comments below, message me on Twitter or email me at kayklingson@yahoo.com!
P.S. I’ve finally updated my about page!
Another great Substack. So happy for you. Always excited to see others go on new experiences. As for a ebook or pdf, that would be a great addition to reference you previous works. I’m in. Take care.