When in Rome, do as the traders do

An old cliché:

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

Basically, blend into the crowd. Don’t rock the boat. Look around at what everyone else is doing around you and copy them.

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All B-A-D advice.

Nobody changed the world by blending in. They changed the world by doing things differently.

I once heard marketer Dan Kennedy say that if he had to sum up success into a single word, that word would be: defiance.

Defiance of everything.

Ignore all the rules, chuck out all the conventional wisdom, forget everything you’ve learned about how to do anything and try something different. Yes, it’ll lead to a load of mistakes but it’s also almost the only way to make breakthroughs & innovations.

This is a thinking person’s wisdom.

It’s a sweeping statement with loads of implied nuance. You can’t simply break ALL the rules and expect success, there are some rules that remain valid. 

... And there are many “rules” that keep people stuck.

Earl Nightingale said something along the lines of “if you’re attempting to do something new, and you don’t know the right way to do it, you can start by looking around at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite.” It may not be the right answer, but it almost certainly avoids the wrong answer.

In other words:

When in Rome, never do as the Romans do.

As Big Tech continues to pour money into the data centers, they are counting on a possibly unequipped power grid.

Yahoo Finance

Why it matters …

A few weeks ago, we discussed how the real winners in the gold rush were the suppliers of picks and shovels. Today’s headline is the current day equivalent in the AI Rush. Computers, racks for computers, cooling systems for computers, enormous buildings for computers and power for those computers, not to mention, chips, wires, etc. are needed for the AI rush. The manufacturers of such components are likely to thrive in the next few years.

I expect Natural Gas and Coal will be strong in the short term, probably giving way to nuclear in the longer term. Companies like NNE, UUUU and NUE should do well going forward for the next few years.

Comments: A very sideways mixed market day. Can you say, “no direction?” We were so green yesterday, this actually makes sense. Bitcoin is down the most, but on a percentage basis, not much. 

I expect earnings after the bell to be a catalyst for tomorrow’s market. We have a slough of earnings today, tomorrow and Thursday. Be careful with your trades as earnings can be like Schrödinger’s cat -- dead or alive but you don’t know until the reveal!

I took today’s sample trade idea inside a couple of my smaller accounts (under $25k) for 1.55% premium into 15 Aug...