The Ultimate Treasure Hunt

Yesterday, I almost found a pearl.  Which means that I didn’t actually find one which was bit disappointing, really.

I love treasure hunts.  There is nothing better than catching a glimpse of something shiny and potentially valuable poking out amongst dirt and twigs; I even love easter eggs hunts – seeing that bright, shiny coloured wrapping sitting in a tree or behind a pot plant makes my heart happy and my kids less so. I always share my loot, I really don’t understand them sometimes.

We went on a real treasure hunt yesterday.  Before you click away I should point out that I’m not one of those weirdos on the beach with a metal detector, and that it is perfectly safe for you to read on.

There’s a spot not so far from home that was used as a pearling camp a hundred years ago, and when you go there now and see all the scattered, broken pearl shells you can’t help but feel a twinge of excitement that you might happen upon a lucky find.

There’s a fantastic sense of anticipation when you open an oyster-shell, quickly scanning the insides in the hope that a little ball of pearliness will be nestled in amongst all the slimy grey oyster meat.

Of course, the odds are low.  But the upside is that you get to eat the oysters if you miss out on the goods, so really it’s a win/win scenario.

 Trading Is The Ultimate Treasure Hunt!

You just have to know where to look.

I hear about lots of traders that like a focussed approach to trading, which sounds (and is, to a point) perfectly reasonable.  The thing is, there just aren’t good, consistent trading opportunities in any one stock/index/commodity all the time.

It’s all very well to become an expert trend-follower in $GLD, for example, but what happens when gold suddenly stops trending?

It’s rather unlikely that a raging bull market is going to have another one hot on its heels.  It’s more likely that price will consolidate for a bit, or get choppy, or even do an about-turn and head back from whence it came.

If you stubbornly refuse to move to more yielding ground, you’re going to keep plowing through the same old turf and using up all your resources totally oblivious to the fact that just round the corner a brand new treasure trove has just been discovered.

It’s fine, and a good thing to get proficient in a certain area but if your area isn’t turning up diamonds anymore, you need to widen your search.

So, if you trade Aussie equities and the market is churning, it might pay to have a look at some international stock indices that could be doing better.

If you trade $USDX and your winning streak is drying up, perhaps take a look at what’s going on in some commodities.

There might be treasure to be found if you’re brave enough to look a little further afield.

Widening Your Hunting Ground

Before you widen your search, you’re going to need to do some prep.  If you shoot off and start wildly digging in a brand new territory, you’re very likely going to end up with blisters on your hands, a hacked off foot and zero treasure.

Markets all move differently, behave differently and each requires a bit of a ‘getting to know you’ phase before you start thinking about moving the first load of dirt.

But once you’ve done that prep and you’re all kitted out, you’ve suddenly got two places to find treasure where before you only had one.  You’re a diversified trader and well prepared to get through the dry patches because you have back-up.

Being able to trade a few different instruments adds flexibility to your repertoire, and ensures you never have to go too long without a trend to profit from.

Which makes me think I might need to look for a new oyster patch.

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