October 19th: Stock Market Crash 20th Anniversary

Hello,

Today is the 20th anniversary of the stock market crash, the so-called Black Monday. It also happens to be the 20th anniversary of the day I commenced my career in Investment Banking!

That's right. It was an interesting first day at work, to say the least!

I remember standing there watching the traders going totally frantic. Tense faces, a shortness of breath. The market down hundreds of points… and getting rapidly worse. Really wild rumors going around that sound bizarre today; e.g. " don't trade with M.L. There's a rumor they've gone bankrupt in New York" And so on.

I'd never been in the City before, so I innocently asked the trader, "Is it always like this?" He turned around and replied, "Er… No!"

Anyway, people are apt to forget that markets can also go down as well as up. There's no such thing as a sure thing. It had a personal impact upon me because I was out of the job within just two and a half weeks: the firm I had joined had suffered enormously because a merger that they had been in the middle of collapsed, and they basically had no time for trainees during this disastrous period. The head of the floor was very regretful and confessed, "This is the first time I have had to fire someone for no good reason at all."

Such is life.

Anyway, I must admit that I was severely depressed about the whole thing for several weeks. I had sent literally hundreds - maybe thousands - of job applications over a period of a couple of years and been interviewed dozens of times by different companies, and got to final interview MANY times before eventually and almost inevitably being rejected, before landing that first precious job. And it was all gone in less than three weeks by a historic fluke of chance that was not even my fault. Actually, it was really ironic because the whole thing took so long for me that I used to joke to my friends that if I ever DID make it into the City, they'd know for sure because the whole damn thing would fall apart! And that is exactly what happened!

Anyway, the good thing is that I eventually landed on my feet and was offered another City job just three months later.

By the way, watch the markets for the rest of the year. Cycles and anniversaries are very important. The 20-year cycle to the stock market crash is an important one from a Gann analysis point of view. Given the recent instability we have been seeing, this is all an excellent excuse to see the stock markets do something very dramatic in the days or weeks to come. The Indian stock market has been very weird this week. Others, including the US markets, may see some sharp sell-offs too.

I'll be watching for opportunities, that's for sure.

Asoka