The Saudi-led coalition announced Monday it was intercepting drones and missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthis. This counts as news because apparently we needed confirmation that ongoing wars continue to feature projectiles moving toward their targets.
Retail traders heard "Middle East tensions" and immediately checked their USO calls. They did not check a map. They did not read past the headline. They definitely did not consider that oil markets have priced in Houthi attacks since roughly 2015. But they did refresh their Robinhood app six times in four minutes.
The coalition said it was "dealing with" the incoming threats. Dealing with them presumably means shooting them down, though the phrasing leaves open the possibility they're working through their feelings in group therapy. Either way, the technical setup remains unchanged. Support holds where it held yesterday. Resistance sits where it sat last week.
Iran backs the Houthis. Saudi Arabia leads the coalition. The conflict stretches back years. None of this information will appear in the trade journal some guy named Kyle is reading on his lunch break before he goes long on defense contractors at the absolute top.
The missiles keep coming. The drones keep launching. The coalition keeps intercepting. And somewhere in New Jersey, a 24-year-old with $1,400 in margin debt just discovered geopolitical risk and thinks he invented the wheel.
Charts do not care about your ability to locate Yemen on a map. They do not reward you for reading Foreign Affairs. They certainly do not give a f*ck that you just learned what the Strait of Hormuz is three minutes ago.
The kingdom remains under threat. Your portfolio remains under something worse: your own decision-making.
Photo by on Unsplash
Leave a Comment