A nor'easter hit the Northeast this weekend. Tens of millions of people lost power. Coastal flooding damaged property. Trees fell on cars. The grid failed in multiple states.
Day traders in New Jersey basement apartments watched their portfolios on dying phone batteries. Priorities stayed sharp. Can't let a little flood water ruin a 0DTE options position. The Robinhood app doesn't care if your house is underwater. Neither does your margin call.
Some guy in Connecticut definitely panic-sold his tech stocks during the outage, convinced the 2% pre-market dip was the start of the Great Depression 2. He'll check his account Monday morning and discover he locked in losses while the S&P bounced back to green by noon. Classic move. The nor'easter didn't take his money. His own hands did that.
Power companies issued statements about restoration timelines. Nobody believed them. Retail traders issued statements to their wives about why they needed the generator to charge their laptops instead of keeping the refrigerator running. Nobody believed them either.
The storm was forecast days in advance. Everyone knew it was coming. Preparation happened anyway, which is more than we can say for the average retail trader's risk management strategy. They'll sandbag their garage but won't set a stop loss. They'll stockpile batteries but won't hedge a position. Makes perfect sense.
By Monday the cleanup crews will restore power. Trees will get cleared. Roads will reopen. Life returns to normal. The traders who spent the blackout checking stock prices on 2% battery will look at their accounts and realize the storm had zero effect on their long-term returns. The realization won't stop them from doing the same thing during the next weather event.
Mother Nature knocked out the power grid across six states, and some dipshit in Massachusetts still found a way to buy the top on a meme stock using his car charger.
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