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The Dow's above 33,500, the S&P 500 is above 4,100, and the NASDAQ is north of 13,800.
No wonder I've been hearing the "B-word" so much lately.
Just about everyone is talking "bubble" - every once in a while, almost on schedule, the financial media fixates on valuations, like how the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares that were a great buy at $128.50 are suddenly a ticking time bomb at $130.10.
I'll tell you up front: I'm not worried about a bubble yet.
That said, I don't think it's out of the question; we could certainly see a correction, and a snowball effect that could make it a tough one.
And with that said, I'm still not all that worried. You shouldn't be, either - once you realize what's actually happening and how easy it is to make money right now...
Wall Street Is Still Underestimating Retail Investors
For decades, the stock market was thought of as a rich man's game. And like they say, if it looks like a duck... As recently as 2017, the top 10% of the richest Americans controlled more than 84% of the total value of stocks, bonds, and other securities.
In fact, Money Morning was founded to tilt the balance back and make regular people's investing more profitable. It's certainly why I do what I do - to help my subscribers learn how they can get a crack at "elite" profits (details).
But the rise of online trading platforms and mobile, commission-free trading as well as the COVID-19 pandemic really kicked that trend into high gear. Millions of people lost their jobs, but tens of millions of people, suddenly stuck at home with little to do, with few outlets for excess cash, and - interestingly - no professional sports to bet on, started playing the markets.
More than that, a bunch of these new folks learned how to trade options, generating insane levels of volume and liquidity.
(By the way, my colleague Tom Gentile has figured out a way to shave some serious cash off this speculative activity - he's going to be in touch with details about "Operation Surge Strike" during an April 15 live event where he'll reveal everything, so keep your eyes peeled.)
These investors were a big reason the market hit all-time highs in the middle of a deadly public health crisis that crippled the economy.
Were these folks inexperienced? Sure, that's probably fair. Were they aggressive? Definitely. Wall Street completely underestimated their ability to generate big volume, as we saw with GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) back in January. A bunch of hedge funds learned a very expensive lesson then.
SECRET'S OUT: Now regular investors can target some of the biggest, fastest-moving profit potential in the market. Learn how...
Pricey as that "tuition" bill was, I don't think Wall Street has fully grasped the fact that regular retail investors are now a force to be reckoned with; in fact, we're targeting what could be some of Wall Street's biggest shorts from the "other side," looking to profit from the "Super Squeeze" scenarios that have the same kind of DNA as the GameStop squeeze. You can learn more about that right here.
Retail investors are here to stay, and I'd go so far as to say they'll have a lot to do with driving the market from here on out. Right now, the mainstream media is pointing to them as the single biggest bubble risk. They'll point to the late 1990s dot-com bubble as an example of what they think is coming. The mainstream thinking is that these new investors are "risk-on" in a major way, just like back in 1999.
Hey, I get it: Back then, a whole bunch of new day traders were in the market. Thanks to the Web, they had the ability to talk trading ideas and exchange hot tips on platforms like America Online and Compuserve. Then, like now, a new technology was helping regular people pry open the gates. Traders were even able to coordinate buying and selling in kind of the same ways we saw in January 2021, though with nowhere near the kind of volume we've been seeing.
The Easy Way to Profit from the New Reality
And that's the big difference. People - lots of regular people - are now 100% awake to the profit potential in the bull market. These new retail investors have a big appetite for risk, and it's paid off so far. I've said it a thousand times - if there are more aggressive buyers, prices will go higher. If there are more aggressive sellers, prices will go lower. Right now, that bottomless appetite for risk means that prices will keep going higher.
More power to 'em.
And as the pandemic (hopefully) winds down, and the economy opens up and recovers, sentiment is going to continue to be buoyant, and buying will probably be aggressive. Listening to nervous talking heads - and not the market - could end up costing you if it sends you to the sidelines.
Could we run into a correction? Absolutely - interest rate worries are still out there around the edges, and if those spook retail investors, a correction could get rough in a hurry. That's why you should have a shopping list of stocks ready to jump on if prices come down. Plan for it; don't plan on it.
THE TABLES ARE TURNED: Ordinary investors have flipped the script on some of Wall Street's biggest, wealthiest hedge funds, growing rich using the Street's own strategies against it. Here's how...
That's why I think you can't go wrong with the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (NYSEArca: SPY) - an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500... at a tenth the cost. I'd encourage anyone to be long on this right now; if you only have one stock, make it this one. And, when puts on SPY are cheap - like they are when stocks are going steadily higher like they are now - they can make a great insurance policy against any potential correction, paying you more if the market drops.
It's the best way to take advantage of the incredible power these new retail investors are bringing to the market and, at the same time, prepare for the day they could blink.
Until then, you're invited to go here and check out some details of my newest trading research service. Remember when I said I don't think Wall Street's woken up to the fact that regular investors are now a serious market force? Well, I think targeting hedge funds' shorts could be the market's hottest trade. So I've tweaked my proprietary S.C.A.N. algorithm - the same one that's given my subscribers a crack at more than 35 double- and triple-digit winners since late 2020 - to help me identify what I think are the two biggest indicators of an impending explosion in "Super Squeeze" profit potential. Take a look.
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About the Author
Andrew Keene is a globally known trader and a renowned expert on all things options.
