Sometimes the obvious springs to mind

I was reading this over coffee this morning.  Another interesting review of some tech shares.  Nokia/Research in motion update.

Sometimes you get a thought and then you think that was obvious.  I always knew that a trade in a stock was generally a zero sum game.  For someone to make a win on a stock it is likely that someone else has to lose.  Not always as you could theoretically get an only upward price movement but in the end that never happens (it depends I suppose over the length of time you measure).

But that was not the thought.  The thought was that the sum total of all stock value must vary.  Take the 'pot' of cash that is currently invested in stocks.  Crudely if the pot is £x gzillion then on the whole that pot moves in an around stocks in the market, or is exited or goes against charges and taxes.

Obvious (perhaps wrong, I don't know) but stock trading appears to be one about the stocks and their value and future rather than taking a perspective about the money itself.  I am not really explaining this well.  Rather than looking at the stock and the underlying company, look at the money and where and how it is invested.  After all, people make investment decisions on stock based upon risk and upside etc.  The stock is secondary consideration, people are making decisions about money, not stock.

So I may go look at the money.  See what I can find.