Are You a Trader or an Investor?

What comes to mind when you hear the word “investor”?

You might envision Warren Buffett, or perhaps a Wall Street analyst, working late into the night to dissect a company’s financials.

What about when you read the word “trader”?

Most picture someone stressed out, staring at charts all day, shoving a lot of money on small market moves, trying to make a fortune.

We tasked MidJourney with generating two images for each term, leaving the interpretation open-ended.

This was the result…

It’s impossible to tell which pictures are associated with each term.

Why would MidJourney create pictures of traders and investors so close to one another that we can’t tell them apart?

Because the notion that traders and investors are mutually exclusive is no longer true.

Success in this market demands a combination of qualitative and quantitative skills.

To help illustrate that point, we will compare two of our top analysts who straddle the trading and investment worlds — Dr. Mark Skousen and Bryan Perry.

We’ll dig into how each one’s approach informs his respective short-term trading and long-term holds.

And most importantly, we’ll show you how each of them leverages his respective strengths to develop winning strategies.

Dr. Mark Skousen

Many economists merely follow trends, churning out sound bites for the sake of television exposure.

Mark is about as far away from that as you can get.

His work is steeped in the Austrian school of economics, often putting him at odds with most commentators.

However, he’s not contrarian merely for its own sake.

His macroeconomic views uncover overlooked and unloved stocks. But they also help him see opportunities in group behavior.

This leads to a top-down approach, starting with an overview of the economy and then working his way into individual sectors, industries and then companies.

Here’s a snippet from the latest edition of Mark’s membership newsletter, Forecasts & Strategies:

Click Here to Learn More About Forecasts & Strategies!

That’s best illustrated with two areas he’s been watching like a hawk: uranium and electric vehicles.

Uranium reflects his belief that the global energy transition isn’t a straightforward journey from fossil fuels to renewables, as commonly assumed. That’s why Mark’s been looking at stocks like Energy Fuels (UUU), Global X Uranium ETF (URA) and several others.

Electric vehicles play on the same concept but exploit investor momentum and sentiment. And there’s one in particular he’s looking at right now that would surprise most of you.

However, we can’t divulge all of his secrets.

We will say that Mark holds core positions that match his investment thesis but also isn’t opposed to leveraging options and other instruments to enhance his performance.

That’s where his experience as an active trader comes into play.

Mark breaks down those macroeconomic views and marries them with headlines and news catalysts in his premier Fast Money Alert and Five Star Trader services.

He recognizes that within broader economic cycles, there are smaller, more immediate fluctuations that impact businesses.

This allows him to interpret the news and turn it into actionable ideas for his readers.

That’s Mark’s edge.

Let’s compare that with veteran Wall Street trader Bryan Perry.

Bryan Perry

While macroeconomic analysis plays a big part in Bryan’s work, he focuses more on the tactical side of things.

Bryan taps into his extensive trading experience and market insights to, metaphorically speaking, “read the tea leaves.”

He looks at market inefficiencies, whether based on value, price action, headlines or all of the above.

He then chooses the appropriate weapon to maximize his potential profits.

Here’s a perfect example from his latest Cash Machine monthly newsletter:

Click Here to Learn More About Cash Machine!

How many people do you think are looking at business development company stocks right now?

Probably not a lot.

But that’s the beauty of Bryan’s work.

He sees places where markets overshoot, dismiss and misprice assets and create trades and investment strategies around them.

However, Bryan’s a big fan of generating regular streams of income.

That’s why he created his Quick Income Trader service.

Bryan breaks down complex strategies into simple, digestible bites to help folks understand the choices available.

Nevertheless, he knows full well that not everyone is at ease with advanced strategies like selling puts.

That’s why he offers multiple ways to take action on one idea, allowing you to pick the one best suited to your risk tolerance and appetite.

Many of his subscribers combine approaches and take a little from his Cash Machine and sprinkle in some Quick Income Trader ideas to create a balanced portfolio.

The Right Answer Is…

There isn’t one.

No one way is better than the other.

It’s all about what meshes with you.

What wealth objectives are you aiming for?

Do you want a structurally sound portfolio built on the back of in-depth macroeconomic analysis?

Would you prefer a non-correlated strategy to generate weekly income?

The choice is yours.