I think what I meant by staying away from the herd is my observation that when I buy the stock is on nobody's radar and when I sell the stock is on everybody's radar. This is based on my time spent in chatrooms etc.
All things equal in a High Quality Universe of stocks, look to Dry Up volume to anticipate what comes before the herd.
It can be one or many big traders getting it wrong at the top and buying, just as there are one or many getting it right and selling. If you think that all big traders always get it right, you might want to rethink that! But in any event I do not consider or attach any importance as to who is doing what. You will wind up chasing your tail by trying to analyze the complexities of the market, to which, for the most part, the answer can only be imagined. The shorts are being squeezed, the AI at GS knows what your next order will be even before you do, XXX fund is accumulating YYY, A guru said buy ZZZ, B guru said sell it, etc. The real or imagined intrigue of the market can overwhelm one. But in the end, all that really counts is just the price movement itself, isn't it? IMO. And if that can be read, which it can be in most, but not all cases, what else do you need to know? So rather than worry about who's doing what, your time might be better spent looking for your future ex-wife!!
It's hard when you get a sudden realization about the markets or a trade, and you realize that if you start to talk about it with the people around you, at best they won't understand.
Yep, we all see thing differently and no matter how simple we think our trade plan is, the complexity becomes obvious as we try and explain it to someone else.
Naw, it's simpler than that. People like getting told to what to believe and not. No reasoning, just believe this, like a firing of a neuron (ironically), and be rewarded. There's nothing more to it than that. Ironically, that's also what will replace humanity.
Ain't that the truth!! And more so, as soon as they realize that you're not telling them how to make some quick and easy bucks, they start checking their email.