I understand fundamentals just fine. I just don’t use them.
I’ve been doing this every single day since I was 21. I’ll be 44 in a couple of months. If I genuinely believed digging through corporate balance sheets was the best way to make money in markets, that’s exactly what I’d spend my life doing.
But that’s not who I am, because that’s not what works in this business.
You Don’t Know Me
A lot of people who read this newsletter or follow me on Twitter assume I’m just some chart monkey who only knows how to point at lines.
“Up squiggly good, down squiggly bad.” I get the joke. My college buddies have been making it for two decades.
But the truth is, this isn’t the only thing I can do — it’s what I’ve deliberately chosen to do.
Technical Analysis isn’t just “line go up.” It’s the study of market behavior and the psychology of its participants. Charting is one part of that, but not the whole thing.
At TrendLabs we do a ton of sentiment work that has nothing to do with charts. We run quantitative models — including our proprietary NOW Score — that don’t involve a single trendline.
All of that is Technical Analysis. It’s just not always charting.
So if you’ve ever thought I’m just the guy on TV talking about squiggly lines, don’t worry — my best friends roast me way harder. “JC, they drag you on TV to talk about lines? That’s the whole job?”
Yeah. And the funniest part is… it works.
Valuations Are a Distraction
We already know valuations are a distraction. This isn’t a new revelation around here. We’ve gone through the data. I even wrote an entire piece about it back in June so nobody could claim they “didn’t know.”
The evidence is clear: spending your days obsessing over fundamentals is not the path to better returns.
And trust me — I’m not saying that as someone who doesn’t understand fundamentals.
I was a Finance major at Fairfield University’s Dolan School of Business. I minored in Accounting. My first job on Wall Street was at Merrill Lynch doing straight-up fundamental analysis. No charts. No patterns. No trendlines. Just classic corporate finance.
I built a company from scratch, got acquired for a big premium, and started another one. I’ve had multiple life-changing liquidity events over the years.
All of that was fundamentals. All of that was business building — income statements, balance sheets, operating leverage, margin contribution. None of it had anything to do with charts or “squiggly line voodoo.”
Same thing outside of markets. I own a winery in Napa Valley. We just harvested our fifth vintage: 3.8 tons of Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon in Calistoga.
I passed the Certified Sommelier exam in 2020, earned my French Wine Scholar in 2018, and I’m a Certified Japanese Sake Advisor. I can go deep on fermentation science or vineyard economics if you want.
But here’s the thing: None of that matters in the context of public markets.
You almost never hear me talk about any of this stuff because it’s irrelevant to the job we’re doing here — which is making money in the market.
And after living on both sides of the fence — private companies and public markets — I learned the hard way that fundamentals, valuations, and corporate finance are a terrible compass for navigating price behavior.
Some people desperately want public markets to behave like private companies. They want fundamentals to matter the same way. They want valuations to be the North Star.
But they aren’t. And they’re not.
So let me be crystal clear: I choose to ignore fundamentals and valuations on purpose. Not because I don’t get them, but because I get them better than most.
I understand exactly how the sausage is made… which is precisely why I don’t use that framework to trade public markets.
Understanding fundamentals is what taught me to ignore them.
This Week in Everybody’s Wrong
On Monday, we talked about what I like to call the “cheat code.”
There’s really no deep secret to it.
Here’s why I intend to keep on counting… and profiting… while everybody’s literally laughing at me…
On Tuesday, we got back to basics: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.
Everybody gets so crazy about math.
On Wednesday, we took a look at the world’s most important stock market index.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average just closed at its highest level in history on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Silver clocked an all-time high.
Is this breakout for real, or is it just another fake-out?
Let’s see what Gold can tell us about its crazy cousin…
On Friday, The Economist served up another beautiful magazine cover for us to study.
Nobody spots the crowd’s mood swings better than journalists.
And no magazine does it as artfully as The Economist.
On Saturday, we welcomed back Senior Analyst Jason Perz, who always delivers a good read.
Jason’s thing is turning big ideas into digestible morsels.
Here he is with a great piece on what it means to be patient.
Have a great Sunday.
We’ll see you Monday morning…
Stay sharp,
JC Parets, CMT
Founder, TrendLabs