The Frenemies of Wall Street: A Trader's Love-Hate Relationships

As a trader your relationships with buyers and sellers in the stock market change depending on whether you’re trying to buy, sell, or hold a stock. It’s a dynamic game where roles and alliances shift constantly based on your position. For example, if you are a buyer:

Before Buying  

Buyers are competitors: When you're trying to buy a stock at a low price, other buyers are your competition because they also want to buy low. The more buyers there are, the higher the price can go, which isn’t good for you as a buyer.  

Sellers are allies: Sellers want to push the price lower to attract buyers. This works in your favor because it helps you get the stock at a cheaper price.  

After Buying  

Sellers are no longer allies: Once you’ve bought the stock, you no longer want the price to go down. Sellers who push prices lower are now working against you because a falling price means a potential loss for you.  

Buyers become allies: After you own the stock, you want more buyers to enter the market. Their demand drives the price higher, which benefits you because your stock is now worth more. 

The Dance of the Market  

Before the stock is in my hand,  
A buyer’s my rival, across the land.  
We both seek low, the sweetest prize,  
Yet scarce the fruit beneath the skies.  

The seller then, a fleeting friend,  
Pushes the price to a downward bend.  
His hand aligns with what I crave,  
Together, the price we seek to shave.  

But once the stock is in my care,  
The game transforms, alliances tear.  
The seller fades, his role is done,  
Now buyers are the rising sun.  

For every bid, a ladder higher,  
Their need inflames my heart’s desire.  
Their clamor lifts the stock I own,  
A tide of friends, my profit shown.  

Yet fickle the bonds, this truth remains,  
In markets, friendships shift like chains.  
For what was friend may turn to foe,  
In the endless dance of high and low.