Imagine that you are at the starting line of a 100-meter race. All the competitors have similar shoes, similar form, but one of them knows exactly at which second the starter's gun will go off. The rest can only react. It is exactly the same on the stock market – milliseconds decide millions, and the one who gets the information first wins the prize.
In the world of trading, especially high-frequency trading (HFT), the saying 'who is faster wins' is not a metaphor – it's a brutal reality. Investment firms spend fortunes to have their servers as close to the exchange as possible (literally a few meters closer), because light in fiber optics takes time to cover the distance. In 2010, one firm built a fiber optic line between Chicago and New Jersey for $300 million just to shorten data transmission time by a few milliseconds. And it paid off – those milliseconds translated into hundreds of millions in profit annually.
Why is information so important? Because the stock market is essentially a game of processing and using data faster than the competition. When new information appears – a quarterly report, a decision from the central bank, a tweet from an influential person – stock prices change in a fraction of a second. The one who first understands the significance of this information and executes the transaction buys low and sells high before the rest of the market can react. Everyone else gets scraps – a worse price, lower profit, or even a loss.
There is a scene in the movie Margin Call from 2011 that perfectly captures this philosophy. One of the characters, played by Simon Baker, says directly:
"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
("There are three ways to make money in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat.")
And then he adds that he doesn't know how to cheat, and being smarter is difficult. So there is only one thing left – to be first.
These words are not just a cinematic fiction. In the real world of finance, most players are unable to permanently outsmart the market with intelligence (because everyone has similar access to analysts and models). Cheating usually ends in prison or gigantic fines. Therefore, the fight for speed remains – who sees the data first, who interprets it first, who clicks 'buy' or 'sell' first.
Of course, not every individual investor has access to super-fast connections and HFT algorithms. But even at the level of regular trading, the principle remains the same: the faster you learn about important information and the faster you react, the greater your advantage. That's why professional investors track dozens of sources simultaneously, set alerts, and use Bloomberg Terminals worth tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Advice for beginners in cryptocurrencies: why tracking information is the key to success
If you are just entering the world of crypto, the principle of 'who is faster is better' works with double force here. The cryptocurrency market is even more volatile than the traditional stock market – prices can drop by 20% or rise by 50% within a few hours just because of one tweet, post on X, or a regulator's decision.
For newcomers, the biggest mistake is buying on FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) – you see that Bitcoin or some altcoin suddenly rises, everyone is talking about it, so you jump in at the peak, and then the price falls and you lose. Or conversely: panic selling when the market is going down because you read one negative news article.
The key is systematic tracking of reliable sources of information and quick, yet thoughtful action:
Set alerts: On price (e.g., in the Binance, Coinbase, or CoinMarketCap app), on news (Google Alerts, CryptoPanic, Twitter/X notifications from key figures like Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin, or the SEC account).
Follow reliable sources: CoinDesk, CoinTelegraph, The Block, official project blogs, X (formerly Twitter) – news appears here the fastest.
Analyze the context: Don't react to every rumor. Check if the information is confirmed, who provided it, and what its consequences are (e.g., ETF approval for Bitcoin in 2024 caused a huge rise).
Translate information into action: If you see solid news (e.g., a large company buys BTC), enter the position quickly, but with a plan – set stop-loss and take-profit to avoid letting emotions take over.
Remember: in crypto, information is not just price, but also on-chain data (e.g., how many whales are moving tokens), sentiment on social media, or upcoming events (halving, network upgrade). The one who follows this in real-time and can quickly connect the dots wins. The rest pay the price.
In summary: in the stock market and in crypto, time is really money. Information without speed is worthless, and speed without information is blind. The best connect both. The rest can only watch as someone else reaps the profit – because they were a fraction of a second faster. Good luck in the market! #polska #crypto $BTC $ETH Like .
