The Market's Bark

I’m a dog guy. 

Growing up, we had all kinds. Boxers. Mutts. Even a little mini poodle. 

But one thing stayed consistent.

The dogs you actually had to respect were never the loud ones. 

They didn’t bark nonstop or put on a show. They were calm. Orderly. In control. 

And if you knew dogs, you understood exactly what that meant. Quiet strength isn’t weakness. It’s confidence.

Most people who don’t understand markets make the same mistake they make with dogs. 

They confuse the noise around the market with the noise inside the market.

The noise around the market is constant.

Headlines. Hot takes. Narratives fighting for attention. It’s loud, emotional, and mostly irrelevant.

The noise inside the market is measurable. 

That’s volatility. It’s the market’s bark. The day-to-day swings, emotional reactions, and disorder in price.

And here’s the key point.

A Hallmark of a Bull Market is Quiet Strength. 

Now look at the chart.

The bottom panel of the chart is the 1-day Rate of Change. 

Nothing fancy. Just a way to measure the noise inside the market.

When markets are healthy, that noise compresses.

That’s not complacency, it's control and confidence.

And since mid-December, the markets been operating in that exact mode. 

Quiet strength. Orderly price action. Classic Bull market behavior.

The risk isn’t when the market is quiet.

The risk is when quiet gives way to sustained, emotional volatility.

Most people want excitement but the markets rarely reward it. 

Bull markets reward patience, discipline, and staying invested when things feel boring.

Quiet markets aren’t broken markets. They’re confident markets.

Just like the dogs that never needed to bark.

Anyway, that’s my two cents.

Thompson Two Cents Live

I host a weekly market breakdown every Friday on YouTube. If you missed it live, catch the replay here.