Timeframes, whether market-imposed

Timeframes, whether market-imposed or participant, are forward in nature, and range from the very short-term to the very long-term. An illustration of a relatively short timeframe market occurrence is the post-holiday sale alluded to previously. The sale comes and goes within the span of a few weeks, and is thus but a small percentage of the market's yearly activity. In contrast, an illustration of a relatively long timeframe market occurrence might be the lone resort hotel which was able to charge a sustained above-value price due to the increased demand brought on by the new theme park. Participants with short timeframe perspectives differ from those with long timeframes, both in obvious ways and in some ways not so obvious. The most obvious distinction involves how each views time. Short timeframe participants deal only with the immediate future and the nearby, not focusing on the longer view. If a participant must buy a new suit today, he must by necessity have a short timeframe. Thus, he will compare value among those stores he can see today, but he cannot wait until the next clearance sale before purchasing. In other words, he cannot consider if he is purchasing below value in the longer timeframe of the next six months, but must consider where the best value is among the suits available today. He is looking for a fair price in today's timeframe. In contrast, longer timeframes and participants with longer timeframe perspectives tend to disregard the importance of the immediate future, but instead try to place short timeframe market activity within the context of the longer timeframe activity. For example, the individual who needs a suit in six months must buy a suit, but can do so at any time within the next six months. He views the suit market from a long timeframe. He will only enter the market when he finds a suit attractively priced, meaning today's price is sufficiently below the average price or value in the long timeframe. In other words, he is relating the short timeframe market opportunity — it may be a "Spring Clearance—to his timeframe. In such a way, he judges that by taking advantage of the retailer's short timeframe need — to quickly move suits not sold at higher prices — he can buy below what is value over the larger timeframe. He is looking for an advantageous price. Aside from the difference between how they view time, or how much importance they attach to recent market activity, participants from different timeframes differ in that they focus on different concerns and buy or sell for different reasons. Short timeframe participants buy or sell because they need to; long timeframe participants buy or sell not because they need to, but because they can take advantage of price away from value. It is significant to note that long timeframe participants conduct transactions with those with shorter timeframes, not other long timeframe participants. In other words, a long timeframe buyer is trying to purchase used cars at a price below value.