I recall a month ago, I was out with my girlfriend, it was a nice Sunday afternoon. The moment we entered the shopping mall, we realized every single person was walking around staring very intently at their phones. Many people would just suddenly stop walking and do something funny on their phones. My curiosity got the better of me, so I peeked over their shoulders, I instantly recognized the red and white ball at the bottom of their screens.

Pokemon had arrived in Singapore.

Fun... for now.

There are a few reasons why it's so popular.

Mainly it's the novelty of having the pokemons show up at random areas in real life. You need to physically be at the location in order to see and catch the pokemon.

A few other things are the barriers to entry are very low for the players. All you need to do is throw a ball in the app at the pokemon to catch it, no complicated game controls. So it's also quite a no-brainer type of game.

There are a couple of tricks for gym fighting, maybe some consideration into the type of pokemon team you would like to assemble etc.

But on the whole, it's a game which doesn't require much mental strength, so everyone can get in on the fun.. While it lasts.

After some time, you begin to question the point of it all. Is it really to "Catch 'em all"? Then what?

Initial stages are fun enough for a week or two, playing while you wait for the bus or MRT or your friend who is always late.

Boredom

But after a while, you will get bored of always catching the same things!

The rattata, zubats, pidgies, and whatever else is around your home and office.

And all of which you wouldn't want to bring with you to a proper gym fight. Their only purpose would be quick leveling. To catch more interesting pokemon, or pokemons which you want to bring to a fight with you, you actually need to go to certain specific spots where they appear.

For example the rare Onix appears frequently at suntec city, but when I say frequently, I don't mean all the time, maybe once every few hours? How long do you expect me to stay at suntec waiting for the Onix to appear? And once it does, I need to walk around the entire shopping complex to search for it.

The Pokemania

Then of course there's the famous hougang block 401, apparently it's a frequent spot to find Snorlaxes and Gyarados. Both rare and strong pokemon which you want to bring to a gym fight with you. Check out the video below if you haven't already seen the ridiculous crowd there. These things remind me of what happens at market extremes, the frantic buying or selling.

I dare say to the residents of that block, the pokemon crowd will thin out soon!

(Those residents must have a ton of the rare pokemon by now)

Time

It's also very time consuming isn't it? To travel to different places, then camping there for many hours before you can catch the exact pokemon you want.

Honestly, I think those hours are better spent in front of the charts, reviewing your trades and doing analysis for the next day or week. Or better yet, spent with loved ones.

Of course there's a new saying, "couples who pokemon together, stay together". I can't vouch for how true that is, but whatever rocks your boat my friends.

Leveling

After level 20, it gets much harder to level up. And where you want to be is at the maximum level of 40. It reflects trading in a way.

After a certain point in your journey, you begin to find out what you don't know in trading, a lot of things, one unknown area leading to another unknown area. Then your learning truly begins. It won't get easier, it could even get harder. But you will gain skills and experience to perform better in the markets. This is also the point where most people quit trading. That's why few people continue after a year. Out of those that do, most will quit after 3 years.

The same can be said for Pokemon GO, players are going to quit after crossing into the level 20s, when pokemons become much harder to catch and you need so much more exp to level.

So yes, I’ve had my fun.

If this pokemania was a tradeable instrument, I would fade it!

Good hunting poketrainers!

The post Why I Would Fade Pokemon… If It Was Tradeable. appeared first on The Systematic Trader | Trading Courses | Collin Seow.