2022-04-06 — And I Thought it Rained *Yesterday*

So… I’ve noticed something. I think pretty much every time I’ve lost money trading so far it’s been because I haven’t followed my own rules for trading. Because I’m trading cash and not margin, I have the stress of wanting to make my investment make the most money it can, because the money is going to be tied up for two days after the transaction.

If I were trading on margin, that wouldn’t be a problem, as you can buy and sell all you want without having to wait for money to settle. I’d actually be making a lot more money right now if I were trading on margin, and what happened yesterday/today wouldn’t have happened because I wouldn’t have tried to maximize my profit. I would have taken the money that was on the table and moved on.

What happened? Well… ugh. Yesterday, I watched one of my stocks take a dive (mind you, a dive to me is like 5%). So… I bought it on the dive. Then it swung back, and I could have sold right there and made like $200 or $300 ish dollars. But no… I wanted more of a gain from a large investment than just a couple hundred dollars.

So what did I do? I held out for more. The short end of the story is that today I ate a $3600 loss.

Ouch. I panicked. At one point I was down nearly $6000, and it crawled all the way back to about $3200 down, and when I finally gave in and sold the loss it was $3600. Had I just held on, I likely wouldn’t have lost anything. I would have had to wait a few days or so, but I’d probably have gotten it all back (it’s already gone up a good bit from when I sold. I think had I waited until the end of the day, I’d have been down $2350, and that’ll all likely be erased tomorrow and possibly would have been back in the green on that trade–just like my $800 loss. I panicked. Had I waited until the next day, I’d have gotten it all back, plus a whole bunch.

But when everything is down and ugly, it’s easy for the worst possible scenarios to be at the forefront. “The worst the stock has ever done is X, it could have that happen again.”

You know… horriblizing it. So… when faced with uncertainty, the short-term financial hit costs less than the longer-term emotional turmoil.

Rules… gotta follow my own dumb rules.

But I panicked. When you’ve already watched it go down by several thousand, it’s hard to remember that it is a good stock. It’s almost certainly going to rebound.

But it could go down. It could freefall. That’s the fear in the moment, anyway, and it looms as a larger possibility than reason would probably normally dictate.

Anyway, so… that was financially painful today. 🙃

Fortunately, I’m actually doing just fine. I mean… it doesn’t feel so great, but I’m actually laughing at it now. It’s so funny that I can’t keep my own rules. I’ve got good rules. They’re successful. I’ve just been too greedy, wanting a bigger, quicker return.

So… lesson learned. I hope.

Cars were a mixed bag today. Nothing was awful like last night. Four cars today. 2013 Infiniti G37 battery. 2003 Buick Regal wiper transmission arm replacement. 2018 Mercedes 250 battery, and 2003 Jeep Wrangler overheat and noise diagnosis (cracked radiator, leaking water pump).

So… that was that. Got a $50+ tip. That was really nice. Two days in a row now on those, I think. Went to the fluid supply store to try to find a hose that was the right size and could withstand hydraulic fluid. Gratefully, they had a scrap bin and just gave me exactly what I needed at no charge.

Super cool. 🙂

I’ve realized that all the good things I want to do in the world, I’ve realized recently just how central to that whole dream was having a companion to share it with every day. I don’t think I realized just how crucial that was for me to the dream. It’s like without a companion to share it with, all the wind is out of my sales, my motivation… it just… dies.

So… that’s something I get to work on and let go of.

But at the very moment, I’m falling asleep while writing this, so I’m off to bed. G’night, folks. 🙂

Lift the World

~ stephen