So I opened a Robinhood account on August 24th and I have been OBSESSIVE. All day checking, reading constant articles, reddit threads, looking at stocks, companies, youtube videos, etc. etc. etc. I went up 7.15% on my entire portfolio by Oct. 12th and I was HIGH. I felt like the king of the world. I could not believe that I was so successful. I imagined paying off student loans, my wife has not had a job for about a year so that seemed less threatening, generally I felt like I knew was I was doing.
You know where this is going.
I went negative/positive a bunch on my portfolio. I've made huge swings based off of greed and smart plays based off of reason and logic. The small gains weren't as exciting and the rush of speed needed increased.
However, I felt my day-to-day just SUCKING. My mood would be horse shit and I only had a general happiness when I was doing well. However, my stocks I watch (about 25) would take up my mind with constant "should have would have could have." Stocks I held but sold skyrocketed and just would think: "I can do it again. I can do it again!"
Anyway, I just couldn't take it anymore. I have a little wheel strategy that works for me. I know how to set limit buys and sells. I tried today to just set my limit buys and sells and not check all day for the first time since August 24th (yes I even check on weekends). In the past, I have watched the stocks obsessively and sold at a loss because I fretted so much. Today, I set limit sales and thought: "Hey, if it sells, cool, if not, whatever." Then I received a couple emails of some sales that went through and some after work when market closed that some didn't.
My account is pretty much where it was at the beginning of the day and not thinking about it all day made for a much, much better day and an improved mood.
If you're able to actively trade, good on you. Whenever I do, I can't get over my misses, I overthink everything, and I can't get over stupid mistakes of selling at a loss, buying too high, etc. etc. etc. I'm just destined to be someone who misses the "rocket to the moon" stocks until I can get my emotions in check. I held $TSLA at 380 and others that had I done NOTHING, I could've been sitting in a pretty perch ... but I have paper hands. So from here on out, I'm not monitoring shit - setting stop losses - and doing my little gains per week and I'm good. I have to choose peace and happiness over my addictive behavior.
Submitted November 19, 2020 at 08:38PM by folkwoodswest https://ift.tt/3lZZwsk