I think or say the the term, "that's f-ing bullsh*t!" the most, even if it is not true - I still say it.
I hear people say how you need to remain calm and do this and do that. I agree to some extent, but sometimes you have to yell (even if only in your mind) at the computer too. That's not really a trading tip. But, maybe setting a stop or closing your position, yelling at the computer and then walking away from your screen for a few minutes would be my prescription for you if you are getting too pissed off while trading.
So what do you say to your computer when you are mad?
56 minutes ago
It's great, isn't it? I've been investing for over 20 years, and was Mr. diversified, conservative, Dodge and Cox type guy, until I got blown out of the water last year. So what did I have for 20 years of 401k/IRA/self investing? A grand total loss of 24,000.
ReplyDeleteBuy and hold and mutual funds have been dead to me since Jan. At that time I took virtually everything I had and put it into GLD, and bought married puts to cover the downside. I have since been writing monthly calls and puts on the stock and the long puts. On a GLD only basis, I am nicely up, but I also have to factor in the time decay of the puts, so overall I am down as of today 2%. I am curious if you write calls on your holdings? I started last Sept with regular good quality stocks, but quality ended up not mattering! The calls covered about half the loss the underlying sustained.
Anyway, I like your blog, you are honest, and your thinking is aligned with mine: I hold GLD, a TBT bull put spread, a SPY bear call spread, and only one stock, ESLR, which I believed in but got stuck with since I never used stop losses. I am slowly coming near breakeven on that by writing calls as well.
Let me know your thoughts on writing calls. I have yet to have a losing call write and in the past 9 months I have written hundreds. Just need the damn underlying stock I hold (GLD for now) go consistently up for once! Seems like years since I've seen green numbers on my holdings!