I’ve been investing since 2016 once I got my first job out of college and had a few bucks to spare. I quickly started to see some gains. Soon after that I discovered options and made ~$6,000 from some SPY puts I luckily bought right before a big dump.
The first one is always free.
Over the next 4 years I stayed pretty flat as my options losses matchehd my stock gains. This was all on Robinhood, by the way. Side note, if you’re using that platform, stop.
Once Covid hit the market in March 2020, I quickly pulled out completely and managed to lose ~$8k. Other than a quick scalp on GME options on runup #2 that netted me ~$1k, I hadn’t touched the market since.
Once I stumbled upon Valhalla on Reddit during the IRNT play, I decided that I had finally found what I had been missing and decided to get back in. What did I find? A free-to-enter community of retail traders who encouraged healthy behavior and smart investing that could collaborate on DD in ways that individuals could not.
Since joining I’ve started doing my own DD, focused on simple theses that are easy to understand for newer traders. This, apparently, was enough to earn me a blue title on Discord (which my wife was surprisingly impressed by). I thought I’d list some of my thoughts here, and open it up for others to do the same, and write some very simple principles that have helped me improve my trading. This isn’t about how to do technical analysis or see through a crystal ball. It’s just things I wish I understood when I first started beyond what we always hear in VC about taking profit.
- Get an amazing entry, or none at all.
- Do not buy something that I might have to sell during a work meeting.
- Never chase a run.
- If I can’t explain it to a layperson, I don’t understand it. If I don’t understand it, it isn’t investing, it’s gambling.
- Whether it’s a loss or a gain, getting out at the right time is paramount.
- If I was right about the price action but wrong about the timing, I was wrong about the price action.
- As long as the stock market exists, there will always be another play.
- Every second I spend mourning missed potential gains is a second not spent looking for the next play.
- Success is defined as beating the market, not being profitable.
- Risk is defined by failing to beat the market, not losing money.
What simple principles or rules have you made for yourself to maintain discipline while investing?