Oh, Woe is Me!
Today was an awful day. Well, sort of.
OK. I might be getting a bit dramatic here. I suffered no harm to myself or my trading accounts (though I’m sure my 401k took a hit). My pain is only psychological and I’m sure I’ll get over it soon enough.
You see today the stock market had one of those days I love as a trader. There was a big unidirectional move. In this case it was sharply to the downside. [In case you are not aware, I'm a professional stock market analyst, so I'm referring to the U.S. stock market here.]
I missed it!
Because I had a meeting-filled day, I didn’t get in on the fun. I was witness to the Philly Fed figures coming out amazingly low, but that was about the last of my stock market focus for the day. I did catch a little bit of what was going on in the 1:30 timeframe, and then again during the last hour, but by that time it was really too late and I was still too focused on other things to really give it full attention.
The fact that I wasn’t on-hand during that time after the Philly Fed prevented me from developing a short strategy for the day. That kept me from being in on what I figure would have been at least 30 points in gains on a short position. So I’m left ranting about missed opportunity.
Yes, I know another trade will come along. Like I said, I’ll get over it, eventually.
There’s a point to this post beyond just ranting, though. You see I know about myself that to me there is more pain seeing the opportunity and not taking advantage of it than in actually losing on a trade. To me, losses are part of the process. They’re going to happen. Missing a great trade, though, stinks.
That mindset, however, can be problematic. It tends to make me press with my trading at times. I’m aware of this, though, so I can compensate.
What about you? Are you aware of flaws in the way you approach trading?
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