Regardless of our investment strategies, I guess we all can agree that predicting price movement is the ultimate method for making maximum profits. However, there are just too many methods claiming to be the best way to make those predictions. If you’d asked me, I will say that if those methods worked, then algorithmic investing will yield ultra-high profits such that no one will ever invest or trade themselves again. This tells us that none of those methods are actually “accurate” and all those instruments do is to give us signals. That is the reason why I will be spending some time to pen down my personal views and thought processes when investing.

Staying confident in the midst of uncertainties

When anyone first starting investing and trading, they will generally feel extremely uncertain if they putting up a huge amount relative to their net worth. That uncertainty basically messes with their objectivity and that might lead to illogical decisions such as selling at a loss or a small profit just to regain control over their capital. While that anxiety is more prevalent for beginners, I argue that it never really goes away even for experienced investors. That is why a big step when learning to invest is to stay confident even when there is a high level of uncertainty in the markets.

Balancing contentment with greed

Whether the markets are performing normally or extraordinarily well, investors will come across situations when there are price spikes during the day. When that happens, you will literally be tested on how greedy you are because the price might plunge in a matter of seconds leaving u with a potential loss of hundreds to even thousands of dollars. Hence, it is during those times when investors, and especially traders are tested in terms of their level of greed and contentment. Let’s say that you have already hit your desired target but that price spike actually went way above your target and continues to climb with high price volatility, what would you have done at that point in time. As a rule, if you are caught in those situations, it is ok to sell if it is already above your price targets.

Looking through a peephole but asked to draw a portrait

The last and most important point is more of an artistic point of view. To me investing is like trying to paint a portrait when all you can see is through a single peephole. This means that you will feel constantly deprived of information when investing so there is an urge to just keep looking into the peephole to gather as much information as possible. Even so, you will feel that you might have missed out on critical information to complete the task at hand and this is amplified when things do not go as planned. In such cases, you would have experienced the exact feelings during a prolonged downturn such as the 2020 financial crisis caused by the pandemic.

Closing thoughts

The whole idea of this post is not to scare away amateurs or people who are looking to invest in stocks themselves. I just hope that my honesty can prevent all kinds of delusions and false hope put into certain instruments, techniques, and indicators. At best, those tools can only provide signals to support our personal sentiments. My best advice to investors is to void themselves of all the necessary noise around them and focus on their plans and strategies. After all, it is harder to focus when all you can really see is through that tiny peephole.