Modern markets are all about high frequency trading and driving assets higher than they should go and also much lower than they should go.
It's called painting the tape. And yet, knowing how modern manipulated markets work, amatuers are still trading large positions and not diversifying.
tip number one: all your trades should be quite small. heck, trades are nearly free now anyways. why not benefit from all the dirt cheap prices which get posted (slowly dollar cost average), and also the sky high prices offered (slowly trim your winners as they reach new highs and absurd highs).
tip number two: diversify more. have a hundred or more stocks/etfs you're eyeing and nibble when appropriate.
large options trades will wreck you. avoid! options are for institutional traders running algorithmic trading desks. they're used as hedges and leverage, but only because you know how you're trading the underlining asset.
and yeah, gambler's anonymous is exactly what you need. you weren't investing. investing is simply valuing assets based on future cash flows/earnings, total addressable markets, or merger opportunities.
Well, me being a pussy and tip-toeing around obvious good buys, has finally paid off. I avoided most of last weeks chaos and successfully caught the knife.
And because of that, I'm sure yesterday will be blood red tomorrow and I will lose all of my gains. Puts it is.