Hey Guys,
The market gapped down overnight. The S&P 500 came down about 40 points between the close yesterday and the open today, and right now it's sitting around 5,270.
My portfolio took a hit along the way. I hit stop losses on three different stock positions, and took losses on three others that reached their time limits. Actually, even before last night's market drop, my portfolio was almost entirely red. Situations like this have happened before, and they'll happen again. They're often hard to live through.
One thing that helps me is to zoom out my perspective. I remember that, for example, in my options account, between November 2022 and March 2024, I had a 207% return. It's a great return, but there were definitely challenges that I faced along the way. I remember one period in 2023 when the market was going up and my account was going down, and it was hard to live through. At that time, there were some tough feelings that came up (fear and frustration, for example), but it turns out that it was all part of a path that led me to substantial gains over time.
I'm definitely not saying that there are guaranteed gains in our future. There is very real risk involved, as we can see right now, and no one can tell the future with certainty. But what I am saying is that historically it's not abnormal to have periods like this, according to both my personal trading experience and according to back test results. If the losses ever feel too heavy, you can always consider dialing back your position size.
I took on a bunch more positions today. In the main account, I bought stock for STE and options for AZN and MMM. In the options account, I bought options for EFA and MS. In the double down account, I bought stock positions for HUM and MMM as well as options for BUD.
If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you.