When I first started trading I felt like a movie critic who had never seen a movie before. Sure, I had read reviews from other famous critics giving me a play by play of what a movie was like. I had heard the fascinating differences between a drama and comedy, romance and horror. I felt I knew what to expect. Sadly, I learned secondhand knowledge doesn’t hold a light to firsthand experience. It’s one thing to hear or read about a movie, yet another to see it in person.
Take my first bear market for example. A brand new experience I was woefully unprepared for. Rather than having a pleasant run-in with a friendly, docile bear content on stealing my picnic basket, I stumbled upon the kind of bear that will rip your face off and eat your children just because he can. In the midst of my bear market movie watching I felt a bit jealous of my fellow movie goers who had already viewed many such films in the past. Due to their experience they were much better at anticipating future events as the narrative unfolded. As for me, I was surprised by every twist and turn. As the movie concluded I said to myself, “ah, so that’s what a horror movie is really like”.
I’ve seen other movies too. While each is unique and always includes some type of twist, they all have recurring themes which I’ve learned to quickly identify. Everyday is like a new movie. The more I watch, the better critic I become.
The most important lesson I’ve learned is there is no substitute for experience.
For related posts, readers can check out:
The Twitter Trap
A Lucky Conundrum
Sometimes I’m Infected By The Stupidity Virus
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hi tyler ,
was this the 2000-2002 bear or 2008-2009 bear market ?
Hey David,
It was 2008-2009. I didn’t have the pleasure of trading the dot com bust.
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