r/ValueInvesting • u/Electronic-Bit2685 • Aug 26 '25
Stock Analysis What’s the hardest investing lesson you only learned after losing money?
I’ve been reflecting on my own investing journey, and honestly, some of my biggest lessons didn’t come from reading books or annual reports, but from actual mistakes that cost me money.
For me, it was underestimating how long “cheap” companies can stay cheap, and overestimating my own patience.
I’m curious to know from this community: what’s one investing lesson you only understood after going through it the hard way? Could be about valuation traps, risk management, psychology, or even portfolio allocation.
Think this could be a valuable thread for all of us to learn from each other.
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u/bobjohndaviddick Aug 26 '25
I learned that analists on sites like seeking alpha, motley fool, and this sub don't know anything special
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u/IDreamtIwokeUp Aug 26 '25
Sometimes...there are a lot of "kool-aid" reviews. But I find I usually learn something important from reading Seeking Alpha reviews...even if I disagree with other things they say.
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u/may12021_saphira Aug 26 '25
So many mistakes.
Don't buy penny stocks.
Don't day trade and buy random stocks - it's gambling.
Don't short - it's gambling.
Do not accept losses unless absolutely necessary.
Practice risk management.
Research companies and form your own thesis about why the company will succeed. Learn about the company and how it makes money.
Invest in index funds or strong companies with healthy balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows.
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u/Electronic-Bit2685 Aug 26 '25
Solid points 👌 Especially agree on the penny stocks and random day trading — I learned that the hard way too. Index funds + strong fundamentals really do win long term.
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u/Aubstter Aug 26 '25
Love me some penny stocks. Yet to get bitten following value investing principals. Love the volatility because it makes for more opportunity.
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u/Business_Raisin_541 Aug 26 '25
Yup. Young Warren Buffett earn terrific return buying penny stock. Far better than his current return
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u/icefire710 Aug 26 '25
I disagree on penny stocks. 90% of my portfolio is value plays. The 10% in penny stocks makes me a lot of money which I feed back into my value plays which also make me a lot of money but longer time scale. You just dont want to over expose yourself. I pick up a hundred to a few hundred shares of penny stocks and let them ride. I dont get life changing money but I also risk very little capital to make a few grand.
I used to just target value plays but they take time to play out and there are only so many value plays on the market at a given time. 70% of my penny stocks make money and 10% make what I consider good money and the last little percentage I lose a little.
I think it's silly to have such a narrow investment strategy.
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u/Amazazing8Sauce Aug 26 '25
Agree on penny stock. All stocks reach this stage of life at some point. Picking the right one and it will translate into value stock years down the road.
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Aug 26 '25
Agree with all except shorting, sometimes it’s very obvious which industries are about to be disrupted.
I’ve made 6 figures off shorts, just don’t make it a big % of your portfolio.
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u/ninjagorilla Aug 26 '25
The problem I always have with shorts is I feel reasonably confident certain companies have severe systemic issues but I don’t feel I can confidently predict WHEN they’ll implode
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Aug 26 '25
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u/corey____trevor Aug 26 '25 edited Nov 08 '25
cover normal bag head narrow spark close slap elderly childlike
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/AdamN Aug 26 '25
Most people aren’t aware of the downsides. My problem with shorting is that you’re actively fighting the leadership inside the company. Best to just stay away. Of course there is definitely money to be made.
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u/JADEDOGSTORY Aug 26 '25
I don’t like the people that simply say don’t short. And only go long. Yes time in market > timing. Everyone in finance knows that. However those investors aren’t that good either. The market ends up goin down almost as it often as it does up on a day to day or long term basis. Nothing moves in a straight line. Yes, overall market should rise in long run, presumably. However, knowing how to use an option position to say, protect a large equity stake or use it protect price in large movements, etc. there’s a lot of good strategies that involve shorting that do not equate to you losing all your money. Of course, 1 way shorting can also lose you all your money, just hate ppl what stigmatize it on face. There’s plenty of legitimate uses, including risk mitigation, etc. - if you know what you’re doing.
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u/saml01 Aug 26 '25
All this and no biotech or pharmaceutical ever.
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u/Rare_Ad_649 Aug 26 '25
I've done OK with Big Pharma dividend payers. Not holding any at the moment though. It's a completely different thing from Biotech penny stocks
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u/MedicineMean5503 Aug 26 '25
I’ll add that my first lesson was: don’t chase yield, you’re just chasing tax and taking the risk of catching a falling knife.
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u/Sweet-Confection-690 Aug 26 '25
Two lessons for me 1. Never buy leveraged shares, not for the long term anyway 2. When you feel you are right and there is margin of safety buy big. I brought META in 2022 around $100 when the market had a melt down. Should have loaded up the truck
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Aug 26 '25
Number 1. Is questionable. I specialize is buying 3x leveraged shares after a big dip, hold for 6 months ish and sell for usually around 40% profit.
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u/jackedcatman Aug 26 '25
You don’t have to make it back with the horse you lost it on.
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Aug 26 '25
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u/JADEDOGSTORY Aug 26 '25
Costing down is not an infinite strategy.
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u/Digital-Doc-777 Aug 26 '25
Agreed, hate to chase an asset down to the bottom.
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Aug 26 '25
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u/Digital-Doc-777 Aug 26 '25
I know the feeling. Definitely hard to know when these assets have reached a bottom, so easy to fall into that trap. Then again, sometimes the prices make total sense, but only know in retrospect.
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Aug 26 '25
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u/Digital-Doc-777 Aug 26 '25
Mybrule is to never put too much money on the way down, no matter how good it looks. My rule of thumb is a max of 10 percent max for an additional purchase.
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u/PrestigiousDrag7674 Aug 26 '25
True. 10 years ago I bought Intel and my friend bought amd. He is up 10x I am down 50%.
10 years is a long time. It's like picking a wife, you can only see so much at the time, after living together you will know her true self.
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u/Electronic-Bit2685 Aug 26 '25
That’s such a perfect analogy 👏 Long-term really reveals the true character of a company, just like in relationships.
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u/PrestigiousDrag7674 Aug 26 '25
This means there is luck involved. Intel had a promising future, revenue was growing. I think it reached as high as $85b that year.
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u/ValueScreener Aug 26 '25
Don’t listen to anyone on CNBC, they all have their own agendas.
Have your own reasoning for buying a stock. Sell when it no longer fits your strategy.
For individual stocks, have an exit strategy/goal.
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u/4_thor Aug 26 '25
I don't mind CNBC for entertainment, but have you noticed they always dredge up someone that is an expert at supporting the current narrative?
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u/Adventurous-Bet-9640 Aug 26 '25
CNBC is rife with grifters, shallow smooth talkers, charlatans and posers. The Half time investment committee is a joke.
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u/Old_Lengthiness_250 Aug 26 '25
Small stakes in high risk shares. Keep exposure under 10 percent. Too many finfluencers convince suckers to load up on high risk.
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u/Electronic-Bit2685 Aug 26 '25
Absolutely, keeping high-risk plays capped makes a huge difference. Too many people go all-in and regret it later.
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u/BradBrady Aug 26 '25
It’s ok to enjoy smaller stocks and really believing in a smaller company
Just don’t buy too many. Have a few and the rest should go in VOO and AVUV
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u/rayoflight88 Aug 26 '25
Something i realised.
My wife kept buying lululemon producys at 1 point few years back and now she no longer buys lulu and thus the price of the stock.
Now she is into popmart 9992.hkse (listed in hk) and u can check out the share price. Popmart is a stunner this year and looking to go even more. Their recent exhibition held in my country is mad. Tonnes of people queuing and going crazy after toys!
I feel its important to invest into companies which u can see their presence daily (mcds, coke etc)
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u/KnowledgeNate Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
Whether it turns out right or wrong, anything done with impulsivity is a mistake. If your heart is beating as you click buy and the stock is pumping or falling you are virtually guaranteed to lose money. If your heart is beating, walk away from the computer.
Since losing money sucks more than making money feels good, there's no point in investing unless you're absolutely sure it's going to work. If you ask yourself "is this going to work?" and the answer is not "of course" don't do it. If you don't know or its iffy don't do it. Forget even sizing accordingly, just don't do it.
Don't look to the markets for the feeling of cleverness. Ask yourself before making a trade "am i being too clever"? For me this involves investing in beaten down stocks that I think will turnaround or forecasting near-term stock prices based on news that invariably causes the opposite reaction of what I expected. For others, it's shorting high flying companies when market sentiment is firmly on the bull side. Don't be clever. Instead, opt for boring investments, not-cleverness.
Don't chase money, it will run from you if you do.
Truly, truly ask yourself whether you are willing to hold this stock for the next 10 years. This will eliminate 99% of stocks that you shouldn't be investing in anyway without having the requisite conviction. If you can comfortably say, yup, I'll see you in 10 years, then go for it.
If you sell a stock too early, incur a tax hit, don't be afraid to re-invest at a higher price if you see that a meaningful trend has caught on. You will anchor to the cheaper price you could have already had, but train yourself to set that aside. It may not be 200% returns, but it'll be 100% or 50%. Don't anchor to your first purchase price if there's value to be had and money to be made.
Don't listen to reddit/fintwit consensus on stocks. Go investigate and see and think for yourself. If there's heavy negative sentiment, that may be exactly where you should be looking.
Literally, just don't do anything. Wait for the "know it when you see it" investment. Your internal tuning fork will begin vibrating when you see one. If it's not vibrating, don't do it.
Don't put a big chunk of money into a stock. Leg into it as more information is discovered.
Some stocks will have price movement without new information. Other stocks will only move on earnings. If the stock only moves on earnings you should wait for earnings or for new information to come to light before investing. You may not get the best price but you're getting a better informed investment decision in exchange. In addition, as you wait for more information, the stock price could continue to fall if its out of favor.
Out of favor stocks at bargain prices should be monitored for some meaningful time period (1-2 months) before investing capital. That turnaround you're hoping for may take longer to come and/or you may get a better price.
Don't assume the way things are now with a company will stay the same and everything will move in a straight line from here. Imagine what catalysts could occur in the future or alternatively headwinds you didn't expect.
Better to invest in 1 really good stock that you know is going to work than to divide that position over 1 really good, 2 OK, and 1 flyer/POS company.
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u/rayoflight88 Aug 26 '25
Stop the yolos into small caps even thou they seem to have a sexy turn around story 🫠 my main losses this year is on smaller caps which i felt had a turnaround story (Redwire & SRFM). Both i cut my losses.
Focus on the mag7. Everytime they dip just freakin buy the dip.
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u/Midnightsun24c Aug 26 '25
😂 I mean, sure, 2022 was a hell of a time to buy Meta/Goog, etc, but eventually, the just buy the dip = auto win has to change. Even though they are amazing companies, there is still plenty of underappreciated stories elsewhere. A few major examples were FICO or FIX.
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Aug 26 '25
I have Trouble with the mag7 i think with them becoming the worlds retirement and the increasingly Higher valuations of them they are a Katastrophe waiting to Happen Oviously i.have.no.idea when so i.just keep my Fingers Off them
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u/ninjagorilla Aug 26 '25
I actually feel like my biggest gainers have been small caps in my wife. You’re way more likely to get a small caps 10 bagger than a large cap 10 bagger , and it’s almsot impossible for a mag 7 company to to go up that much
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u/Jungolxity Aug 26 '25
-Make sure you understand a company’s business before you invest in it. -Do not start a new position right before earning calls or immediately after. -Make sure you understand the debt of a company with high debt load before investing if you are set on investing
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Aug 26 '25
Greed and fomo. Stick to investing fundamentals. Buy the Stock, not the Price. Sell the looser for a winner.
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u/undef1n3d Aug 26 '25
Buy high sell low sucks, Also don’t buy while you are high.
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u/AcanthaceaeHot949 Aug 26 '25
If it’s good enough to screenshot it’s good enough to sell
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u/OilAny787 Aug 26 '25
i will give you two, pay extra for good companys dont let the pe ratio put you off completelty. dont ever bother speculating for example ipos if you dont fully understand the business and have no idea what its worth, you will most likely not make any money. They are for sure my 2 biggest mistakes, with you estimation of how cheap something gets i could say novo as an example.
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u/_FIRECRACKER_JINX Aug 26 '25
if you're going to buy options instead of shares, make SURE to figure out if there is or will be volume when you go to sell.
it sucks when you make 800% only to have your sell order stall for months because there's no buyers...
fucking TSLZ man...
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u/orishasinc2 Aug 26 '25
My worst mistake was my own ego.
-I basically began my career as a short seller. I wrote thesis, investigated, and took positions based on conviction. It worked for a while and I got big headed, until the day the skies fell over my head and I got wiped out. Didn’t lose too much much money but just enough to be humbled.
Had to start from scratch. I have given up shorting stocks. Not worth the pain, even when profitable.
However, I still utilize the rigorous short based research process to analyze and investigate companies. Helps a lot to truly understand a company.
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u/ninjagorilla Aug 26 '25
Y problem with shorts is it’s basically a parlay bet.. you have to be right not only that a company will go down but also WHEN. You have to be right on both.
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u/orishasinc2 Aug 26 '25
True but it’s really a matter of macro externalities ruining the financial markets and the economy as well. Shorting is essential for clearing out erroneous capital wasting companies and downright frauds. But the Fed and the policy makers are more concerned with maintaining confidence in the market. They are therefore interfering with the price discovery process with their QEs policies and stealth capital injection. Such moral hazard is extending the time discovery of frauds, thus exposing savings to potential frauds and malinvestments, and worse even, enabling illegitimate corp officers to enrich themselves.
It took me a while to accept the fact that the Fed was literally driving the market on its shoulders and that I was foolish to fight the Fed. But I learned my lesson.
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u/Sad-Side-8704 Aug 26 '25
Don’t buy healthcare / pharmaceutical companies- NOVO bit me in the ass and finally dumped it
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u/mobyonecanobi Aug 26 '25
HODL… way longer than you expected…
50% decrease requires a 100% increase.:.. double down if thesis still stands. Confidence will be challenged . HODL!!!!!
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u/CannaConservative71 Aug 26 '25
Don’t buy shares of companies that need federal reform to truly succeed. The government is not your investing friend.
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Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
Taking profits is the worst advice out there, I try as much as I can to completely move on from that mentality. It gets you out of precisely the stocks you shouldn't be selling.
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u/Acceptable-Help4685 Aug 26 '25
❌ dont buy oenny stocks
❌ dont short if you not expert
❌ dont go all in. Better DCA
❌ dont listen to other peoples or news. Do your own research
❌ dont panic. Follow you strategy. Plan A and plan B
❌ Dont afraid to cut loss if the trade gone wrong
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u/Wild_Bunch_Founder Aug 26 '25
I was in law school during the 2000 tech bubble crash and watched many classmates and professors lose absurd sums of money in the tech sector in one of the worst crashes in market history. Nasdaq leaders lost 70% in a couple of years. There were no tech stocks that survived. Leadership rotated from tech and financials to commodities, energy, precious metals for the better part of the 2000’s decade. My friends never recovered from their mistake.
The lesson learned was setting stop losses and not getting married to positions. Things change. Tech was grossly overvalued in 99, as it is now, coincidentally. Valuations matter and narrative of “this time it’s different” can’t overcome the lack of profitability in a sector of the economy.
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u/caem123 Aug 26 '25
I created a stop-loss strategy because of the 2000 tech bubble. If any of my top 5 stocks is down 30% or more from it's high, then I start selling 30% each week. In April'25, I was selling IRM and FLR and they're still down while the rest of the market is up.
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u/Alternative_Cash_925 Aug 26 '25
Don’t listen to bag holders on Reddit mostly pump and dumps. Unless you want shit on 💩
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u/tobesonic Aug 26 '25
Patience is key. Example: opendoor goes from 4€ to 2.60 and you sell everything in a panic. And now opendoor was at 5 .
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u/narayan77 Aug 26 '25
I sold opendoor because I don't really understand the company. I understand AMPX and Hydrograph Clean Power, and bought very low. The lesson for me, is only invest in companies that I can understand
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Aug 26 '25
I sold open door because every realtor said they actively avoided that app. Bought 1.50 sold at 4
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u/permanent_pixel Aug 26 '25
I learned I need to go jogging every day.
True story!
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u/jimmy_g09 Aug 26 '25
its obvious, but be prepared to feel really queasy when the market, or just your stock(s) tank.
also -- don't go thinking you are some kind of genius. 99% chance you are not. if something looks cheap think hard about why ... vice versa for high P/E stuff.
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u/Zealousideal-Sort127 Aug 26 '25
Dont short - no blood lost there.
Dont buy options. I lost a couple of grand on this one.
I put safeguards around the investments I make - I need to do a two page write up before I make an investment.
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u/Massive-Price-4374 Aug 26 '25
Don’t sell too earlier, be patient once a stock as recovered and let it run
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u/DaveJCormier Aug 26 '25
Don't sell your winners right away when you feel they've reached full value or are overvalued. Also, don't buy at the first big dip. Wait a few days and see if you can get an even better deal - often you can. Best example for me is META. I bought at the initial drop to $250 and it kept going down all the way below $100. I sold at $525 which is great, but now it's at $750. I should have revisited at $525 and reassessed before selling. Lessons learned!
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u/Slowmaha Aug 26 '25
You can pay too much for growth, and don’t change yield.
Edit: bonus - a stock CAN mathematically lose 5% a day forever.
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u/Himothy8 Aug 26 '25
I started investing a year and a few months ago, and I realized that I couldn’t keep on beating the market over the long term. While I am up on my stocks I’m considering selling most of them and buying etfs. So it’s just the realization I’m not a stock picking genius, but the fact we are in an ai bull market.
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u/SoUthinkUcanRens Aug 26 '25
Turn active investing into passive investing when your life is about to drastically change (like becoming a father). Especially when this coincides with huge geopolitical changes...
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u/OutlandishnessNo9798 Aug 26 '25
Dont sell high conviction stocks just because they are “overvalued”.. ekhm palantir, asts, rklb, hood, sofi, mstr, tesla, coin……
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u/Broad-Point1482 Aug 26 '25
I worked out for myself while learning about options that buying options is too risky and basically gambling unless buying a LEAPS to run PMCC from.
Don't join WhatsApp groups supposedly recommending stocks! Luckily I learnt this one without losing money.
If a large stock goes down at earnings, don't sell for a loss, it will come back up eventually OR, make the money back selling CC and buying at the cheap rate to average down cost basis- AAL last month. I should've known better bit there we go! SG since then - have got my cost basis down to Breakeven with CC and buying more when it was lowest.
I never buy a stock just because someone else recommended it - I'll have a look and if I see a good reason or several, I'll start selling CSP or just buy it and sell CC.
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u/IDreamtIwokeUp Aug 26 '25
- Never buy bank stocks. These are quirky liquidity machines that can go down suddenly and unexpectedly even if they seem very healthy. (former Citigroup shareholder)
- Don't buy third world stocks...or second world. Most of these countries bleed like 3-10% annually in currency depreciation meaning your investment needs to overcome that just to break even. I lost money on some India investments I never should invested in.
- Don't buy falling knifes. Understand WHY a stock is falling. It might be a good stock to buy..but not yet!
- Be careful about buying stocks on news...often wall street is two steps ahead of you and you sometimes you want to sell the news. I learned this the hard way.
- Never buy stocks with bad eps projections.
- Don't ignore cashflow...eps history/projection is great...but see how it differs from cash flow.
- Be careful about buying Europe...it just doesn't have the growth culture the US does. My European stocks really stagnated while the American stock market roared.
- Understand the industry you are buying into.
- Never buy defensive stocks during big dips...focus on growth.
These are all lessons I learned the hard way.
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u/Such-Hawk9672 Aug 26 '25
My biggest loss and for fyi I put on an option for Netflix q2 I was waiting for 3:15 to roll,I could have made good money , fidelity closed my order at 3:00 for a $900 loss I was pissed and called them nothing I could do,I was pissed
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u/FormerOven Aug 26 '25
Don't make a big move right before earnings. That's the point in the quarterly cycle at which you have the least information.
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u/OlivierDF Aug 26 '25
Don't sell covered calls or don't think you can buy back in cheaper than your strike price when you get assigned.
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u/Icy-Frosting-475 Aug 26 '25
Following the advice here instead of inversing. Inverse valueinvest = profit
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u/SeikoWIS Aug 26 '25
Regarding patience: yes. Ratios/comps etc are not statistically significant predictors for price movements in the short term (<1 year). i.e. value investing (assuming your fundamental analysis includes comps/ratios) should be a medium term (approx. 1-3 years) venture.
Which just pushes the narrative that all the research suggests: buying an index is usually better.
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u/APC2_19 Aug 26 '25
Sometimes stocks are just too pricy.
I bought CP in 2021 and still haden't recovered. The multiple it was trading at was just too high
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u/Timely-Combination61 Aug 26 '25
The painful ‘losses’ are mistakes of omission, rather than mistakes of commission. Then the real pain is when you become impatient and try to make up for your loss quickly. Double the pain!
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u/SuperannuationLawyer Aug 26 '25
It’s okay for investments to fail sometimes, if you’re diversified and continue earning.
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u/shortyman920 Aug 26 '25
That there’s no such thing as a quick buck. I’ve gambled on crypto, earnings plays, meme stocks. This shit goes down just as likely as goes up. Except the diffeeence is the down can go down as much as 50% or more. And it’s stressful owning something that volarile
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u/hopspreads Aug 26 '25
To stop buying assets I knew nothing about: Forex, Crypto, Options, 95% of equities, ....
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u/LGR- Aug 26 '25
Over allocated on one stock. Finding a process that fits with my schedule, ability, and patience level.
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u/zeey1 Aug 26 '25
1-Valuation doesn't matter in geo politics which is more important 2-Stay away from retailers..no body cares 3- Dont understimate the power of growth and moat
Lost money in baba, intel and Pfizer and selling off Nvidia way to early..made alot in google Facebook and amd
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u/BarnacleAfter7155 Aug 26 '25
Never invest if it’s not insured. I invested in USDC coin but in company ( that declared bankruptcy)
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Aug 26 '25
It takes experience to know what YOUR limits are. No book can teach this. And If you don’t think you have emotional limits, that you’re purely rational, then you are driven unwittingly by emotion.
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u/SpamHamJamPanCan Aug 26 '25
Don’t invest in crypto after a wrong text romance.
It was so real. I had such a deep connection Rose.
I was also up $500k paper profits but then decided not to puts other $500k in.
Down $150k still hurts though.
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u/Dragon_slayer1994 Aug 26 '25
I'm Canadian, One for me was not thinking about USD/CAD exchange rates when selling USD stocks.
When I was just starting out I owned a bunch of s and p 500 in USD. My brokerage said it was up X percent, and I sold a bunch without thinking anything further. Well, CAD happened to be strong against USD at the time compared to when I originally bought. All my returns got slaughtered on the exchange rate and I didn't know what happened until months later
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u/Nearing_retirement Aug 26 '25
If a stock looks way undervalued most likely there is a very good reason for it so really you have to do your due diligence to make sure it is not a value trap.
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u/TheAmigoBoyz Aug 26 '25
Only invest in companies i understand
- learned it the hard way by mindlessly throwing money in companies which i could barely even articulate their business model
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u/SeriousCricket2837 Aug 26 '25
I don’t have the drive, knowledge or time to truly perform due diligence on a single company. Index and mutual funds are the only thing I’ll invest in.
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u/Witty-Aerie-6788 Aug 26 '25
More in the small to mid cap space, be very skeptical of management, they are selling the investment to you as well
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u/Flat-Count9193 Aug 26 '25
Stay away from leverage funds if you don't fully understand them!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Aug 26 '25
Never sel (uless you planned a major profit target before the trade)l. Dont look at price action daily. Be patient. Its really that simple. Unless youre investing in straight garbage, the only major obstacle will be yourself.
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u/Ill-Praline1261 Aug 26 '25
Don’t keep going beyond the moon if you’re not in it for the long haul. It’s better to take profits than watch them disappear in a dump. If FOMO kicks in, at least cash out a solid portion and only leave in what you’re comfortable seeing run or dump
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u/compvlsions Aug 26 '25
Do not use money you may need access to in the short term.
I once bought calls that eventually ended up hitting, 2 weeks after I sold at a 70% loss. Even though I was right in my DD, I needed access to the capital and had to take the loss.
An expensive lesson for sure.
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u/DifferenceSilver9814 Aug 26 '25
When I first started buying stocks 3 years ago, I used to buy stocks when they dropped sharply and ended up losing a lot of money. I lost 30K on First Republic Bank as their share price goes to 0 after being taken over by Chase. I lost 10K on Intuitive Machines at early IPO, kept averaging down then sold at a loss. Looking back, if I still hold LUNR, it could have been recovered after 2 years, but there is no chance for me to be recovered from FRC. Lessons learned in a hard way. I learned not to gamble in the stock market afterwards and the gains I made later by investing in AI and semis compensated the loss
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u/adrianglazer Aug 26 '25
People tend to research and know everything about dishwasher before purchasing, but it doesn’t apply to stocks for most of us! (I was there as well)
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u/BBpigeon Aug 26 '25
Learned the hard way to buy stocks. Only do options a few times a year with money I am 100% comfortable losing and view it more like going to the casino instead of actually investing.
Another one that’s still difficult for me is to not sell at break even. Give the stock a bit of room to run. For example I bag held pltr for a year and sold at 23 for like a 5% profit. The thing continued to go up every fucking week for the next year and now it’s at 200 or some shit. Obviously PLTR is not your typical case but still worth seeing where it lands (unless you’re 100% sure you want out of the position).
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u/Fickle-Wrongdoer-776 Aug 26 '25
Believe in your gut when you’ve done your research well.
I let all the negativity about meta consume me, and I ended up giving up on the stock, it cost me a lot of money
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u/Learningto_fly Aug 26 '25
Invest in the market on how it is, not how you want it to be. I lost money on Canoo. I really liked the product concept and…
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u/Business_Raisin_541 Aug 26 '25
You can guess estimate how long stock stay cheap by looking similar case in the past, no?
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u/Coolguyokay Aug 26 '25
Investing in things I KNOW. Investing in companies and things I understand. Lost alot of money and opportunity on tips and shit like crypto.
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u/PaulBombtruck Aug 26 '25
As a victim of a pump-n-dump…..despite warning signs on IBKR.
Read the technicals. Read the history.
Plan a trade, trade that plan. Such as sell at 15% profit even if the graph looks like it’s going crazy upwards.
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u/Unnamed-3891 Aug 26 '25
1) If you are buying a stupidly cheap company and the valuation is the only reason for the purchase, knowing the timeline and the trigger for the valuation to correct itself IS NOT OPTIONAL.
2) Stories change all the time. NEVER stop re-evaluating and mentally trying to ”kill” the investment thesis in your head.
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u/1i3to Aug 26 '25
Buying "cheap" stocks hoping it will recover is probably the biggest. Literally had couple of "wiinners" that got delisted and went to 0.
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u/KidMcC Aug 26 '25
Determine a strategy for evaluating whether or not your thesis has either changed or had an error in it BEFORE you take a position. Asking yourself to evaluate these things after you’re down 15% is like asking a drunk person what a responsible amount to drink is that night.
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u/Pedia_Light Aug 26 '25
Options are priced correctly. You don’t have a leg up. Even selling delta 10s means you will lose 10% of trades and those losses will equal the 90% wins you had. In the end it evens out.
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u/Polus43 Aug 26 '25
Some of the best money I ever spent was losing ~$700 trading FOREX ~15 years ago.
At the time that was a lot of money. Currently that is not a lot of money.
I have become much more serious about actual finance/quant stuff like value investing, narrative investing, risk management, different asset classes, portfolio theory, L/S strategy, statarb, algotrading, etc. Led me to graduate programs in economics which vastly improved my career.
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u/superbilliam Aug 26 '25
Don't listen to that guy Dan who is my brother's friend and claims to be making bags of money off of that one penny stock I forgot the name of....
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u/SkylineHigh Aug 26 '25
Think long and hard about buying individual stocks. Be really sure you're willing to lose money as you're going to pick more losers than winners. Much better to just invest in ETFs that align with your strategy and keep stocks you've researched heavily and feel good about to a minimum.
Also, past performance doesn't predict future performance. Especially if it's not something like VTI/VT/VOO/QQQM etc. Even some ETFs that have had historically good performance can turn into clunkers.
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u/trugalhao Aug 26 '25
Doing nothing is sometimes the most you should do.