The Learning Never Stops

Sean McLaughlin
August 7, 2024

What do you do when the stock market sh*t hits the fan?

Be honest.

Do you tend to freak out and panic into quick exits? (if so, you aren’t alone!)

Do you recoil in fear and call it “zen detachment?” (there are more of these than you know!)

Do you get busy reading everything you can, talking to everyone you can, and watching all the financial TV you can to try to figure out why this volatility is happening?

Do you stoically go down with the ship turning your trades into investments?

We all have our different ways of dealing with the mental volatility that stock market volatility stokes in all of us. These past couple of weeks have revealed new things to ourselves.

Maybe we’re not as good at dealing with volatility as we thought we might be.

Maybe the market moves revealed our positioning sizing is too aggressive.

Maybe the whipsaw action has shown that our stops are too tight and we should trade smaller with wider stops?

Maybe you survived unscathed and recent market action validated your risk management protocols.

Win or lose, good or bad, we’ve all learned something these past two weeks. Yes, even you!

Whatever lessons you learned, write them down. Internalize them. Build upon them.

We’ll all be better traders when we continue to learn new lessons.

What have you learned? If you’re willing to share, I’d love to hear from you.

Sean McLaughlin | Chief Options Strategist, All Star Charts

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