Sunday Thoughts

Nothing technical today.

I realize it is a bit hard for me to want to learn something new while I'm testing what I've discovered during my analysis. It's definitely something I would like to change, but at the same time, it grounds me to know that my slogan is literally "learning the market by living it" – I'm doing exactly that.

Trading ETFs is not something I thought was possible, I thought ETFs were only those assets you buy and hold for long term investment with greater dividends. How did I end up trading $XLE? Honestly I read about it on my twitter feed somewhere a couple of weeks ago, I just didn't know it would become what I'd open a contract for. When deciding what to buy, the thought about that post came to mind and I started investigating. I'll do research on how common it is to trade ETFs – it almost sounds like guaranteed money long term and short term honestly. Maybe I'll add them to my Roth IRA, I'll do a whole post on ETFs in the coming days.

I've realized that social media can be detrimental only if you allow it. For example, I don't know any traders in my life, any big investors, nobody's taught me about the stock market. As I've been saying, I've just always been drawn to it, so I interacted with finance related posts on twitter for the most part.

I find it interesting that many successful traders say that the technicals are the easy part, they all say it. Everyone says that the hardest part is the psychological battle, controlling emotions, and having discipline. I wonder if from constantly reading those things I decided to set rules in place, and yes at times they are hard to follow – those times I experienced FOMO I had to choose to not give in.

It's funny looking back to January 1 of this year, when I started this with zero direction, but as I walk the path begins to appear. I may not have accumulated not even hundreds yet, but I feel like I have. The reason being that I've acquired knowledge that the average person may not know, that alone makes me feel like I've gained so much profit. The responsibility it's come with, the discipline it's given me, these things cannot be taken from me. I've only been doing this for a month, and I have 11 more months this year... and I know what I will achieve will be so immense, that I can't even put a limit to it.

I want the fruits of the work, and knowing that I'm already getting there even if it's just knowledge I've gained a lot.