Years ago I spent half a decade attempting to be a swing trader. Over time I realized that buy and hold was superior. I decided to take a long term approach. Not checking the tickers daily. This Buffet quote resonated with me: “If you aren't willing to own a stock for 10 years, don't even think about owning it for 10 minutes.” So I began to accumulate stocks that I thought had potential to be big winners in a decade. However, a lot of these were Cathie Wood type stocks (i.e. SQ, COIN, DKNG, CRSP). I was also influenced a bit by hype and bought some stocks at elevated levels (ASTS, RIOT, SOFI). I liked the thetagang strategy of selling puts at a price where I thought I'd be happy to buy the stock at a discount – but this is part of what put me into some positions at elevated levels ($Z, DKNG, CRSP, $F).
Reviewing my ameritrade portfolio last week, of 25 positions there are 5 in the green and 20 in the red (mostly deep red). I have a separate port for my Roth IRA. Similar green/red splits. Part of the reason for the split is I will sell a position if it runs up fast (like 100% or more) in a short period. But I hold my losers. Another reason is I typically don't buy the megacaps because I figure I already got that covered in my 401k, but those megas are the ones that rallied the most in '23 so far.
I could go on and on with this life story, but I'll get to my main question which is: Is this normal experience for a lot of investors?
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