If you’ve followed my alerts over the course of my career, you know that in addition to a passion for picking stocks and options trades, I also have another passion: I love fishing.
Well, that love almost got me killed last weekend while fishing in a tournament on the Chesapeake Bay.
With swells reaching 10 feet at times, 20-knot winds, and supersized cargo ships pushing out massive wakes, it was all my co-angler and I could do to keep the boat from going under. Thank God his boat’s bilge pump was up to the task!
And I got a great shot of my buddy getting smacked by a big wave at the bow!
But you know what?
That willingness to go where few others will go and facing hardships head on that others would run away from gave us an incredible third-place finish against a world-class field of anglers (with much bigger boats) and put $1,000 in cold, hard cash in my buddy’s pocket for longest snakehead! And oddly enough, that experience reminded me of one of the most important lessons an investor can ever learn.
When markets start rising and falling violently, like the peaks and troughs of those big waves I faced last week, the one thing that’s going to save your life (or your money) is staying calm and keeping your emotions in check.
Panic, be it market-induced or caused by bad weather out on a boat, is your worst enemy.
The past few weeks have been extremely volatile for equities. All three major indexes saw huge downturns and reversals. You needn’t look any further than this one-month chart to see the proof:
As you can see in the chart, throughout September and into the first week of October, there was a lot of panicked selling. But that only means folks missed out on a huge rebound the following week.
The bottom line?
When the market gets choppy, the last thing you want to do is panic and act irrationally.
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Now, I’m not suggesting we stop actively managing our investments, but obsessively refreshing the market action every 15 minutes is an extremely bad habit to get into. Some of the most successful traders on Earth suggest only checking your portfolio performance once a day, or even just weekly if you’re going long.
The pitfalls of emotional investing are straightforward, and any veteran trader will tell you the same. When you don’t check your emotions and you let fear or irrational exuberance influence your trades, you’re liable to:
- Buy stocks at the “top” or sell stocks at the “bottom.”
- Underestimate your real risks.
- Invest in the right sectors at the wrong times.
The moral of the story is simple: When facing life-and-death emergencies like I did on the Chesapeake — or in your portfolio — keep calm, don’t panic, and stick to your plan.
In the long run, you will come out on top!
Now for an Update on Our Two Open Options Trades
Currently, we have two open trades — our DraftKings Inc. October 22, 2021, $57 calls and our Chevron Corp. November 12, 2021, $110 calls — that I want to give guidance on.
If you’re in one or both of these trades or are just curious about how my options system works, I recorded a short five-minute video for your enjoyment (and profits)!
More fresh trades, market updates, and guidance are coming soon. Have a great weekend.
To your wealth,
Sean McCloskey
Editor, Energy and Capital
@TheRL_McCloskey on TwitterAfter spending 10 years in the consumer tech reporting and educational publishing industries, Sean has since redevoted himself to one of his original passions: identifying and cashing in on the most lucrative opportunities the market has to offer. As the former managing editor of multiple investment newsletters, he's covered virtually every sector of the market, ranging from energy and tech to gold and cannabis. Over the years, Sean has offered his followers the chance to score numerous triple-digit gains, and today he continues his mission to deliver followers the best chance to score big wins on Wall Street and beyond as an editor for Energy and Capital.
P.S. Have you been paying attention to Bitcoin’s incredible surge? Before you get too excited, I have to tell you — now is NOT the time to join the herd of BTC buyers.
Why?
After running from $450 to $66,000 over the past five years, it is unlikely to repeat that type of performance.
Instead, the way you make money in cryptocurrencies right now is to look at other, smaller, more niche cryptos. Cryptos like Solana (SOL) have climbed in price from $29 to $157 since July! And a little-known token called Cardano (ADA) is up 2,090% year to date! These types of cryptocurrencies are known as altcoins, and they have plenty of upside. Most importantly, my colleague Christian DeHaemer has identified six of these coins and featured them in his trading service Launchpad Trader.
Learn more now before the surge is over, and all the easy money has already been made.
