Today, I am going to do a short post about timing the market, both when you buy and when you sell. The reason I am talking about this is because just 2 days after selling my shares in a property stock, I watched its value shot up by 4% while the transaction is still in the midst of settlement (T+3). That could have reaped me an additional returns of $150 but I was too impatient. Therefore, I have decided to write this post to remind myself about the pitfalls of impatience and not knowing the stock you buy well enough.
With regards to the stocks that I purchase, its actually Oxley Holdings. I was getting uneasy after it held at the $0.465 level for a few weeks. Thus, I sold it 2 days earlier and watching the price shot up today made me feel inadequate as an investor. I guess the main reason why I sold the stock was because I did not had an in depth knowledge about Oxley Holdings as a company other than the fact that the CEO was a former cop. I was treating it as a speculation play after hearing hot tips from friends. Moreover, after going through the various investing and trading materials that I have been doing, I decided to sell it as I did not know the stock very well.
Therefore, this incident has reinforced my beliefs that I need to study extremely hard for the next few weeks before the winter holidays are over. The failed bulge bracket interview, the prop trading lesson that I have went through, all are good indications of my own naivety and eventually, it has to stop somewhere. Working harder and harder, I have to brush up my skills and resolve more to win over myself.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteDon't have to regret when you sell a stock too early. The most important thing is to know why you sell it. Market timing is quite impossible actually. It is very hard to know when exactly is a low or a high. You can use technical analysis to determine entry or exit points but that too is not perfect. As investors, we can only plan the best and act accordingly.
Hi,
DeleteI do agree with you and the regret came more from not knowing what I buy well enough. I knew that I was also selling too early as Oxley announced a 3 cents dividends per share and I did not hold it out too long because I thought that there was a better opportunity for the profitable capital to be put to use.
Now, I just realized that my broker has sent a cheque instead of crediting the amount into my bank directly. That will make me extremely disappointed if I am not able to make a purchase I want at the right price from the sale of Oxley Holdings.