2025 was my second year filing a tax return with trading as added income. I’m not an expert, but I definitely know a thing or two about staying profitable.
That said, I’ve recently noticed that I’ve been letting FOMO get to me. I don’t exactly chase momentum, but I’ve noticed that sometimes I won’t wait for a full pullback out of a fear of it not pulling completely back and then having to watch price move without me even though I was “right”.
**Some backstory**: I used to hold losers out of a fear of being wrong because being wrong made me feel inadequate. Like I was somehow less of a person because I wasn’t smart, because I got the trade “wrong”. My fear wasn’t tied to loss of capital, but to feeling inadequate.
The reason I mention that is because I think my fear of missing out is related to a desire to be “right”, which is obviously just a different flavor of my fear of being wrong. Recognizing my fear of inadequacy got me to stop holding losers and so I believe recognizing my desire to be “right” will get me to stop entering unfavorably.
At the end of the day, it’s not about being in a trade that moves big, but being in the trade on YOUR terms rather than the market’s terms.
Hopefully that helps someone today👍