When it comes to investing in stocks or crypto we all have our fallacies. In fact most of us we got to be so called investors from our couch by doing maybe minimal research, reading about some tipsters or getting the advice from some influencer. So what do I mean when I am saying to stop being your own enemy? Well, it all comes down from the advice your parents gave you when you were little: don't take candy from strangers! You don't know who they are, you don't know their ulterior motives and why they are so giving... In the same way, who's really the person that gives you financial, both stocks or crypto advice and are they just give away freebies? Myself I've started to get tired of such people claiming they can predict the markets and I simply don't buy it anymore. In time I think I became allergic to hype and to people shouting left and right that it is a good deal and that you should jump investing blindly. No sir, not anymore.
Investing from hype instead of analyzing and due diligence
When investment "opportunities" come my way, I tend to sleep over that (really sleep 1 or 2 nights without taking any decisions) and simply let my mind get some clarity about the context of them and their viability. It is like those ambulant sellers that come at you with amazing deals, you don't even have time to think over it and after you buy what they are selling you figure it out that you were scammed, but it is too late. Thus, not taking decisions on the spot is the best thing we can do in order to fight the hype and our sentiments. This will allow us to analyze better the "offers", do our own due diligence and take a more cerebral decision.
Extreme promises should raise a question on the spot
Whenever I see some extreme promises, for me that's a big question mark. It is from the same saying "what goes up, must come down" (maybe that's the gravity law actually), but the truth is that crazy promises are simply not sustainable. Not only that we cannot predict the market conditions that are affecting us, but there is no way to earn multipliers over and over again. At some point the party will end and it is only a matter of time until we'll be on the losing side. Thus, having flags in place when seeing too good investments is something that will help us avoid loses.
Make as little of unforced errors as possible when investing
Whether you believe it or not, we are not the first people to invest. There was an entire world of people maybe investing in the same things that we are thinking to do, thus we can learn from their... mistakes. When we know that somebody did a mistake and lost from it, we'd better also learn from it in order to avoid unforced errors. If there is a right way to do things, we should try to do it and not experiment and fall as others did.
I have written this article simply because we are in a bullish stocks and crypto market and this is the time when most of us do the biggest mistakes. How do I know? Well simply because I did them in the past market cycle. I've either go with the hype and invested in some assets so high that they didn't recoup even until now. In the same time I have thought that everything can only go up and didn't take profits, thus I needed to wait for another cycle (4 years) to be able to exit some of my positions and take some profits. Time is not our side, life is short, so while taking risks is thrilling, if we fight our emotions and instinct on the moment, we might get on the winning side much faster and allow us to enjoy life anymore. I know that it is not easy - even in this bull cycle I've got to some of my exit prices, but I am still not selling expecting for the market to go higher - but taking a more moderate approach will help us mentally and we'll be able to be in the investment space much longer with better results.