As we all know (or some don't), September has always been a red month throughout history, and this situation will most probably repeat itself because we trade with emotions not logic. What is SAD? It stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder (which basically means feeling depressed, low energy, having problems sleeping, etc).
That being said, you can choose to look it the other way round. What do I mean by that? In simple terms, if you are looking to buy stocks which you have been eyeing on for months to find a cheap discount, this is probably the best time as it only happens one month per year. If you are thinking "What? My whole portfolio is down, and you want me to buy more?" Then I will tell you that this is a mindset of a beginner and you will need experience. How much does experience cost? It depends on how much you have lost due to selling too early or buying when the stock peaked (chasing highs). I'd like to refer term as "sunken costs".
So, what do you need to do now? It's simple:
- If you are down, I would recommend you to continue holding on to your stocks as you do not want to fall into the trap of buying high and selling low. If you are thinking of timing the market and selling now to buy the dip later, I wish you best of luck as no one is able to accurately determine what is the true bottom of the stock. In that case, you would have to Dollar-Cost-Average (DCA), which is basically buying bits of the stock and average down.
- If you are up, I would recommend you to take some profit (if you want to or if you need the money for emergency purposes), but if you have the time and patience for the stock market, I believe you will know that selling now will probably not give you the most bank for your buck.
Remember, "The stock market is a device to transfer money from the impatient to the patient".
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