My 2022 half year recap in one word - Steamrolled

My investment portfolio started off in the year with a nice paper profit but is now deep in a sizable paper loss.

Some of my worst paper losses come from $MANULIFE US REIT(BTOU.SI)$, $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$, $Sea Ltd(SE)$and $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$. Not worth mentioning the huge paper losses from Index ETFs too since that's pretty obvious. Mostly US and US related stocks by the way. 

I didn't learn anything from the recent fluctuating market (which is generally bearish most of the time though). That's because I didn't really do anything new. If one isn't able to apply what they know into the real world, they just have the knowledge in the head. To me, nothing is actually learnt until they apply that knowledge inside their heads into real life scenarios. 

For me, I just kept thinking maybe it's time to short since it's bearish, maybe it's time to sell to cut loss, maybe it's time to sell and take quick profits during dead cat bounces. Half a year went by and I did nothing. I only did what I've been doing for all these years. (DCA, buying on dips.)

The irony is that I kept commenting here that it will continue to drop further and yet I did nothing. It was already so obvious that the drop will continue. Ongoing war in Ukraine, rising oil prices, disrupted supply chains, raw material shortages, rising inflation, rising fed rates, companies doing layoffs etc. With so many signs, it just seemed like a chapter straight out of Relevations.

My plans for the next half year is to try some short term trading during dead cat bounces or even shorting. I've been reading about the different charting techniques such as MACD, Bollinger, RSI etc., and I hope to apply this knowledge in actual trades. I also plan to set aside a portion of my salary every month for investment; buy and hold for long. Since this is a bear market, most investments (esp in good and well managed reputable companies) will have a high chance to be profitable if held for long.

As a general rule of the thumb, always invest within reasonable holding power and never beyond your limits. That's the most important rule for me when it comes to investing.