Have you ever noticed the market seems to spike right after you sell, and plummet right after you buy?

You are not alone. Many people have also experienced this painful feeling—and here are the reasons why it happens.

🔁 The "Grief" Cycle of Retail Investors:

  • You Sell: Frustrated by sideways prices, you decide to sell. A few days later, the market surges as if to mock you.

  • You Hold: This time you choose to be patient. But the market keeps fluctuating, neither making profits nor losses.

  • You Buy: Seeing prices climbing, you enter the trade with the mindset of 'I can't miss out,' but then the market turns around and drops sharply.

Sounds familiar?

⚠️ The Painful Truth Behind This Pattern

1️⃣ Trading Based on Emotions

  • FOMO (fear of missing out) makes you buy at the top.

  • Anxiety or despair makes you sell at the bottom.

  • The market operates based on emotions, not logic.

2️⃣ Cognitive Bias

  • The Near Effect: You think the current trend will continue forever.

  • Loss aversion: You fear losing a small amount more than missing out on a big opportunity.

  • Herd mentality: Most follow the crowd and enter trades too late.

3️⃣ The Trap of "Smart Money"

  • For every buyer, there is always a seller.

  • The "big players" wait for retail money to flow in to create liquidity, then reverse the trend.

4️⃣ The Phase Shift in Timing

  • The market does not move according to your personal schedule.

  • Real growth happens when people look away.

  • A strong price surge often comes when retail investors have given up.

📉 The Brutal Loop of the Market:

  1. "Smart money" buys at the bottom when the market is full of fear.

  2. Prices rise slowly, retail investors remain skeptical, staying on the sidelines.

  3. FOMO appears, retail investors start buying when prices are already high.

  4. "Smart money" takes profits, withdrawing just as retail investors buy at the peak.

  5. The market drops, retail investors panic and cut losses.

  6. "Smart money" comes back to buy at the bottom — the cycle continues.

✅ How to Escape This Trap?

  • Have a clear plan: Determine entry points, profit-taking points, and stop-losses in advance.

  • Set goals & risk limits: Protect your account before thinking about profits.

  • Avoid FOMO: Don't chase green candles, be patient and wait for price retracements.

  • Rely on data, not emotions: Trade based on analysis, not intuition.

  • Patience is key: Success does not come to those who react emotionally.

💬 Warren Buffett once said:

"The market is a transferring machine that moves money from the impatient to the patient."

If you see yourself in this article:

🔁 Share to remind others.

💬 Comment: “Word for word” if you have ever experienced this.

🔖 Save this post to revisit whenever you are about to trade.