Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The curse of Sisyphus

After watching the movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I was inspired to relate another greek mythology to modern life, specifically with relations to the market. I've blogged about Odysseus and the siren's song previously and had much fun doing so :)

It was said that there was a king named Sisyphus who was cursed in Tartarus (a place darker and worse than Hades) by Zeus. The nature of his crime is immaterial here but suffice to say, it is a punishment for Sisyphus's hubristic beliefs, for this punishment is a grave one. He is tasked to roll a bounder up a hill but always, just before the boulder reaches the top, it will roll back down again and Sisyphus would be forced to repeat the task again and again for eternity. Essentially, it's a task doomed to fail - a punishment meted out for an eternity in frustration.




Have you ever had a stock that you ride up all the way above its 52 week's high and ride it down all the way down below your buy price?

I had plenty of such Sisyphean tasks but one of them stand out strongly. I had swiber back in 2007 at 1.29, 10 lots. Here and there I added and traded some positions. But essentially, I was there when it reached its $3.84 peak in 07. I was there too when it reached its trough at $0.23 in 09. Why didn't I sell when I've a triple bagger? Hubris - I supposed. The arrogance of thinking that I know what I was doing and the greed of wanting more.

I'm sure everyone had this kind of experience before. It's okay to be wrong, but it's not okay to stay wrong. I'm determined not to let this kind of things happen to me again.

8 comments :

Createwealth8888 said...

If one don't know to sell their stocks in their life time; never mind their children will sell them at ease. No problem.

Dou said...

I used to have this problem too when i first started out.

Now i started a "cut loss" level before i buy the stock

la papillion said...

Bro8888,

I think so too. Children, unless being taught how to play the market, might want the money instead of the stocks. To them it's free anyway.

la papillion said...

Hi Dou,

I guess you've learned from your lessons. Good job :)

Anonymous said...

Hi LP,

Happy New Year!

If swiber goes up to above the previous high, say $6. Would you still think u make a mistake by holding out?

HH

la papillion said...

Hi HH,

Good question :) Yes, it'll still be a mistake. A fortuitous outcome doesn't change the fact that I should have reduced my holdings when I could have.

I don't do such companies anymore. Even if I do, it's strictly for trading. I'm just kidding myself that I'm holding for investment when I entered using TA in the first place.

Still a mistake, hence :)

Anonymous said...

Hi LP,

I came to the same conclusion regarding my holding of "such companies" too. Some moved up to previous high. mistake, nonetheless.

HH

la papillion said...

Hi HH,

Haha, I don't do such companies already. Really waste time :)