Subject: Re: OT Holding is hard
Holding is the hardest part because it combines all the feelings and potential regrets that can arise from both buying and selling. Howard Marks once wrote, “It’s not the things you buy and sell that make you money; it’s the things you hold.”

In a way, you can trick yourself when the emotional pressure gets too high and you *must* bail, but still hold.

If you are looking at a large loss in, say, QQQ, then sell the QQQ (taking the tax loss) and buy SPY or VONG. Largely the same stocks, but now the red mostly disappears. Instant relief.

Then when the market bumps up, instead of seeing the red go from -20% to -19%, you see 1% in the black.

Although some of us managed to go through two -50% loss periods without jumping out of the window.