The market hates me

Charles Kirk wrote about the market's uncanny ability to read your mind and make you look like an idiot. That's what happened to me today. Despite a huge bounce today, my portfolio took a beating. It seemed like I got outfoxed at every turn. I was down 2.17% today.

Somebody made this comment on my post earlier today:

Do you really judge your trading by what happens within a few hours of putting on a trade? Reread Faith's section on outcome bias in his book.

My answer: No, I don't usually judge my trading that way. But when I trade for the wrong reasons (like worrying that I'm going to miss out on a big rally for example) I make major mistakes. That's what happened this morning. I saw a couple of stocks holding their own amidst the carnage of my watch list. I had planned to stay away from things and let them settle down a bit before trading again. Instead, I made some knee-jerk buys at their absolute highs and watched them quickly crumble. I even stopped out of one of them on a day the DOW rose 287 points. The problem wasn't with the trades I made. The problem was with the reason I made them.