Warning - Don’t trade shares whilst tired!

Wednesday, 15th July 2009 15:27 - by Boredmum

Trading should come with a health warning – ‘Do not trade whilst tired’. I had a most enjoyable evening, watching T in the Park on television. I so wish I’d been there to see Seasick Steve. Anyhow, I drank the best part of a bottle of wine and stayed up too late. Now add that to the next day when I’m up at 5am feeding the baby. Roll on a few hours and said baby starts ‘kicking off’ as the poor wee soul is teething. If you can imagine, not crying but constant moaning instead for hours on end. Every time he falls asleep, then toddler drops a toy on the wooden floor or giggles hysterically and wakes him up. So, you get the picture. Not the best frame of mind to be trading in. The previous day I had looked at Nipson Digital (TIDM code: NDP) as it was a fast riser. I had checked the corresponding RNS and thought it may be worth a day-trade. It was 0.55p to buy, but the spread was wide and the bid price was about 0.35p. I didn’t want to get trapped so I left it. Well, of course it proceeded to rise and I bought in. I knew I shouldn’t be buying that high as it was going against everything I had learned. It had already risen so much, the spread was wide and it would fall just as fast. I shouldn’t have touched it at 1.35p...but I did. It rose as far as my break-even point, giving me 1.4p on the bid and then it fell. I sold out at 1.15p and was totally gutted. I knew that I should not have touched it in the first place. I could have handled it better if it was a loss on a longer-term share, but not to lose on the same day that I’d bought. To rub some salt into the wound, as I type just now, it has a bid of 1.8p. I know it shall fall fast again. I was only hoping for 1.6p and am now beating myself up for buying in the first instance. As per my first few words in this Blog, trading now carries a health warning for me - ‘Do not trade whilst tired’. Tiredness and distractions were my excuse but, in fairness, I shouldn’t be using excuses at this stage. Is it just me that is prone to going against all I have learned or do others still make gaffes?