Mentally coping with Loss - Thread

[dropt]

My losses are minimal to what others must have suffered. What frustrates me is the commenly shared inability to think around here!
The utter stupidness and arrogance everywhere, that's what pisses me off.
It's one thing to be stupid and another to be arrogant - but being both and in that density like it is around here is astounding.

Also how far removed from reality everyone is ... the false hype (lies) ...

Well I'm both down and up in the six-figure range, and mostly all I see is people who bought into something they don't understand.  Perhaps you're here for the wrong reason(s), and that's why you're so emotional about it.  

Maybe it's time for you to sell off and move on.

[kwukduck]

@OP you only lose when you decide to take that loss and sell at that point.

This is bullshit stupid advice.  No experienced trader will tell you this.  Your problem was you had no trading plan

Did you notice how OP is not a trader? He used btc as a two year speculative investment. Please read carefully next time and grasp the context before replying.

[homo homini lupus]

My losses are minimal to what others must have suffered. What frustrates me is the commenly shared inability to think around here!
The utter stupidness and arrogance everywhere, that's what pisses me off.
It's one thing to be stupid and another to be arrogant - but being both and in that density like it is around here is astounding.

Also how far removed from reality everyone is ... the false hype (lies) ...

Well I'm both down and up in the six-figure range, and mostly all I see is people who bought into something they don't understand.  Perhaps you're here for the wrong reason(s), and that's why you're so emotional about it.  

Maybe it's time for you to sell off and move on.

It is not on you to judge if i am here for the wrong or right reasons (by whose standards?) - these repetitive phrases you machinegun out on everyone who doesn't agree with you mean nothing to anyone - how can they? 

[jasonjm]

if you are not comfortable with a position, you should dump it all, immediately.

even if its a winner.

I remember being mocked to death on these forums because i sold all my bitcoins (100s of them), between 300 and 500 on the way up to 1000+

I was uncomfortable with the speed of the rise and wanted out, end of story.

then I average into bitcoin at 280 again, sold it all at 250 because again I was not comfortable.

At this point I am not comfortable with bitcoin at any price, even $20. I am waiting to see that ETF get denied and then we will see the *real* bitcoin crash, to make all others over the last 12 months look like trainee crashes.

whatever you cash out now is worth something. If bitcoin falls to zero then what? you lose everything.

face facts, deep down inside you are praying that bitcoin gets up to your breakeven, so you can get out without a loss. Guess what? EVERYONE from 1100 down who did not sell is thinking the same thing. You have no idea how much selling pressure that is going to put on any moves up in bitcoin.

And you do not have friends on these forums, you have lots of people with vested interests in seeing bitcoin go up.

on a side note : you can always earn more money. There are much more important things, like your health, your family, even your youth.

[dropt]

It is not on you to judge if i am here for the wrong or right reasons (by whose standards?) - these repetitive phrases you machinegun out on everyone who doesn't agree with you mean nothing to anyone - how can they? 

I'm just asking questions and making suggestions.  As for repetitive phrases, please provide a source to back up your argument.

Bitcoin may go up, may go down, I'm open to any possibility.  But, I've seen this all before and expect I'll see it all again.

[sgbett]

write off every cent you put into bitcoin. assume its already dead. *then* hold. its much easier that way. (and also forces you to consider every €50 you might think of buying BTC with from here on in - in line with your own circumstances)

[freequant]

- Ideas and stories how to cope with losing a lot of money

Bhuddist philosophy can help you realize that money, like any other materialistic pursuits, is futile.
It's easier said than done, but I found that listening to charismatic buddhist lamas helps a lot to assimilate that concept.
Basically, the idea is to transform your mind so that you can view the world through another lense where money wouldn't really be such big deal.

To give a metaphore, it's a bit like if your life was a video game played by your mind: do you care if your character is poor so long as playing is interesting? Maybe losing money was an important twist in the plot that unlocks some deep learning. Imagine if you had become rich, you may have become one of these self-righteous idiots and ended up missing completly the point of your life on earth. Getting rich quick is like playing with cheat codes: life becomes boring and unchallenging, and playing without the cheat codes becomes unbearable.

One good place to start is this video of Google Tech Talks where they invited the bhuddist nun who started the Prison Liberation Project. The video is about being your own therapist. I like this video because it's very down to earth, easy to understand and very well adapted to the western mind.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nasIq4E9nNg

edit: fixed video link

[freebit13]

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/12/psychological-coping-strategies.asp

It is also better to manage the process psychologically than to try and win back the losses through other extremely risky investments.

One meaningful way of coping is simply to learn from one's errors and try to recoup the losses over time by investing well and prudently in the future. This is no quick fix or a sure thing, but it certainly makes sense to try. If you took excessive risks or trusted the wrong people or were just plain unlucky, you can be more careful and diversify your portfolio more in the future. Even if it takes years, you may well find that you do get some, or all, of it back, and it's comforting to think that this might happen.

Intellectualization is also not a bad option. Just being philosophical (sensibly and realistically) can work wonders. Some investments simply do go wrong; there are incompetent, unethical and dishonest people out there in the industry and anyone can be a victim. This is life and what doesn't kill you can make you stronger. There is a lot of truth in such thinking and it can help.

Suppression is an essentially negative strategy. Trying never to think about the losses is difficult and can be dangerous. Those thoughts can come back and haunt you anytime and may come out in other ways. Also, suppression creates a complicated inner conflict, which is not good for you or those you deal with.

Rationalization is useful, but only if it is realistic. It is important to understand what you and others did and why. For instance, were you tempted by the lure of big money, or were you the victim of a mis-selling? Were false promises made? Knowing what really happened in the past is the best way to move on to a better future. But when rationalization is really self-delusion and entails blaming others for your own mistakes, or not facing reality, the process is negative.

The Bottom Line
Almost all of us would love to turn the clock back and eradicate financial mistakes and disasters from our lives. While changing the past is impossible, one can change how one views it and reacts to it. This may enable you recoup the actual financial losses, or at least recoup your peace of mind. There are both sound and unsound coping strategies, however. Make sure that you use the good ones that will help you and not harm other people.

[finder_keeper]

My losses are minimal to what others must have suffered. What frustrates me is the commenly shared inability to think around here!
The utter stupidness and arrogance everywhere, that's what pisses me off.
It's one thing to be stupid and another to be arrogant - but being both and in that density like it is around here is astounding.

Also how far removed from reality everyone is ... the false hype (lies) ...

If you're on the internet and you get frustrated by stupidity and arrogance, you're going to have a bad time :-)

[freequant]

Why didn't you take your hard earned money and buy stocks and bonds? [---a lot of aposteriori consideration of what worked well in 2014---]. Burning half your money and burying the other half to dig out later is better than bitcoin ROI.

School case if hindsight bias
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight_bias

[arvindr]

hodl

agree with you.

You only lose if you sell

Are you serious. I don't think thats true at all. Even if you had only 1 bitcoin, you would have lost 400$ on average in the last 6 months. How would holding have prevented that loss ?

[shirkan]

hodl

agree with you.

You only lose if you sell

Are you serious. I don't think thats true at all. Even if you had only 1 bitcoin, you would have lost 400$ on average in the last 6 months. How would holding have prevented that loss ?

technically speaking it's a loss which has not been realized, yet.
Same applies to wins!

[manselr]

I have never lost a lot of money, so I don't know how to give you any legit advice. What can I say tho, is that I have lost sometimes half a BTC, for me that is a lot, and I take hits as good as I can.
What i've learned is its better to hold.

[Torque]

I'm assuming this is the first time the OP has ever invested in anything, much less stocks and commodities?

OP, you really think that you are the first person who has ever taken a position in something while it was still in a downturn?  

I can give you a whole laundry list of stocks that from 2014 all are still in downturns... many that have lost as much as 60-70% or more since the start of 2014.  But it doesn't make those people who invested in those stocks stupid or naïve.  Just unlucky in the year 2014, that's all.  But most long investors that are good at what they do, have learned to hold for YEARS and think big picture.

Even Facebook IPO'ed initially at around $40/share.  And then promptly entered a downtrend that lasted about 14 months, bottoming out ~$18.  So sure, some early FB investors were supposedly devastated that they had somehow made a bad decision buying at the IPO, likely selling at a loss. But many smart longs just held or bought more at the bottom, lowering their cost average, and patiently waited.  And now FB is trading around $78/share.

TL;DR - It takes extreme patience to be a Long investor in anything worthwhile.

And if you are losing sleep over it, you are over invested or leveraged.

[noma]

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/12/psychological-coping-strategies.asp

Seems like a nice article. I guess it would also apply to gambling and all.

[toknormal]

Hi there!

This thread shall be about the mental aspect of coping with Loss.

The mistake you made - and still appear to be making - is that you measured your gain/loss in dollars.

If it's only more dollars you want just work more hours.

If it's bitcoin you want then buy, hold and stop measuring your success in dollars.

Do one or the other but make up your mind.

I bought bitcoin in 2013 because I thought it was an exciting phenomenon and I wanted to have a "horse in the race". I wanted to be in bitcoin - not in dollars because I thought it was an immensely powerful technology and had a bright future. I measure the success of my "judgement" in terms of adoption, proliferation of understanding, consolidation of the technology etc, so I don't feel depressed, I feel great. 2014 has been a massive year for all that. All that happened with the price is that it consolidated from a big rise which is what markets always do after a big rise.

Either stop feeling sorry for yourself and be happy that you've got any bitcoin at all, or sell it all if you're no longer interested in the technology and don't touch it again.

The only people who successfully use markets as a guide to what they value are professional day traders.

[af_newbie]

If you don't need the money, don't sell. 

In your case, don't invest unless you are debt free, paid off mortgage etc.  Be it stocks, currencies, precious metals, real-estate etc.
Stay away from any investments until you are completely debt free.

If I were you, I'd sell what you have, take the money, enroll in some college or university, upgrade your skills and
improve your earning potential.

BTW, bitcoin price might improve in few months or years.  Probably after people like you exit the market.

[gargantuar]

write off every cent you put into bitcoin. assume its already dead. *then* hold. its much easier that way. (and also forces you to consider every €50 you might think of buying BTC with from here on in - in line with your own circumstances)

Been lurking for years.  I really like this guy!  There is no loss.  You are but a fragment of the universe:  irrelevant AND essential.  I made that up.  I must be a genius.  I am addressing the whiner and NOT sgbett (once again -- big fan of sgbett). 

No whiners in a revolution!  Sorry for any offense to any person improperly designated as a whiner.  The internet will provide you with many opportunities to correct said designation.  Internet is cool.

There have been many revolutions.  Some were better than others. What was the fuel for those revolutions?  What is the revolution taking place today?

[ChuckBuck]

Hey you took a shot at it and got a financial loss.  Losing sucks, period.

That said, this is a 6 year old project that hasn't even left beta, so chances of bumps in the road are inevitable.

Investing in unproven tech is always uber risky, and myself have suffered financial lumps during this process.

So for me, I can't tell you how to feel or what to do or how to cope, but personally....I'm gonna see this year 6 beta project called Bitcoin through!   

Can't wait to see it when it reaches Alpha...

[Wendigo]

Hey you took a shot at it and got a financial loss.  Losing sucks, period.

That said, this is a 6 year old project that hasn't even left beta, so chances of bumps in the road are inevitable.

Investing in unproven tech is always uber risky, and myself have suffered financial lumps during this process.

So for me, I can't tell you how to feel or what to do or how to cope, but personally....I'm gonna see this year 6 beta project called Bitcoin through!   

Can't wait to see it when it reaches Alpha...

Alpha is before the beta version btw mate. Just pointing it out