I've never been to one of those daytrading seminars where some prepubescent youngster points to a chart like the one above and pontificates, "Simply sell out at the top and buy back at the bottom." The truth is that as the price nears $48.75, you get greedy and hold on, and as it drops and drops and nears $47.58, you get fearful and sell out. Human nature, my dear Watson.
After yesterday's close at $47.75, BHP opened at a promising $48.31, then quickly shot up to $48.75, before going down and down and down again, hitting a low of $47.58 before closing at $47.69 despite its overnight New York close of $48.39 in equivalent Australian dollars.
I've never been to a daytrading seminar, and I've never been a daytrader, and on the very few occasions when I sold out on a rising market, the market kept on rising, so I neither buy nor sell but collect my dividends twice a year, claim my franking credits once a year, and take the long view which is, according to Keynes, "In the long run we are all dead".
I could've made a small fortune if I had listened to that prepubescent youngster. What a day for a daytrader's dream - click here.
