Rule du Jour: Rule #85 - Play Both Ways (Patreon)

Same Price, Two Stories

"The strongest emotion in investing is neutrality. When you can play both sides, you stop caring whether the market goes up or down—you stay calm. You find a way to win both ways. Bulls cheer rallies, bears cheer crashes. The real skill? Learning to be both." IA 2025

The meme shows Tesla at $450. One day, that price feels like a win. The next day, it feels like a loss.

Why? The number didn’t change—but the story around it did.

• Yesterday: $450 was a milestone after the stock nearly doubled over last 100 trading days, so people were thrilled.

• Today: $450 is a drop from $470, so people feel crushed.

Investors rarely see prices as they are. They see them through the path the stock took to get there.

That’s why the same price can spark opposite emotions. If you get stuck in one feeling, you can get stuck in one direction.

My rule: never fall in love with one asset. Be willing to play both ways. Take profits. Go short sometimes. For example my hedge yesterday selling the TESLA calls as I was 90% certain based on the backtests on IADSS and also the mean reversion after a huge run, production would be a sell the news event.

Build the habit of staying flexible—that’s how you cut emotions and avoid the traps of anchoring. That is why I have been profit taking extensively since late 2024, perping both long and short, hedging etc.... it builds the muscle memory about being willing to let go.