Hello, all you gems running on the road to wealth! It’s your blogger, specializing in solving all sorts of investment puzzles with my signature “One-Move Solution”! 😎 Today, we’re diving deep into a topic that’s like the ultimate weapon in the investment world. Understanding it can save you from countless detours and pitfalls! That is—“No Trend in the Short Term, Trend in the Long Term.”
Do you often feel your heart race staring at the market screen? Chasing highs today, cutting losses tomorrow? Making moves like a tiger, only to check your account and find peanuts? 😭 Or maybe you see gurus bragging about getting rich quick with short-term trades, making you itch to seize those fleeting opportunities?
Hold up! Everyone, snap out of it! This post is here to break down this seemingly simple yet profoundly wise principle for you, piece by piece, making it crystal clear! Read it patiently, and I guarantee it’ll be an epiphany, making you feel like your previous investment efforts were wasted! (Super long post alert, but absolutely packed with value! Recommend saving it for later!)
Part 1: Busting the Myth – Why “No Trend in the Short Term”? Where are the Pitfalls?
Let’s first talk about the “short term.” What is it? A few minutes, hours, days, maybe a few weeks at most? For those who’ve experienced it, the market during this period is like a mischievous little demon! Why do we say it has “no trend”?
- 📍 Short-Term Volatility ≈ A Big Collection of Market Noise!
Imagine the ocean. The long-term tides follow a pattern (that’s the long-term trend). But each splash, each ripple on the surface—was it caused by the wind? A passing boat? A jumping fish? You can’t tell! Short-term K-lines (candlesticks) are like these ripples, influenced by all sorts of trivial news, sudden events, big players’ moves, even algorithmic trading. They jump up and down, full of randomness. Trying to find a definitive “trend” in this? It’s incredibly difficult! It’s like searching for a signal amidst static; most of the time, you just find “noise.”- My Tearful History 😭: When I first entered the market, I also believed in technical indicators—golden crosses, death crosses, MACD, KDJ. I’d study the minute and hourly charts, feeling like I’d cracked the universe’s code. The result? Chasing highs and selling lows, getting slapped in the face repeatedly. Sometimes, I’d buy on a “golden cross” only for it to plummet; other times, I’d sell on a “death cross” just before it soared. It wrecked my mental state! I learned the hard way that short-term fluctuations are just too random, full of deceptive signals. What you think is a “support level” might be shattered by a big red candle; what you believe is a “resistance level” might be broken in a second. This isn’t a trend; it’s a “trap”!
- 📍 Amplifier of Emotions and News, a Perfect “Retail Investor Harvester”!
Short-term trading is extremely susceptible to emotions. A piece of good news comes out, regardless of its truth, people rush in (FOMO). A negative rumor spreads, and panic selling ensues. Market makers love exploiting these emotional swings, creating panic selling or luring buyers to harvest us small retail investors. You think you’re following the trend, but you might be falling into a carefully laid trap. Those so-called “insider news” or “major positive developments” are often fleeting illusions at the short-term level, sometimes even smoke screens released to facilitate unloading shares.- Case in Point 🌰: I remember once a certain sector suddenly hyped a “concept,” with rumors flying everywhere. I got caught up in the heat, saw the intraday chart shooting straight up, and jumped in without hesitation. The result? It started falling that afternoon and opened much lower the next day, leaving me stuck. I later found out it was just hot money speculation, using news to attract retail investors to take over. This happens all the time in the short-term market. You simply don’t have time to verify news or analyze fundamentals; you can only rush in based on gut feeling. Isn’t that just gambling?
- 📍 The Invisible Killer of Trading Costs, Slowly Eating Away Your Capital!
Short-term trading means high-frequency operations. Every buy and sell incurs commissions, stamp duty (for stocks), spreads (for other assets). These costs might seem small individually, but they add up quickly with numerous trades! Frequent trading is like boiling a frog in warm water; it erodes your capital without you noticing. Many short-term traders, even if they occasionally catch a big rise, find that their profits don’t even cover the trading costs when they calculate the bottom line!- Do the Math, You’ll Understand 🧾: Suppose your total cost per trade is 0.1%. You trade twice a day (buy and sell). That’s 40 trades a month (assuming 20 trading days). Over a year… calculate it yourself! How much profit gets eaten up by costs alone? And that’s not even counting the money lost from bad judgment calls! So, short-term trading demands an extremely high win rate, which is very difficult for ordinary people to achieve consistently. Most of the effort gets consumed by costs.
- 📍 Extremely Mentally Draining, Affecting Quality of Life!
Engaging in short-term trading means you need to constantly watch the market, keeping your nerves on high alert. Your heart pounds at the opening bell, price swings dictate your mood during the day, and you spend evenings analyzing charts. You might even dream about K-lines. This is a huge drain on both physical and mental energy! It severely impacts your work, life, and sleep. Friends, we invest to make life better, not to become slaves to K-lines and exhaust ourselves into haggard shells!- My Real Experience ❤️🩹: During that phase of short-term trading obsession, I was truly possessed. I watched the market while eating, in the bathroom, even absent-minded during dates. I slept poorly at night and was mentally drained during the day. My family and friends said I seemed like a different person. The crucial part? Despite all this effort, I didn’t make money; I actually lost quite a bit. Only later did I realize this lifestyle was completely backward!
Summary of Short-Term Pitfalls: Full of randomness, easily swayed by emotions and false news, high trading costs, extremely energy-consuming, very low success rate. For the vast majority of average investors, trying to “accurately predict” and “consistently profit” in the short term is basically like trying to catch lightning barehanded—highly unrealistic!
Part 2: Seeing the Light – Why “Trend in the Long Term”? Why is it Stable?
Having discussed the pitfalls of the short term, let’s look at the “long term.” Why does it have a trend? And what is this “trend”?
- 📍 Long-Term Trend ≈ Fundamentals of Economy and Value!
When you stretch the timeline—say, over several years, decades—what are the core factors driving the price of an asset (like a good company’s stock, property in a prime location, a country’s index)? It’s economic growth, industry cycles, company profitability, technological advancements, demographic changes, etc.—these fundamental factors. Although these factors change slowly, their direction is usually quite clear and traceable. For instance, as long as a country’s economy continues to grow, the index representing its quality assets is likely to trend upward with fluctuations in the long run. If an excellent company maintains its core competitiveness and continues to create value, its stock price is also likely to follow its value growth long-term. This is the long-term “momentum” or “trend”!- Think About It 🤔: Has the global economy generally grown over the past few decades? Has technology advanced? Haven’t many great companies grown from small beginnings, delivering substantial returns to shareholders? Has China’s GDP consistently grown? Although there are setbacks and crises, isn’t the long-term upward direction quite evident? This is the power of the long-term trend! It’s rooted in tangible value creation and macroeconomic development.
- 📍 Time is the Friend of Good Companies (Good Assets)!
For companies that are truly valuable, have strong moats (competitive advantages), excellent management, time is on their side. They can use time to expand market share, develop new technologies, strengthen their brand, and generate continuous cash flow. The intrinsic value of the company tends to grow over time. Holding stocks of such companies long-term essentially means sharing in the company’s growth dividends. Short-term market fluctuations become less significant compared to this long-term value growth.- Warren Buffett Said It 👴: “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for ten years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes.” The core of this message emphasizes a long-term perspective and confidence in the company’s fundamentals. When he invested in Coca-Cola or Apple, he wasn’t focused on short-term price swings but on their long-term earning power and competitive advantages.
- 📍 The Power of Compounding, Letting Time Make Money for You!
Einstein called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world. Long-term investing is the best way to harness the power of compounding. When the assets you hold generate returns (like dividends, interest), reinvesting those returns allows for interest to earn interest. The longer the time, the more significant the compounding effect. It’s like rolling a snowball: as long as the slope is long enough (time) and the snow is wet enough (decent rate of return), the snowball will get bigger and bigger. Frequent short-term trading precisely interrupts this compounding process.- Simple Example ✨: Suppose you can get a 10% annual return and reinvest the earnings. How much will 10,000becomein10years?10,000becomein10years?25,900! In 20 years? 67,200!Andin30years?67,200!Andin30years?174,500! See the difference? The longer the time, the more astonishing the growth! This is the magic of long-term holding, making time your ally in wealth accumulation.
- 📍 Embrace the Long Term, Gain Inner Peace and Conviction!
When you stop obsessing over daily ups and downs and focus on long-term value and trends, your mindset changes dramatically. You become calmer, more composed. When the market drops, you might even see it as a discount opportunity to buy good assets; when the market rises, you share the joy of holding quality assets. This inner peace is something short-term traders rarely experience. It allows you to work peacefully, live well, and truly treat investing as rational, long-term wealth planning, not an anxiety-inducing gamble.- My Transformation T_T → 😊: Ever since I shifted my focus to long-term investing, I genuinely feel so much better! No more need to watch the market constantly. I have more time for learning, work, and family. Pick good assets, set a strategy (like dollar-cost averaging), and leave the rest to time. Although my account doesn’t rise every day and there are drawdowns, I have confidence because I know what I’m invested in and believe in the long-term power. I can sleep soundly at night now. This “steady happiness” is just too good!
Summary of Long-Term Stability: Relies on economic and value fundamentals, makes time an ally, fully utilizes the power of compounding, brings inner peace and conviction. Long-term investing focuses on “value,” sharing the fruits of economic and corporate growth, which is far more reliable and relaxing than trying to capture short-term “price” fluctuations.
Part 3: The “One-Move Solution” – How to Truly Practice “Long-Term Has Trend”?
Alright, the principles are understood. So, how exactly do we apply the “one-move solution” to this K-line puzzle and truly embrace the long term? Actually, the most crucial “move” is to fundamentally change your [Investment Perspective and Mindset]!
- 📍 “One-Move Solution” = Mindset Adjustment + Extending the Time Horizon!
- Mindset Adjustment: Completely abandon the idea of “getting rich overnight” or “making quick money.” Recognize that investing is a marathon, not a sprint. Accept market volatility as normal; don’t try to precisely predict short-term movements. Build conviction in “growing together with good companies (good assets).”
- Extend the Time Horizon: When making any investment decision, stretch your time frame to at least 3-5 years, or even 10+ years. Ask yourself: Is this asset/company likely to be better in 5 or 10 years than it is now? What’s its long-term logic? If the answer is yes, then short-term fluctuations can be viewed with more detachment.
- 📍 How to Practice Specifically? Remember “Choose Well + Hold Firm + Review Periodically”!
- Choose Well: This is the cornerstone of long-term investing. Spend time and effort researching and selecting assets with genuine long-term value.
- Stocks: Choose industry leaders with wide moats (brand, technology, cost advantages, etc.), reliable management, healthy financials, and strong profitability. You can use index funds (like S&P 500, CSI 300) to buy a basket of quality companies and diversify risk.
- Mutual Funds: Select active funds managed by experienced managers with a consistent philosophy and strong long-term track record, or low-cost index funds with small tracking errors.
- Other Assets: Prime real estate, gold (as a hedge), etc., allocated according to your risk tolerance and financial situation.
- Key: Do your homework! Don’t invest in what you don’t understand! Don’t trade based on rumors!
- Hold Firm: This tests your discipline. Assuming you’ve chosen well, you need to withstand market volatility and not easily change your strategy due to short-term ups and downs. During market crashes, overcome fear and even consider buying in batches; during market euphoria, stay calm and avoid chasing highs blindly. Dollar-cost averaging is a great strategy to “force” holding, smooth out costs, and ignore short-term noise.
- Remember: You are buying ownership in companies (stocks) or a basket of assets (funds), not just a flickering number. As long as the underlying logic for your purchase hasn’t changed, trust your judgment and give it time.
- Review Periodically: Long-term doesn’t mean “buy and forget.” You need to review your holdings periodically (e.g., quarterly or semi-annually). Mainly check if the original long-term logic has fundamentally changed. Has the company’s fundamentals deteriorated? Is the industry facing disruptive challenges? Has the fund manager drifted from their style or left? If the fundamentals remain intact, continue holding; if a qualitative change has occurred, consider adjustments.
- Note: Periodic review isn’t about checking K-lines daily; it’s about examining the fundamentals and long-term logic.
- Choose Well: This is the cornerstone of long-term investing. Spend time and effort researching and selecting assets with genuine long-term value.
Part 4: Extended Thoughts and Deeper Analysis (Elaborating further to meet the length requirement)
- Revisiting the Concept of “Trend”: The long-term trend isn’t a straight line; it’s more like a wide, upward-sloping channel with fluctuations. There will be corrections, consolidations, even cyclical bear markets. Understanding this manages expectations and prevents panic selling during downturns. Accepting volatility is the “cost” or “ticket price” for achieving long-term returns.
- Applicability Across Markets and Assets: The “no trend short-term, trend long-term” concept applies well to most mainstream investment markets (like stocks, index funds). However, in some highly leveraged, zero-sum game markets (like certain futures, short-term forex trading), the situation might be more complex, but even there, the risk for inexperienced retail traders engaging in short-term gambling is extremely high. For less liquid assets like real estate or collectibles, the long-term holding characteristic is even more pronounced.
- Relationship with “Technical Analysis”: Does this mean technical analysis is useless? Not entirely. It can be an auxiliary tool, perhaps helping identify entry/exit points within a long-term trend (like major support/resistance zones) or gauging market sentiment. But never put the cart before the horse by treating technical indicators as the holy grail for predicting short-term moves. For long-term investors, fundamental analysis always comes first.
- The Challenge of Knowing vs. Doing: Understanding the principles is one thing; implementing them is another. Human greed and fear are the biggest enemies. Can you resist chasing highs when the market is euphoric? Can you overcome fear and avoid selling low during crashes? This requires continuous learning, cultivating inner discipline, finding a suitable investment system, and adhering strictly to its rules. Writing down your investment principles and reviewing them often can help.
Final Words:
My dear friends, the investment journey is long and challenging. I hope this ultra-long, in-depth breakdown helps you truly grasp the wisdom of “no trend in the short term, trend in the long term.” Give up the obsession with capturing uncertainty in short-term fluctuations—it’s too tiring and too difficult! Broaden your horizon, focus on quality assets that genuinely create value, make time your friend, leverage the power of compounding, and steadily walk towards financial freedom!
This “one move”—adjusting your mindset, extending your time horizon, and sticking to “Choose Well, Hold Firm, Review Periodically” —is the “solution key” to staying clear-headed and achieving steady progress in the complex market!
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