Frantic price action, coupled with obscene amounts of unprecedented news flow, will kill off many investors. It’s very hard to keep a moving average when stocks are moving in 7% daily increments. Although I am guilty of moving in and out of contrary positions, such as today’s failed attempt at ERY, I always keep those trades small.

The market is a form of gambling, if used to trade frequently. Like gambling, people tend to get caught up in the emotions and the digits, forgetting there is real money at stake. Just because the money is in an account, dressed with cool fonts and fancy looking graphs, don’t lose focus of what you are trying to accomplish.

Get rich?

Maybe. But I think trying to get rich in stocks is an easy way to crush yourself. Unless you are 99 years old and have been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, you have time to see your money grow over time.

I know this site is all about gunning for the markets, while killing people with clawhammers. But, that’s for me. You wouldn’t suggest a newly licensed driver participate in a NASCAR race, would you?

Before you crap all over your profit and loss sheets, figure out what your theme is. After you figure it out, initiate a plan to buy or sell said stocks with the understanding that you will be wrong on your initial purchases. Once you’ve taken the hubris out of executions, you won’t get pissed off when your new buy drops a buck for no reason. If you have a strategy to buy or sell, stick to it and adhere to those disciplines.

As for me, I have a theme: long silver/gold/refiners, with a blend of high beta gambling stocks. I just replaced NFLX with LULU, after booking 8 points in the former. I am not worried about EXK/AG/RGLD dropping because I intend to buy more if and when they dip.

Even though GSVC was looking mighty fine (southern accent) at $17, it looks even better at $14. I was never going to sell it at $17, so it’s pointless to get mad at shit like that. I intend to see it through, watching the development of their holdings in Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and others.

Lastly, I hope you have other streams of income. If not, try to get one. The stock market is on especially tenuous grounds and it can disappear one morning, Merlin style. You will wake up and turn on CNBC and Steve Liesman will tell you “in an unprecedented move, the Federal government has halted all trading in equities and bonds, indefinitely.” And that will be that. Poof, no more bullshit Italian yields because there will be no such thing.

At that point, “The Fly” will wander off into junkyards and finance local militias to secure grain.