My costly lesson on 'holding on' with $HSI futures during a holiday

Looking back, one of my most expensive lessons centered on overconfidence in a trade thesis combined with a lack of respect for market closures. This was about two years ago, I'd built a pretty decent position in $HSI futures, feeling good about the setup. My analysis suggested a strong bullish move was imminent, supported by some macro factors and technicals lining up. Everything seemed to point north. The mistake? I decided to hold through a significant holiday weekend in Asia, believing the momentum would pick right back up once markets reopened.

Well, as many of you know, never assume market behavior. Over the long weekend, a piece of unexpected news hit, entirely unrelated to my initial analysis but significant enough to shift sentiment. When the market reopened, there was a substantial gap down. My mental stop was absolutely blown through. I then made the classic mistake of holding on even longer, thinking it was just an overreaction and it would recover. It didn't. The initial loss was compounded significantly before I finally capitulated. The cost was a painful chunk of my capital then. Now, any position I hold into a holiday, especially in volatile markets like $HSI, gets heavily scrutinized, or I just flatten out. The risk-reward simply isn't there for the overnight news bomb. It's a tough way to learn that sometimes, the best trade is no trade, especially when the market isn't even open to react.