The Perils of 'Just One More' — My $NVDA Folly

Morning all. Thought I'd share a recent reminder of how quickly things can unravel, particularly when you're feeling a bit too confident.

It was a few weeks back, after the $NVDA earnings. Stock was ripping, and I'd managed to snag a decent chunk on the initial dip and then a solid follow-through trade. Felt like I had the market's number, you know the feeling? Anyway, I closed out my core position with a nice profit, but then, instead of just walking away, I saw it pulling back slightly from the day's high. "Just one more scalp," I thought. "It's obviously going higher, just needs to consolidate." So, I re-entered, perhaps a touch heavier than I should have, figuring it was a guaranteed quick pop. The market, in its infinite wisdom and sense of humor, decided that was the precise moment to start a more sustained retracement. I held on, rationalizing that it would rebound, then I moved my mental stop, then my actual stop... and before I knew it, that 'just one more' trade had chewed through a significant portion of the earlier, perfectly executed profit. Not a complete disaster, but a costly lesson in respecting the fact that even after a great run, the market owes you nothing and overstaying your welcome, especially on a 'hunch', is a surefire way to give back gains. Greed, pure and simple. Still stings a bit thinking about it.