One of the most difficult thing to do in investing is the ability to do nothing, withstand the volatiltiy.
Personally, I am not able to do that. This is because I am human and have the tendancy to want to trade to "show that I am doing something"; similar to what a few (if not many) office workers are - they need to act that they are doing something to validate to bosses's their worth
Acting in Investing Costs Money
Unfortunately in investing, doing too much leads to a less than optimal outcome. Passive income has been shown to provide a higher returns in the long run compared to the short termism view of trading/ active investment.
Furthermore, the frequent in/out trades incurs brokerage and transaction fees which eats into your return.
How I Overcome It
For me, the answer is that I will do trading to validate that I am "doing something". However, as I know the act of trading is merely to overcome my psychological distress from sitting and doing nothing while waiting for my core positions to reap returns, I have adjusted my habits to combat this.
Due to the creation of Tiger and recently webull accounts, I have been able to make small value of trades to feed the urge. This is because the commission by Tiger/Webull are much lower (2 cents for Webull case) as compared to the $25 fee I would have incurred just a few years ago when only the traditional brokerages were around.
The advancement of these new brokerages has in a way helped to maintain patience and fight the emotional whirlwind while I hold my core positions.
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