I’m a buy and hold type investor but do watch the market and try to trade when opportunities become apparent.
I picked up a couple stocks in March 2020. I actually bought them too early and they dropped further after I bought, but did great over the time since.
I’m still kicking myself for not recognizing a great opportunity to add to my Chevron holdings in April 2020 when oil was dropping below 0. Seems so obvious a perfect buying opportunity I can’t imagine why it didn’t occur to me then.
Warren Buffet said he has never bought at the top or sold at the bottom. He is still a bit of a trader though, a long term horizon buyer and seller.
Trading constantly like day trading is a suckers bet. Something like 95% of day traders lose money over time. Why get into it? Ego, insecurity, gambling addiction type personality?