RE:I hate you Namaste!!!!This is very common psychology. I battle with it constantly. I have lost because of those impulses several times, but I am getting better at catching myself and coming out on top.
Its Kind of a reverse stop loss mentailty.
"i was red for so long that when it finally reached my average price I sold it...then it flew!"
Well, you did sell on an uptrend (of some sort).. Are you really surprised you're disappointed?
Your pre-sale thinking has you convinced that there is no way the price will actually exceed what you bought in at. If you're not good at perfectly timing the top and bottom on a stock (and you're not, neither am I), then you're probably wrong about that being where it is going to stop. I hope this makes sense.
The following scenario also happens often:
You buy in, it rises, you dont sell. It begins to fall, approaches your buy in price, you sell because you dont want to lose anything (I suppose you could call this sort of a stop loss). The price then either breaks your buy in point (but not enough to jump back in), or you come out with a very small gain. What happens next? The trend reverses and takes off.
What to take from all of this?
Stop thinking about whether you are in the red or green (as much as you have been anyway). Take a step back, and consider nothing other than "WIll this price rise or fall over the timeline I'm concerned with, and why?".
A VERY hard thing to do. This is why I have trouble trading stocks I have core positions in. I end up raising my average price trading in and out of an uptrend, and I am more tempted to get out as the price falls closer to that one, though my REAL buy in was much lower, and the rest is gains on top of that.
Im confident I'm not the only one that lives through this. Good luck.