The psychology of speculation

by Henry Howard Harper

THEY ALL RESOLVE, BUT THEY ALL GO BACK

One often hears the stock trader’s sad lament,—“If I ever get even, I’ll get out and stay out!” But I never knew one of this class who ever got “out even” and I never heard of one who stayed out if he did get out even. If they get out, leaving a dollar in, they go back after it; if they get out a few dollars ahead, they go back for more; in any case they all go back. They wouldn’t be content to stay out of the market any more than a little shorn lamb would be content to stand overnight uncomplainingly in a blustering March storm, outside the open gateway to a sheepfold where his brother lambs were snugly housed.