It’s the start of a new year, and I spent most of winter break doing something I didn’t expect: staring at stock charts.
After taking both Student Investment Seminar and Financial Planning, I wanted to understand what actually drives the lines on those charts everyone talks about — the candlesticks, the moving averages, the RSI, and all those strange indicators that seem to predict everything on YouTube.
I thought it would make investing feel easier.
It didn’t.
The more I looked, the more confused I got.
Sometimes when a stock went up, every indicator said “overbought,” but it kept climbing.
Other times, when everything looked perfect on the chart, the stock suddenly fell the next day.
I realized that markets don’t follow straight lines — they follow people, and people are unpredictable.
Here’s how my portfolio looks as of now:
| Company | Shares | Current Price (Jan 2025) | Current Value | Gain/Loss |
Apple (AAPL)
| 281 | $194.00 | $54,514 | + $14,514 |
NVIDIA (NVDA)
| 1,000 | $118.20 | $118,200 | + $78,200 |
Tesla (TSLA)
| 115 | $238.20 | $27,393 | + $7,393 |
Amazon (AMZN)
| 220 | $171.40 | $37,708 | + $7,708 |
Total Portfolio Value: $237,815 → + $137,815 (+137.8%)
It’s still strong, but I noticed something that made me think — even though my portfolio is worth more, the prices move so differently.
NVIDIA keeps rising and dropping faster than any other company, while Apple feels steady but slower.
I tried charting their weekly movements and realized that understanding data doesn’t automatically make me better at predicting it.
It’s like the difference between reading music notes and actually playing the song.
Mom told me,
“Even the smartest traders don’t control the rhythm — they just learn how to dance with it.”
Maybe that’s what I’m doing now: trying to find rhythm in the noise.
I still don’t understand everything on the charts, but I’m learning to see patterns — not just in prices, but in my own reactions.
For now, I’ve decided to study slowly, one company at a time, instead of chasing signals I don’t fully understand.
Patience might not be exciting, but it’s starting to make more sense.
It’s the start of a new year, and I spent most of winter break doing something I didn’t expect: staring at stock charts.
After taking both Student Investment Seminar and Financial Planning, I wanted to understand what actually drives the lines on those charts everyone talks about — the candlesticks, the moving averages, the RSI, and all those strange indicators that seem to predict everything on YouTube.
I thought it would make investing feel easier.
It didn’t.
The more I looked, the more confused I got.
Sometimes when a stock went up, every indicator said “overbought,” but it kept climbing.
Other times, when everything looked perfect on the chart, the stock suddenly fell the next day.
I realized that markets don’t follow straight lines — they follow people, and people are unpredictable.
Here’s how my portfolio looks as of now:
Total Portfolio Value: $237,815 → + $137,815 (+137.8%)
It’s still strong, but I noticed something that made me think — even though my portfolio is worth more, the prices move so differently.
NVIDIA keeps rising and dropping faster than any other company, while Apple feels steady but slower.
I tried charting their weekly movements and realized that understanding data doesn’t automatically make me better at predicting it.
It’s like the difference between reading music notes and actually playing the song.
Mom told me,
“Even the smartest traders don’t control the rhythm — they just learn how to dance with it.”
Maybe that’s what I’m doing now: trying to find rhythm in the noise.
I still don’t understand everything on the charts, but I’m learning to see patterns — not just in prices, but in my own reactions.
For now, I’ve decided to study slowly, one company at a time, instead of chasing signals I don’t fully understand.
Patience might not be exciting, but it’s starting to make more sense.