Selling right now is just as much of a gamble as buying at the top

TL;DR No one can predict the bottom. Selling now is just as risky as buying at the top. The market could rebound and you would be forced to buy back higher, or worse, sit out altogether.

The scene: Your portfolio is deep in the red. You want to stop the bleeding, cut your losses, lick your wounds and start over.

Your instincts are currently at odds with your investing strategy. It's herd psychology. When the herd is attacked, the herd runs. Does every single animal in the herd see the danger? No, they run because the herd is panicking and their instincts tell them to run.

So too are your instincts telling you that the market is in danger, and you need to get out. Do you even know what the danger is? Probably not. You just know that the market is deep in the red, everyone is selling, and your instincts are telling you to do the same.

I'm here to tell you that it is just as risky to sell right now as it is to buy at the top of the market.

When people are buying at the top of the market, the risk is you are buying something that is overbought, in a bubble, ready for a correction, blah blah blah....therefore you are accepting the risk that if you make that investment, it could crash and your investments may lose value.

Maybe you think you can sell right now and buy back in when things crash even further? That might work. But it also probably won't.

No one here can predict the bottom. Many of us have tried. Few of us have succeeded. If you could accurately predict the bottom of the market via some witchcraft or wizardy, you certainly aren't sharing it on Reddit with a bunch of strangers - no, you're leverage trading yourself to retirement.

I'm not saying that selling is the wrong play. All I'm saying is that before you make an emotional or instinctual decision to sell, consider that selling right now carries its own set of risks.