‘Playing’ The Market

I’m writing for this to remind myself not to try to play the market. I was looking at a handful of social media stocks (mainly FB and SNAP) during the COVID-19 crisis. They seemed to be overly punished for the crisis and I believed that FB was undervalued. However, I held off on finishing my research and buying stock because I believed the market would have another large dip. Trying to ‘play’ the market and buy the dip made me pass up a good company for a good price. Now, these companies appear to be quite expensive and don’t fit into my investment ideology. At the same time, I need to check myself for giving into the ‘fear of missing out,’ as I see these social media stock and the market in general post large gains. I need to get back to thinking about the basic valuation principles rather than get caught up in the market.