I Started Investing in Stocks in Second Year. Here is What ₹5,000 Taught Me

My entire investment thesis in second year was based on three things: a YouTube video about candlestick patterns, a WhatsApp group called 'Stock Market Rockets' that someone in my hostel wing had added me to, and the confidence that comes from being 19 years old and having been told repeatedly that you are smart. This combination resulted in me losing ₹1,800 in three months on three trades that in retrospect were not trades but were vibes.

I am writing this not to discourage anyone from investing but to give you a specific and honest account of what I got wrong, because the mistake was not that I started investing in college. The mistake was the framework I started with.

The Three Bad Trades

Trade one: bought shares in a pharmaceutical company because the candlestick pattern looked like the videos said a breakout should look. The stock fell 12% the next week because of a regulatory announcement I had not read. I did not know I was supposed to read regulatory announcements. Trade two: bought shares in a tech company because the WhatsApp group said it was about to 'moon.' It did not moon. It went sideways for two months and I sold in frustration at a small loss. Trade three: bought an index ETF because someone sensible in the group said it was the only sane strategy, then panic-sold during a two-day market correction because I did not understand what a correction was.

What I Actually Learned

The ₹1,800 loss was the most efficient educational expenditure of my college career. It taught me that technical analysis as practised by retail investors on YouTube is mostly not predictive. It taught me that WhatsApp investment groups are social phenomena dressed up as financial analysis. It taught me that I did not know the difference between a market correction and a crash, which meant I did not actually understand the thing I was investing in.

After the loss I spent two months just reading. The Intelligent Investor. A few good Substack newsletters about Indian markets. SEBI investor education materials, which are actually quite good. I started paper trading with a simulation app before putting real money back in. I read three years of annual reports for two companies I was considering.

What My Portfolio Looks Like Now

Three years after those initial trades: I invest ₹3,000 a month into two index funds via SIP. I hold small positions in two companies whose businesses I understand well enough to explain in five minutes. My total return over the past two years is about 14%, which is unexciting and also completely reasonable for the amount of time and risk I am willing to put in. More importantly, I sleep fine. The ₹1,800 bought me the understanding that sleeping fine is the correct goal for a B.Tech student's portfolio, not beating the market.