I’ve found that what I can’t take the worst isn’t making a little less—it’s an unrealized loss hanging there. If you haven’t sold, it’s “just on paper,” but your mind automatically fills in the thought: “If it drops a bit more, I’ll feel even worse.” You glance at it before bed, and suddenly your heart starts racing. Unrealized profits are more of a “whatever” kind of thing—if they go up, it’s just “well, that’s fine,” and you don’t keep staring.

Put simply, losses lock your attention onto “what you’ve lost,” and the reward system doesn’t work very well. Recently, I’ve also noticed that what happens in chain games where the economy collapses looks pretty similar: once inflation starts and the studios run off, the coin price spirals downward, and players’ emotions instantly flip from “there’s still a chance” to “am I about to get harvested?” Then everyone sleeps even less peacefully.

My clumsy workaround right now is: don’t let your position make you think about it at night. If you truly need to look, write one sentence in plain language—why you bought it, and what situation would count as you admitting you were wrong. Don’t let your brain use fear to automatically fill in the plot. For now, that’s it.