90% of Retail Investors Die in Crashes: How to Beat the Wall Street Psychological Trap
In March 2020 the TAIEX collapsed from 12,197 to 8,523, retail investors net-sold more than NT$200 billion, the market rallied back to a new high within six months — so who took that NT$200 billion? Drawing on behavioral finance and loss aversion, this article breaks down the three underlying rules for crashes, four investment iron rules, and a four-step action plan, with real calculations for retail investors from 2008 to the present. You will learn why the saying 'the master knows when to sell' has killed more people than any other, and how Kahneman and Tversky's research on asymmetric loss-pain proves that your brain's wiring is exactly what strong money is betting against. TWSE data shows that for holding periods of more than one year from 2001 to 2023, the probability of a positive return exceeds 70% — but most retail investors still underperform the index because they sell at the bottom and chase at the top.