Experts warn that many retail investors focus on chart patterns and T+ trading while pursuing a long-term growth narrative

Many individual investors monitor charts and trade on a T+ cycle, but they often still look for long-term growth stories. According to speakers at MoneyGain Next 2026: Elevating the Sustainable Investment Journey held on April 11, these two approaches are frequently misaligned, and investors commonly face several recurring problems.

Four common problems in individual investing

Đào Phúc Tường, former Investment Director at APS Asset Management (Singapore), said individual investors often encounter four issues:

• No clear investment philosophy: investors do not know which system to follow, leading to weak discipline. This can turn into greed—wanting to buy at the bottom, sell at the top, and follow the crowd.
• Mismatch between trading style and long-term goals: many investors rely on charts and T+ trading while dreaming of long-term growth. Even when using a growth system, some still try to “catch the bottom” of stocks.
• Insufficient ability to analyze business or cash flow: if investors cannot analyze a business deeply, they should be able to follow cash flow. The stock market leads, while cash flow can indicate whether a stock has been “distributed” at its peak. When a tracking system shows cash flow no longer entering the stock, investors should be cautious.
• Accumulation and risk control without a clear framework: for example, when many investors urge buying a tech blue-chip to accumulate, accumulation should mean buying assets whose value is rising. At minimum, investors need a rationale for why the company remains suitable for accumulation despite market sentiment. Discipline then follows, including how many percentage points to cut losses.

How to think about drawdowns and rebounds

Speakers emphasized that investors should not judge value only by distance from a peak. When a stock is falling, many focus on a 40–50% drop and conclude it is “cheap.” However, peaks often occur in overvalued zones, so even a 50% decline may only move the stock from “very expensive” to “expensive,” not to “cheap,” before a bottom is formed.

Conversely, when a stock rises, investors should not take profits based solely on how much it has increased. If a stock has fallen from an expensive valuation to a cheaper zone, a 50% rebound may only bring it back to a reasonable level—still leaving room for further upside toward a more expensive zone with a better price.

Valuation is not enough: consider the business environment

Alongside valuation, investors should consider the company’s forward business environment. For instance, analysis of thousands of banks shows very low valuations relative to the five-year average, but the outlook depends on credit growth. Credit growth this year is constrained; banks that cannot mobilize funds even with a 15–20% limit cannot lend more.

Method first: define why to buy, when to buy, and when to sell

Mr. Đào Minh Khôi, Head of MoneyGain Analytics, said many new market entrants have not identified their investment method. They often skip key questions: why buy a particular stock, when to buy it, and when to sell it. If losses occur, they also need a plan for how to handle them.

In practice, individual investors often have not built an investment method that fits them. The core, he said, is to construct a method and maintain a consistent investment philosophy throughout the investment journey.

Two filters: earnings growth and cash flow

The discussion highlighted two important filters. First, investors should check whether the stock has earnings growth—while noting that earnings growth is different from the size of profits. Second, investors should assess whether the stock attracts cash flow.

As an example, FPT was cited: quarterly profits have grown, but cash flow has drained, and foreign selling has been large. The speaker noted that FPT is the stock with the largest foreign net selling to date.

The implication presented was that beyond earnings growth, investors must pay special attention to cash flow. When both factors align, a stock does not need to be extremely large to grow multiple times.

MoneyGain’s message and app launch

Ms. Nguyễn Thị Bình Minh, CEO of MoneyGain, said: “In a volatile market, sustainable investment opportunities will belong to investors with a method, discipline, and the ability to make data-driven decisions. MoneyGain aims to accompany investors on that journey.”

At the event, MoneyGain officially launched an investment app on iOS and Android, shifting from a website model to a multi-platform investment ecosystem. The app is designed as an All-in-One tool to help users understand the market, select strong stocks, optimize the portfolio, and manage investments efficiently within one application. The mobile launch is expected to make a structured investment approach more convenient and intuitive for investors.

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Additional sections referenced in the source cover market trends and related topics, including SGI Capital commentary on interest-rate effects and other investment updates.