This may be the most uttered phrase in the Saudi stock market, but often it was not advice — it was an attempt to numb the pain. Behind these words lie thousands of portfolios that bled, thousands of dreams that evaporated, and their owners wait for years hoping prices will return to the starting point.

The problem is not investing, but the lack of a goal. Someone enters the market because they heard a tip from a friend, saw an anonymous account on a social platform promising imaginary profits, or followed a chat room run by someone whose name, history, and even interest are unknown. They buy a stock thinking they are a trader for a day or two, then the stock drops, and they are forcibly turned into an 'investor' — not out of conviction, but because the loss has become too large to bear selling.

And here begins the journey of 'locking the portfolio.'

This is not an investment strategy, but a surrender imposed by loss.

The year 2006 is still fresh in the memory of the market. Many portfolios that were damaged in that crash remained frozen for years, until they became like spider webs, which their owners only enter to increase their regret. Worse still, some investors did not learn from that lesson; they repeated the same scenario with every new wave of speculation and every anonymous account promising them that 'the stock will hit the limit.'

Real investing starts with a simple question: What is my investment goal?

Am I a trader looking for quick profits? Then I must adhere to a clear plan, an entry point, a stop loss, an exit point, and not allow emotions to control my decision.

Or am I an investor? Then I must study the company, its results, growth, valuation, and be patient, because investing is not just buying a stock, but buying a part of a company I believe in its future.

But to enter as a trader and then be forced into being an investor — that is not a strategy, but a result of lack of discipline.

One phenomenon worth pausing at is the large number of tips coming from accounts outside the Kingdom, some of which have unknown owners and locations, yet you find people following them as if they were indisputable facts.

The legitimate question: Why all this interest in the Saudi market?

The answer is not complicated. Because there are those who know that some traders are looking for quick salvation or quick riches. All it takes is for someone to write, 'The stock target is such and such,' and liquidity flows to it without anyone asking: Who are you? What is your track record? Do you bear responsibility for this tip if it fails?

In financial markets, there are no magic recipes, no guaranteed profits, and no one knows the future. Any tip that is not based on clear analysis and a disclosed methodology is just an opinion that may be right or wrong. But the loss will be paid by the one who pressed the buy button, not by the one who wrote the tweet.

Investor culture needs to change. Instead of searching for the 'golden tip,' one should search for the 'golden plan.' The plan protects you when you are wrong, but the tip does not.

Before buying any stock, ask yourself: Do I know why I entered? When will I exit? How much can I lose?

If you don't have a clear answer, don't enter.

The market does not only punish those who lose, but punishes even more those who enter without a goal... and end up repeating the phrase that has exhausted thousands of investors:

"Lock your portfolio... and forget it."