In a reply to this recently top upvoted post:
https://old.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/1quur6g/from_investing_to_gambling_the_state_of_us_stocks/
OP here is complaining about how volatile stocks are, but he's only talking about downside volatility. Of course if you asked him a few months or weeks ago how his portfolio was doing, he'd say that he was doing well and imply that he's a genius because of his picks.
But when the market and individual stock picks fall, he's now complaining about how "rigged" it all is. My man, you weren't complaining when stocks were ripping up since 2018 when you started investing, how unusual there is no longer any real price discovery because of all the excess liquidity in the system?
You never thought that when your tech stock goes up 15% for almost no reason, that that's somehow not "rigged" in the same way when it also marches down 15%?
Stocks go up and down. If you cannot stomach the volatility, you can buy bank CDs and forget about your brokerage account. Those yield a nice 4% per year and never have any drawdown in nominal terms.
For anyone invested in equities, you need to stomach the risk that stocks often go on random walks, they go up and down. Sometimes they go way down. Perhaps individual stock picking isn't for you if you cannot stomach the recent volatility in a very crowded trade (e.g., long tech stocks).