When you say "buddies" what you really mean is "banks", "hedge funds" and "people to whom it was obvious that announced tariffs were bonkers". If you had the foresight and market sense, you could have made money, too. But you were scared, sold low, and now when it came back up, you suddenly found yourself at a loss (or the so-called "unrealised profit")
Of course they were bonkers. You still had to know when the bottom was and when he was going to announce the reversal. Many people assumed he would keep it up for at least a week before pulling back. If he had the market would have pulled back even more. It's easy to time the market when you're from the future.
Honestly, HN is obsessed with finance; it seems at times like it's all you think about. But when it comes to basic trades, suddennly it's all excuses and "easy to time the market when you are from the future".
A lot of people made money today; no, they are not all Trump "buddies"
Common sense is a kind of skill. You don't have to make "optimal" trade, too, so the true dip doesn't matter only thing that matters is recognising that a ticker is undervalued.
There's markets can be irrational angle, of course, but it doesn't apply here.
Trump delaying the tariffs was only common sense after Trump delayed the tariffs. Before Trump delayed the tariffs, common sense was that Trump would not delay the tariffs.
Again, you're just taking pure luck and rebranding it as common sense, using survivor bias.
If you still insist you had a crystal ball, then I ask you: Did you predict the 125% non-delayed tariffs on China, or did you think he would delay all the tariffs? Are you still predicting the 125% tariffs on China will be delayed?
Using "common sense" to both divine that Trump is so incredibly stupid as to suggest obviously bad economic policy but simultaneously smart enough to revert it is gambling.
There is no 5D chess going on. There is entropy, Trump is an agent of chaos. He is not stupid, nor is he intelligent, he is destructive.
You have better odds sticking to cartomancy or other forms of divination. I have no issue with gamblers, but I do take issues with gamblers who are so delusional as to think they can see that which is unseen.
Don't blame the markets.