US President Donald Trump's tariffs regime spooked investors and global markets tumbled.
As the trade war between the US and China heated up, the ASX nosedived.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was comfortably above 8,500 points in mid-February.
In early April, it sank to 7,343 points, having shed about 15% of its value in less than 2 months.
With the index now back above 8,400 points, I can say I made a solid profit from the recent share market chaos.
But I could have done even better.
Here are 3 lessons I learnt from the latest crash.
More regular buying
As the market started to tank, I started to buy.
I wrote a story in early April outlining my buying strategy as the market was tumbling.
The strategy was simple – buy shares when they were cheap and keep buying as they got cheaper.
I started to buy when the market was already down by about 5%.
The plan was to keep buying at intervals spread out over a few days.
I told myself I would keep buying no matter what happened.
As the market sank, I must admit it was unsettling watching my funds vanish moments after I deployed them.
But it was even more unsettling when the market started to head back up.
By opting to space out my buying intervals over a few days, I reduced my opportunity to snap up more bargains.
Things turned around fast, and bargains don't last forever.
If I bought more regularly, I would have significantly boosted my potential profits.
But that would have required more funds.
More dry powder
A key reason that limited my buying capacity was a lack of available funds that could be swiftly deployed.
I had built up a healthy reserve ready to take advantage of the crash.
But looking back, I should have built a larger cash pile.
More focus, more research
I'm constantly looking out for great companies to invest in.
As a result, I have a fair list of ASX shares that I'm keeping an eye on, waiting for a buying opportunity.
These companies include Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME), ResMed Inc (ASX: RMD), Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL), and Goodman Group (ASX: GMG), to list a few.
But when all the shares on my watchlist went on sale at once, I was spoilt for choice.
So I simply poured the funds into an index fund, the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS).
In the end, my strategy worked, but I missed a chance to snap up shares I've been wanting to buy for a while.
I now plan to whittle down my watchlist to what I consider the 2 or 3 best options on the ASX.
The share market will go down again.
I don't know when that will happen, but I do know I will be better prepared.
