Preliminary Finding on Average Entry Revision
The person looked up their average entry price. They looked it up again twenty minutes later. The number had not changed. They looked it up again.
Preliminary Finding on Average Entry Revision: A Microfiction
The person opened the app at 7:14 am. The app showed a number. The number was the average price at which the person had purchased the thing. The person had purchased the thing over several months, at prices that varied, producing an average that the app had calculated and was now displaying.
The person looked at the number. The number was lower than the current price. This was good. The person closed the app.
The person opened the app at 9:32 am. The app showed the number. The number was the same number. The person had not purchased any additional units of the thing since 7:14 am. The average had therefore not changed. The person understood this. The person looked at the number for a moment and closed the app.
At 11:47 am the person opened the app. The number was still there. The number is the same number it was when the person checked it four hours ago, and also when they checked it this morning, and also last night.
The average entry cannot be changed by the person except by purchasing more of the thing or selling some of the thing and repurchasing it at a different price. The person does not intend to do either of these things today. The person knows the number.
The Observation
The person opened the app seven times between waking and the time of this writing. On three of those occasions the current price of the thing was also checked. On four occasions only the average entry was checked. On none of these occasions did the average entry change.
Checking a number that cannot be changed by checking it is not irrational. It is something else. The something else is not addressed in the app's documentation.
The Absurd Rule
The app allows the user to hide the average entry display. This option exists in Settings under a submenu labeled Portfolio Preferences. Hiding the number would prevent the checking. The person has not hidden the number. The person has, on two occasions, navigated to the submenu and then navigated back without making the change.
The number is still there. The person knows it by memory now. They check it anyway, which means the purpose of checking is not to know the number.
The Contradiction
The person would describe themselves as a long-term investor who is not focused on short-term price movements. They have said this to three separate people. The average entry price is a historical figure that has no bearing on whether the person should buy, sell, or hold the thing at any given moment.
The person knows this. The person opened the app again at 2:15 pm.