Lost money in stock market.... what now?

[T_Own]

daem, while you might be right, taking a loss of almost 50% in some cases is very extreme. even if it only rises to 75% of what it was, you make more money than if you take it out now.

also, saying that investing long term is a like gambling is true, and i THINK most people realize this (well probably not) but you should realize you can either make a small % yearly or lose it all at any time.

people who invest in the short term can make huge profits on it, but unless you are really a pro, its hard to do, and since most people have other jobs, they can't focus all their efforts into investing, and cut off the other, more steady income they have on the side (their normal jobs)

i'm not an investor, but i would like to be. and my dad talks about a friend from school (MIT) who invests his own money, he married into a rich family so its not gonna take the food off the table if he loses a lot, but he says you have to be prepared to make $10,000 in one day, and lose it all the next, because nothing is certain unless you are insider trading. just my brief thoughts on it

[daem]

daem, while you might be right, taking a loss of almost 50% in some cases is very extreme. even if it only rises to 75% of what it was, you make more money than if you take it out now.

If you walked into a casino with $1000, and you lose $500, you can choose to stop playing or you can gamble the rest of the $500 to try to "get back to even". If you've lost half your money, would you consider yourself a good gambler? Maybe it was bad luck, or bad judgment. Unfortunately, you'll have to keep playing to validate whether or not you would have been better off quitting vs. continuing to play.

If you decide to keep playing and you happen to erase some more of the loss to get to $750, you're definitely better off than you were with only $500, but the main problem arises when faced again with the decision to quit.

This is the point I'm trying to make...Most of the time, people are better served walking away than fighting the same losing battle.

Never fall in love with a stock, or buy into one that you don't have a clear exit strategy in place.

[borra]

I have my qcharts up right now looking for the stocks I am going to play come Monday. The markets suck, but there is still money to be made. Just keep in mind what direction the markets and your charts are going in and know if you are going with or against the markets and decide how long that trade is going to last based on that info.

Money is there, but it takes more work to get it out. Keep studying, stick with your trading plan, and follow your trading rules.

[T_Own]

If you walked into a casino with $1000, and you lose $500, you can choose to stop playing or you can gamble the rest of the $500 to try to "get back to even". If you've lost half your money, would you consider yourself a good gambler? Maybe it was bad luck, or bad judgment. Unfortunately, you'll have to keep playing to validate whether or not you would have been better off quitting vs. continuing to play.

If you decide to keep playing and you happen to erase some more of the loss to get to $750, you're definitely better off than you were with only $500, but the main problem arises when faced again with the decision to quit.

This is the point I'm trying to make...Most of the time, people are better served walking away than fighting the same losing battle.

Never fall in love with a stock, or buy into one that you don't have a clear exit strategy in place.

yes, but in casinos, most games are tilted much more heavily towards the house. i see your point, but in a casino, the odds aren't always changing like they do in the stock market, you're always destined to lose a certain % over enough time. i do see your point though, but when people are gambling with half of their wealth its a little different than someone on vacation

[borra]

If you didn't know, the gov wants to put another tax on stocks. They want to tax the buying of stocks, and then a tax when you sell stocks. This will be on top of the tax for any gains. This includes buying/selling in 401k, IRA, or other investment plans.

Kind of gay because if you have any money in a 401k or IRA you may move money around to stop the bleeding and you will get taxed. Don't know if these things really work, but here is a petition for it and some details:

http://www.rallycongress.com/no2trad...ck-trader-tax/

[spywizard]

well, ya'll wanted change.. there ya go..

[daem]

yes, but in casinos, most games are tilted much more heavily towards the house. i see your point, but in a casino, the odds aren't always changing like they do in the stock market, you're always destined to lose a certain % over enough time. i do see your point though, but when people are gambling with half of their wealth its a little different than someone on vacation

I have friends who work for the largest MMs. Here's a sample convo between people in different brokerage houses that take place every day:

A: "Hey Pat, Company XYZ is trading on thin volume, so I think I can pump it with only 200,000 shares. I'm planning on covering all before their quarterly release. I'm looking to make $1.5 a share on this one, so I could use some extra leverage."

B: "Sounds good...I'll initiate a naked short position to the tune of 100,000 shares to walk it down and help you average your position lower. I'll make money on the walk down and then flip my position to the long side. People will see higher volume than usual, and retail will want to ride it up on thoughts of news. As soon as you've reached your target, I'll short another 200K and you can sell me your shares for a spread of 5 -10 cents on the bid. Long term, this one is a dog so let's get some shares into the hands of the public and out of our firms.

A: Awesome...We rock.


Seriously, at least in the casino, you're trying to beat odds...On Wall St. you are trying to beat people that collude every day and have tons more money. It's not a fair fight, and nothing can be done to stop it.

Casinos are much fairer than the stock market.

[T_Own]

thats interesting

[run_n_fool]

I have friends who work for the largest MMs. Here's a sample convo between people in different brokerage houses that take place every day:

A: "Hey Pat, Company XYZ is trading on thin volume, so I think I can pump it with only 200,000 shares. I'm planning on covering all before their quarterly release. I'm looking to make $1.5 a share on this one, so I could use some extra leverage."

B: "Sounds good...I'll initiate a naked short position to the tune of 100,000 shares to walk it down and help you average your position lower. I'll make money on the walk down and then flip my position to the long side. People will see higher volume than usual, and retail will want to ride it up on thoughts of news. As soon as you've reached your target, I'll short another 200K and you can sell me your shares for a spread of 5 -10 cents on the bid. Long term, this one is a dog so let's get some shares into the hands of the public and out of our firms.

A: Awesome...We rock.


Seriously, at least in the casino, you're trying to beat odds...On Wall St. you are trying to beat people that collude every day and have tons more money. It's not a fair fight, and nothing can be done to stop it.

Casinos are much fairer than the stock market.

I agree completely. I can recall a day in fall of '07 when Bear Stearns was starting to unravel. I was short and out of no where a "news story" that Buffett was buying a large stake in BSC. Now mind you Buffett does not typically get into the I-Banks but this story was pumped on CNBC, MSNBC, etc. Over the course of about 30 minutes the stock went up about 15% and then pretty much lost all of it. I am sure whomever was responsible for the story made money on both sides of that move.

[higherdesire]

Again I wasn't diputing your advice, only that there are truly no absolute as you stated here. In response to the fact that there there is more debt out there than ever before, aren't there more people htan ever before? Just for conversation purposes, has the average debt ratio increased? Is there an upside to the economy at all? THanks.

[BJJ]

[QUOTE=.45Caliber;4460118]

On 02-26-2009, 12:59 AM you wrote:
"...I lost alot of money in the stock market these last few months. What to do now?..."

Then, less than one month after "the buying and short covering" made the whole of the stock markets to bounce back.

What did you do then? Waited or pulled out?

PS
Which stocks are/were you in, if I can ask?

[lovbyts]

For you financial guys,

I lost alot of money in the stock market these last few months. What to do now? My financial guy told me to hold on and wait it out. I dont wanna lose anymore. Looking for opinions from others.

How worse can things get!!!!!

It all depend on your comfort and risk.

Mine was to high, in 2001 I lost $350,000 that was WAY past my comfort level but there where many factors that kept me from selling on the way down...

[elpropiotorvic]

This will end .. Whether is sooner or later we don't know ... It's most likely to b a W than just a V in my opinion ... But I say if ur portfolio is diversified hang on there tight, talk to ur FP and check what moves u can make but if u hang on u will probably be back on the game by 2013-2014 by then u should re-evaluate ur F plan , I say hang on ... Hope everything Ends up well

[paulzane]

I've lost (on paper) over the past 2 years $500,000 but it is less now as the pound has gone down against the dollar by 20%