I'm down $20k this year. I got caught holding CHINA, TSTC, MPEL when the market decided to take a dump. At least I had one decent trade on thursday - I bought 30 orcl calls and made $1400 in 30 minutes. Then I double down on GROW for a bounce and got killed. All in all, that one win is meaningless since I'm in the hole. Now, I sold out and gone cash with the exception of a few mutual funds in my retirement account. Argh, from my point of view - I just have no feel for this market. I'm thinking about going large caps - buy 100 + call options on C, GS and hope they will bounce back. Nevertheless, I'm getting spook because I think the market has more downside. Based on history - it's a good possibility.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market_downturn_of_2002 Hell, we have everything going against us .. Subprime markets Housing downturn record level margin record level debt etc..
Don't even think of betting it all on 100+ calls of this or that large cap stock. If you're not feeling the market, it's because you can't see that sometimes betting against the market is the right play. Stop trading/investing for a few weeks (or months) until the market stabilizes. Then, find a few good companies with growth potential that are trading at a significant discount to current prices and invest with confidence.
Why not just back off for awhile. The markets will settle down at some point - days, weeks.... then,when you get a rational perspective on what you see the markets doing you will be less likely to give away more $$$. The hits you've taken are gonna adversly affect your decision making right now - based on what you are saying. Get away from it for awhile.
Net short, and am up nicely this year. Short 1K RIMM at 142.50. Built this up over several days in 250 increments. That gap to 86 looks really yummy! I did nibble at some AMD today though 2K at 14.25 (I'm a die hard ATI fan, and think this goes back to 20 by June). Gotta go both ways to survive in this mkt.
eh.. I work fulltime and can't monitor the market every minute. Anyhows.. the several times I tried day trading I only made $200 on a $20k trades.
dayum.. how low can amd go? I might have to get some for long term if it breaks 14. I tried daytrading this stock two weeks ago and lost $200 on it.
aaron. You can't trade when your mind isn't in it, and when you're spooked. No surer way to blow your trades. Take a powder until you can collect your thought, get a focus on the markets, reclaim your comfort level and can construct a logical game plan. Don't force it. The markets and profit opportunities will be there when you regroup, whether next week or next month.