You only lost $0 .13 per share. Count yourself lucky. I first bought this thing at around $25 and last bought it at $7. I bought 3 times more at $7 than I did at $25 and $20; so by tax loss selling of the higher purchase price stock prior to December 31, and making a gain now with the lower purchase price stock, I guess I can honestly say I only lost about 3.5 months of my life with this stock. (seeing it near $4 around Christmas was stressful to say the least)
I also nearly blew up my daytrading account due to ALLR margin calls. This is the account where I bought the stock after the earnings warning, thinking I could magically make up for the huge paper losses sitting in my Blue Chip brokerage account. Well it went from bad to worse. The stock kept falling, I kept buying, and the margin calls kept a coming. By the end of December I had wiped out 90% of the value of the daytrading account.
I learned a few important lessons along the way.
Don't ever listen to a buy recommendation from a stock broker.
Don't ever trade on margin.
Don't ever average down on margin.
Don't ever average down.
Cut your losses or pray for a miracle recovery.
Don't ever buy the day following an earnings warning.
Insiders and/or their buddies always tell or sell prior to bad news so never buy on unexplained weakness.
But the most important thing I learned from this experience is that day trading is gambling. Period! Just like there are a few professional gamblers who win, there are a few, and I mean, a very few, daytraders who make money in the long-run. I still struggle with the urge, and I haven't completely reformed.
gregg |
