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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tennessee_ted who wrote (49298)	3/17/2001 11:11:24 AM
From: KevinThompson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

Hi Ted, Thanks for the reply and dialog. I'm not sure that we're really in any disagreement. First let me say I'm sorry to hear of anyone losing in their investments, especially any principle amounts. The previous weeks and months have been tough for almost everyone; long, short, invested, traders, and even those sitting with cash (there's always opportunity costs too) - certainly some hurt more than others though. I've lost way more than I ever thought possible - thinking I could figure out where and when to go. But I came to the realization a few weeks ago, that it was becoming impossible to determine where any particular issue would close on the day - meaning that there was very little one could do to position themselves in the market. It was that realization that made it clear to me the current stock market climate was becoming more and more a gambling casino - which I detest. At that point, I began the effort of closing out all of my "positions". But even then, I acted way too slowly - thinking that I would just get rid of the cutting edge stuff, but hang onto the "low PE" value guys. Well, obviously that didn't work either. The stock market is and has been in a MAJOR correction - I don't know anyone that can consistently profit going against the trend. In fact, for most, holding onto positions or trading against the trend has caused us to see little if ANY profits and even losses. Rather than go cash, I've actually done well recently going WITH the trend - why keep hitting the wall into losses? But as I've said, short sellers can be hurt easily in this casino atmosphere as well - I've just been fortunate recently. My point of my prior post is not that I advocate investors to absorb more losses - my point is that it's amazing to me how long it takes for some to make a decision to do something about it. I'm slow to act sometimes myself - but anyone that is unaware of the current trend just has not been paying attention - PERIOD! And they wait until yesterday to act?? Further to my point - if one does finally decide to do something about it, why take action on an infamous day like Friday was, where the Naz and Dow are setting NEW LOWS. That my friend is almost always a guarantee of higher losses. As Mark pointed out, it is truly an incredible sight to see such a "run" on the brokerage offices on such a day as that. I'm convinced it is precisely that kind of common herd mentality behavior that keeps the well connected big money BIG. But it's really no surprise at all - it's been happening since the beginning of markets. Best Regards, KevinT