How Many Stock Traders Do We Have On The Forum?

gangrene · May 7, 2010

Yesterday, I watched my stock ticker in absolute astonishment as the Dow, Nasdaq and S & P simultaneously dropped and then spiked within about a 15-minute window. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. When I went to lunch at noon, the Dow was down about 45 points and, even with the crisis in Greece, the morning trading had been fairly stable. When I returned from lunch about 1 1/2 hours later, the Dow had dropped to -350 and then the real zaniness hit. As I watched, the Dow fell about 100 points every few seconds. In a matter of about three minutes, I watched it drop from -350 to -980. I left my desk to inform a friend and ask him what the hell had just happened that could trigger such a panic. When I returned to my desk no less than 5 minutes later, the Dow was back to -450.

It was something straight out of Hollywood, think "The Taking of Pelham 123."

Wall Street experts have blamed the anomaly on erroneous trades, high-speed computerized trades, stops/stop limits and the ever-growing popular theory of the "fat finger." Luckily, I didn't have any stop orders in, so I wasn't caught in a loss that quickly recovered. I see that the Nasdaq has canceled all trades that occurred 60% away from last prints at 1:40 PM.

KRAM1 · May 7, 2010

Absolutely an amazing day on Wall Street. Close to a 1000 point drop in the matter of a few minutes. Simply amazing. I am glad I wasn't focused on the markets yesterday. I don't "trade" much as I am more of a buy and hold guy so didn't get caught with any stop losses either. While I have never been a "broker" I did work for SmithBarney for about six years as a wholesaler (on the private bank lending side), and saw lots of "concern" in the offices from time to time. Investing in the markets these days is not for the weak of heart.

Quoner · May 7, 2010

I did work for SmithBarney for about six years as a wholesaler (on the private bank lending side), and saw lots of "concern" in the offices from time to time. Investing in the markets these days is not for the weak of heart.

BYE! BYE! BYE!

CELL! CELL! CELL!

cdizzle86 · May 7, 2010

Should've bought stock in Apple at that time. Went all the way down to $199 and then back up into the $250's. NASDAQ upheld all trades for them.

MDH · May 7, 2010

I dabble. Unfortunately I was betting on international markets this year and kicked up my feet when we were rollin' from Feb to April.

Worst of all, I need to sell quite a bit within the next 2 weeks for a condo. Sold quite a bit 2 weeks ago to pay for a car, really wish I went ahead and pulled the trigger for the amount I'll need for the property.

I refuse to eat a gyro anytime soon.

TTG: expect lots of -1's from me this month.

TheTastyGreek · May 7, 2010

I dabble. Unfortunately I was betting on international markets this year and kicked up my feet when we were rollin' from Feb to April.

Worst of all, I need to sell quite a bit within the next 2 weeks for a condo. Sold quite a bit 2 weeks ago to pay for a car, really wish I went ahead and pulled the trigger for the amount I'll need for the property.

I refuse to eat a gyro anytime soon.

TTG: expect lots of -1's from me this month.

Don't be a hater. I didn't minus any of you people when my Lehman Bros. securities vaporized.

And gyros are delicious. I still hope to have that broiler for tailgating this year.

gangrene · May 7, 2010

Absolutely an amazing day on Wall Street. Close to a 1000 point drop in the matter of a few minutes. Simply amazing. I am glad I wasn't focused on the markets yesterday. I don't "trade" much as I am more of a buy and hold guy so didn't get caught with any stop losses either. While I have never been a "broker" I did work for SmithBarney for about six years as a wholesaler (on the private bank lending side), and saw lots of "concern" in the offices from time to time. Investing in the markets these days is not for the weak of heart.

I'm more of a buy and hold trader myself (certainly not a day trader), but I'm always looking for new entry points. Yesterday, I saw several stocks on my watch list hit prices that were prime for buying. However, it all happened so quickly there was little time to pull the trigger. Agreed, investing today's market is certainly not for the weak-hearted.

stebo · May 7, 2010

This week has completely destroyed my portfolio. I started with $500 bucks a year ago and had it all the way up to $3100. It is very much like gambling. I have never taken anything out - just watched it go up and down. This week, it went way way down. I kept waiting for the bounce back and it just never happened. I know it's not a lot of money to some people but for me - it was going to be a trip to Europe or something.

On top of that - I just checked my 401K and it lost about 6% of its ENTIRE value just this week. Ay yay yay.

UNTflyer · May 7, 2010

BYE! BYE! BYE!
CELL! CELL! CELL!

Turn those machines back on! Turn those machines back on! Turn those machines back onnnnn!

UNTflyer · May 7, 2010

I have my 401K in 3 different funds... large-cap domestic growth, small-cap domestic bond funds, and a European growth fund.

My European growth fund went from being up 5% for the year all the way to down 10%.

eulessismore · May 8, 2010

Really, people are always looking for some event to correlate against some market condition, but I think any of us who are feeling not so rich since yesterday afternoon should consider this possibility: we should have changed from stocks to bonds before May 1 (or mutual funds with bonds instead of stocks). If anyone has found anything more reliable than the old "Sell in May and go away", please let me know.

Sell in May and go away, Youtube version.

TheTastyGreek · May 8, 2010

eulessismore · May 8, 2010

Or, since there's always the need to blame things on something, somebody, what about...

A Greek rebel riot dog.

UNTflyer · May 8, 2010

Really, people are always looking for some event to correlate against some market condition, but I think any of us who are feeling not so rich since yesterday afternoon should consider this possibility: we should have changed from stocks to bonds before May 1 (or mutual funds with bonds instead of stocks). If anyone has found anything more reliable than the old "Sell in May and go away", please let me know.

Sell in May and go away, Youtube version.

Should have been in bonds a year ago. Now is the time to get into stocks since the Obama Recovery is about to make us all millionaires.

Shuke-D · May 8, 2010

NT03 · May 8, 2010

No, sir, I have no experience but I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar. That's where you come in...