silvio1522

So was I. Now I'm afraid to take small bites. I know it's going to recover at some point, but for some of us, it's the timeline. Is this the end or the start?

rwheelz

Scary times in that regard. My horizon is off in the distance, so I can afford to wait for recovery. That said, would still like to go in as low as possible obviously. Going to toss some back in at close today I think.

Bullwings

After the rally today, market close for S&P500 at -25% from the highs. VIX still very high at at 75.

Market futures are currently pointing to another down day tomorrow to the tune of -3.0%.

Holding steady and waiting for my next buy-in point at either -35% market or VIX below 40, which ever comes first. I bought in at -18 to 20% for my first round.

vader1

I saw an analyst said that he can see rolling bear markets over the next year because we are supposed to see a couple peaks in Corona. Supposedly one now and another in November. If they have no miracle drug by then I could see Panic 2:The Sequel. I am just not watching anything right now, my money is either parked in stocks at a discount from where it was and I have about 15% left out of stocks.

I did go in to early, but really, I am just happy to have had a bunch of money miss a good percentage of the drop. I will perk up when it goes below 20,000 and stays for a day or two. I am also hoarding cash from all future paychecks over the next couple months and hope to throw $10-15k into a new account outside of my retirement accounts. I don't know whether to get a mutual fund account, or open up a brokerage account and day trade individual stocks for fun and who knows, maybe lose my shirt.

I am not afraid to put money in soon though because, I think it could go down another 10-15% from the recent low, but in as near as a month, if the news stories are "infections leveling off or going down and restrictions easing" you are going to gain 15-20% over night.

Bullwings

Open a brokerage account and buy ETFs (exchange traded funds) - they function very similarly to mutual funds, except that you don't get hit with capital gains taxes at the end of every year (tax only when you sell and close out your position). You can also trade them in real-time and see their prices change in real time. One of the most popular is SPY and VOO - they are ETFs that mirror the performance of the S&P500. One is through Fidelity the other Vanguard - you can buy and hold them no matter who your brokerage institution is - far more flexible than mutual funds.

Might want to check the math on that... Just remember that a 50% loss in a position requires a 100% gain to be at break even.
Example:
$100 starting
50% loss = $50

$50
50% increase on $50 = $25
$75 (still down $25 dollars from initial position)

$50
100% increase on $50 = $50
$100 (break even)

vader1

I understand math, what I am saying is lets say DOW is at 17,000 and you start to get a news day with a bunch of good news and you are not in, the market could go up 3,400 points in a day (20%) and youd not be in the market.

The point I was making is it is hard to call bottom, and when some good news comes, we are bound for one or two big "V" shaped reversals. Not back to 29,000 obviously, but they could very well be HUGE one day gains.

Bullwings

Got it. My bad.

I'm not looking to do much trading. If I live to be 90, then I have another 50+ years of time ahead of me in the market. Even with a retirement at 60, i'd still be a "long-term" investor trying to make that last for 30 years without a "job" for stable income.

Anyway, looks like we'll be hitting SP500 of 2200 fairly soon, which is 35% down from the 3393 high. I'll buy in another 25% of free cash at that level.

Still looking for the VIX to dip below 40 - ideally 30 - for a more comfortable/less gut-wrenching entry point.

jeffreygebhart

Don't try to time the market. It's more important to consider what your retirement horizon is. If I had 20+ years until retirement, I'd buy now and not look back. Even 10 years. Unfortunately, I only have 4 years to go, but haven't sold anything and continue to invest monthly via contributions to my 401(k). However, once the market recovers, I plan on dialing down the "risk rating" of my portfolio, i.e. move a little more out of stocks and more into bonds. But I'll still continue to have plenty of exposure in the stock market.

vader1

I would kill for two days of panic selling dropping the DOW 1,500. I have been positioned heavy in cash for a while, got a lot out not at the 29,000 peak but close to it. Now it bounces up and down. I think we will have some fall from where we are before election day but am looking at putting some back in at a trigger point of 26,500 or a little lower if I can get it. But I am impatient and tired of waiting. Let's rip off that bandaid!

Now if you think I am rooting against you or investors in general, no way. I want it to shoot back up shortly thereafter! So don't sweat it, just let it fall.

engifineer

I can tell you in the sector I work in (IOT/RF device development) we are seeing a huge upswing lately. The contract manufacturers seem backlogged with new quote requests (taking me twice as long to get production quotes) and we are seeing new business coming in regularly. Existing customers are pushing hard as they are seeing more interest in their new products and are wanting to rush on everything. I am sure this will vary by industry, but we are certainly staying busy at least!