Worried about cheating when it comes to Patriotism and the Stock Market

[TheLoneGunman]

While I would love for the stock market to go up (its my only source of income now and I have suffered losses in the down market), I am worried that since trading is anonymous, people will make small positive purchases but for the most part will be selling their positions and selling short. This will cause the the market to fall hard (of course there are controls to prevent a collapse, but it can still fall far).

The question is whether I can trust my fellow investors to keep prices up or will they be profiteering.

This is important because once a sell-off begins it normally cascades and becomes nearly unstoppable, because others are forced to sell (to cover their trading losses) and this just drives things further.

In Asia, the markets are falling and falling hard right now.

What should I do?

[topane]

Asia markets have been falling for some time, although losses are accelerating now. European markets are mixed as of now (about 9am EST). I would say for the good of the economy, don't dump all your stock. Many will however. I'm sure the market will slide, but there will be many buying opportunities once that happens.

[TheLoneGunman]

Markets been open for about 15 minutes and I ended up being patriotic (surprised ya, didn't I) and I bought the Dow (you can actually buy all the Dow Jones stocks at once) and went long.

Hopefully, I will be able to make some money on the rebound.

[Butch]

If there is panic selling today, I'll sure as hell be buying. So long as there has been no fundamental change in the ability of the companies to operate at the level they were at before, there is no reason not to buy if people allow emotion to knock down the share price.

[attgig]

buy defense contractors stocks...(in europe, they've gone up last week)

i think lockheed martin, raytheon (though they lost some people), and some other companies will get a little boost in their stock`.

also, offsite data backup people....
EMC, geez..i'm drawing a blank..but they might go up too..

[topane]

Originally posted by att gig
EMC, geez..i'm drawing a blank..but they might go up too.. SunGard
Currently, the Nasdaq is coming back a little. It's down 93 points, was over 100. Unfortunately, the Dow is taking a nosedive. Don't panic, kids.

[TheLoneGunman]

EMC was a good call, it initially fell almost 20% and then almost immediately rebounded and is now a few percent above it's last monday close.

The Dow seems to have bottomed and so I think I made a good buy.

At the same time, nothing seems to be making a huge move (except for a few that went crazy -- Like InVision (INVN) which went up 202% !!! and VSNX which at least doubled! -- I think they make security equipment)

[pennypinch]

I think the logic that accomplished investors are espousing goes like this:

- long-term investing is the true path to happiness

- successful long-term investment requires the choice of solid companies that have fundamentals and good prospects

- this has done very little financially to affect the prospects and outlooks of most companies. Therefore, if it was a good investment last Monday, it should still be just as good an investment today, the momentum investors be damned.

I think that's a good way to look at it. Unless you were long on the airlines (and christ, who would be?), you should be pretty decent. Given that diversification is a key activity you should all be involved in, you can weather this market. I mean, look at the bond prices: the fed cut their rate by half a percent this morning. That went almost unnoticed. If you hold bonds right now, you should be laughing your way to the bank.

[TheLoneGunman]

well, I am a short term trader and the market seems to be trending even lower now... :(

yes, the market did react to the rate cut. Things didn't drop as far as they could have because of the rate cut.

[The Happy Squirrel]

i too am a short term trader and i accually sold these past 5 or 6 days and its paying off
althought he market will ahve corrected itself by wendsay
thursday at teh latest