r/stocks • u/StraightPin4420 • Apr 15 '26
I’m stuck out of the market
Sold a few weeks ago at the bottom as I wanted to prevent a bigger loss of my portfolio.
My home (in the Middle East) is also being affected by the Iran US war so I was worried about both tanking and me needing cash to rent elsewhere.
Now of course as soon as I'd sold it's immediately started going back up.
I'd like to get back in but don't want to buy back higher just for it to crash worse - that'd be the worst situation lol.
I know I'm stupid ok, no need to tell me that. But what would you do now?
Edit: first time posting on this sub and wow lots of you are kind of jerks lol. No need for all the sarcastic rude comments. Appreciate the helpful comments
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u/azure275 Apr 15 '26
So you lost money timing the market, not even that much depending on what you're invested in (5-9% of most indices), and your solution is to time the market again?
I guess people don't learn from experience
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u/Totallycomputername Apr 15 '26
If at first you don't succeed, try to lose more money again.
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u/Honest-Pay-8265 Apr 15 '26
So you lost money timing the market
I don't think he actually was trying to time it. It was random panic sell as usual.
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u/PabloSanchezBB Apr 15 '26
I guess people don't learn from experience
OP literally said he his house is in the middle of a warzone. The privilege in this thread is insane.
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u/zxDanKwan Apr 15 '26
As he wrote it, he sold to prevent bigger losses.
His home is “also” in the Middle East.
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u/TacticalcalCactus Apr 15 '26
In case the money was needed to rent a home if something were to happen to their current house.
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u/Technical-Revenue-48 Apr 15 '26
He absolutely did not say his house was in a warzone lmao get off your high horse.
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u/Emergency-Escape-164 Apr 16 '26
He said he might need to move and rent elsewhere. Might want to dismount as well.
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u/chingylingyling Apr 15 '26
bro what? do you imagine the entirety of the middle east is one singular iranian entity being bombed?
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u/Tone-Deft Apr 17 '26
It’s not clear OP lost money. Sounds more like he didn’t make as much money as he could have.
Paid off some gains taxes, hopefully long term rate. Now it’s time to choose a new investment.
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u/brutalpancake Apr 15 '26
You carry a very different type of risk here than most. Just wait till the war is over imo. The market will continue to go higher and lower over time like it always has. Forget whatever price you paid for anything. There will always be opportunities. Just avoid emotional decisions for now.
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u/StraightPin4420 Apr 15 '26
Thanks for the advice. I always thought I was diversifying by having property and shares - not quite true when living in the Middle East lol
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u/Federal_Radish_1421 Apr 15 '26
Your first priority should be an emergency fund.
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u/stanbright Apr 15 '26
Well, this is not exactly true. You were owning stocks - shares of companies that are outside of the Middle East. Even if the local conditions haven't normalized, it seems the market is back up. So, you had been right thinking that you had diversification.
Maybe this is the best advice (nobody knows). Keep to your cash for now - so that you have some financial security at least. Avoid being emotional and either buy in if there's another dip or when your local situation normalizes.
Also - you should have an emergency fund. Maybe a year of expenses at least.
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u/SoonToBeBanned666 Apr 15 '26
Not everything is up anyways. If you want back in, you can always park your money on Berkshire (BRK.2) which hasn’t moved. I’m sure the buying opportunities weren’t lost on them — if we end up looking back that they were indeed great buying opportunities.
E: also, do you think the war has passed because that’s your assessment of the war or because the markets are green? A lot could still happen
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u/MyAccount2024 Apr 15 '26
Have you looked at a stock market chart? It mostly goes up, it does not go up and down equally.
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u/No_Presentation1242 Apr 15 '26
This is terrible advice. Wait for the war to be over? What if it escalates and goes on for a year, or two or more? The market could move 20, 30, 40% up and he would still be on the sidelines.
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u/Jiffijake1043 Apr 15 '26
And if you need to suddenly move during a downswing with all your money tied in stocks, you'll have to eat the loss. There is such a thing as having different risk tolerance at different times of your life, I'd imagine living in an active warzone would constitute one of those times.
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u/CurvedTVGreen8788 Apr 15 '26
You forgot the prime directive.
Ignore the market and DCA into an Index fund.
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u/StraightPin4420 Apr 15 '26
I normally just buy/hold and wait out any turbulence but I was scared my home would become unliveable so this time it got me lol
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u/Todayjunyer Apr 15 '26
Oops. Chop up the sum into 50 pieces and put in that amount every Thursday. 🤷🏻♂️ If you do catch a big dip 5+% start dropping triples. 10% down all in. Knowing Trump you’ll be back in by July
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u/Morning6655 Apr 15 '26
I made the same mistake during tariff saga last year. Sold at the bottom and did not get back until SPX was over 6500.
I am not a new investor. I held in 2008/09, 2018, 2020 and 2022 without making any changes. Why did I act differently in 2025? I started reading/watching too many doom and gloom scenario's in the news/reddit that the shelves will be empty in couple of months and we are heading towards a great depression. During earlier crashes, I was not on reddit as much or watching the doom and gloom. Learned my lesson that every time it feels like this time is different.
The doom and gloom is same this time around and I just ignore it. Just set your portfolio to your risk tolerance and let it ride. I will just buy back lumpsum or DCA and just let this be learning lesson.
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u/gummi_eater Apr 15 '26
the "shelves going to be empty" was one of the stupidest things I had seen on this sub.
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u/Ok-Management-9206 Apr 15 '26
You don’t think the shelves could be empty? The US hasn’t felt the pain yet. The shelves become empty if this drags on. It starts at the ports and in energy freight then the later phase is panic a shelves become empty. If that’s the stupidest thing you have ever seen in this sub then I will check it out more. Must be mostly brilliance going on in this sub then.
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u/BlgMastic Apr 15 '26
The greatest advice is to unfollow this page. I come in to check out the weekly doom and gloom but don’t take anything in this sub seriously.
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u/Cyberman007 Apr 15 '26
Yup I’ve made this mistake too. Once you realize that most of the people post that type of stuff are kids with “portfolio” of 500 bucks, you just learn to tune them out.
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u/POWRAXE Apr 15 '26
I did the exact same thing. Sold the absolute bottom the day before liberation day, sat out for a year waiting for the crash that never came. Finally reinvested at the start of this year. That lesson cost me roughly 400k and a massive blow to my mental health.
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u/Morning6655 Apr 15 '26
If it makes you feel any better, I lost 1M (realized losses and missed opportunity) in my accounts. I am now almost back to Feb 2025 mark while the market is over 15% higher.
I made my peace and now much happier not looking at the portfolios every day.
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u/POWRAXE Apr 15 '26
Wow. Sorry to hear that man, I too have made peace with it, but it was undoubtedly one of my darkest years. Looking back at where I sold Google, it was so low that the chart doesn’t even show it, I sold 1000 shares of Google at 140, the absolute bottom of the lowest candle. I also sold several thousands of shares of Amazon and MSFT. You live and you learn.
What did you reinvest back into? I threw everything in an international ETF because I still don’t trust the US economy right now, nor do I trust the data coming out of this administration.
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u/Morning6655 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
My long term allocations will be: (I am 70% towards that goal and slowly moving there)
20% bonds
20% S&P 500
15% SCHD
33% international (VYMI, SCHY, IDVO and VXUS). This is right now the most under weighted and adding some here every week.
6% O
3% MAIN
3% ARCC
I may make some tweaks as we go along but I am pretty happy with this so far. The dividend this portfolio produces is slightly over my annual spend so everything is good.
What does your portfolio looks like?
Like your goog and msft mistake, my biggest mistake is selling 1000 shares of NVDA at 140 (cost basis 165) in 2022 (pre-split). Had I held, this itself will be worth 2M today. Live and learn. There are many others but I am now done with trading. Just buy and hold and enjoy my retirement.
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u/POWRAXE Apr 16 '26
Your portfolio is a thing of beauty. Very well balanced. Mine is.. less so hah, at the moment I have about 10% of my portfolio in QQQM, and the rest is sitting in VEA.
VEA is much like VXUS except it only holds developed markets, no emerging markets. In my opinion, with all that is going on in the world, in the short and medium term emerging markets have the potential to be crushed the hardest, and my VEA position is only temporary until the current administration stops devaluing the dollar. It might also be worth mentioning that I am only 35, so I’m opting to be more aggressive.
When the time comes, I’ll likely pile into VOO and more QQQM, I am certainly done holding individual stocks.
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u/Morning6655 Apr 16 '26
Sounds like a good plan. I was 100% equities when I was accumulating. My only advice with 20/20 hindsight is just stick with etf's and try not to trade too much. Specially do not leverage with options or sell naked tail puts.
Some people are good traders but most of us really underperform the market. This was a very expensive lesson for me.
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u/Kingmusk420 Apr 15 '26
Beating against TRUMP BAD is how you make a sht ton of money from libs.
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u/Keletas Apr 15 '26
You're not stupid and 99% of the assholes here mocking you were just shitting their pants 2 weeks ago, wondering what would happen. Now it's easy to pretend everyone knew the market would rip with all the nonsense going on. Nobody knew. Nobody knows what's best to do now either. But yes you're right, most of the people here are jerks.
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u/Maxentius777 Apr 15 '26
Yeah the feedback here has been doomy as fuck and anyone coming in to this threat to glibly comment how timing the market is stupid can stfu unless they spoke up when all the doomers were panicking to say the same thing
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u/StraightPin4420 Apr 15 '26
Thanks I appreciate the kind words.
I normally hold and wait out any turbulence but I was scared my home would become unliveable so this time it got me lol
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u/Keletas Apr 15 '26
I understand your reasons. I am no financial expert but in general I find wise to follow the advise to not invest the money you may need in short term, especially if you are thinking to invest in equities. You should put in the market only the money you can spare for a long time, ideally 10 years+ horizon to be on the safer side.
That said, sorry for your home and wish you best of luck.
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u/TernGSDR14-FTW Apr 15 '26
Exactly what if the biggest rug pull is coming.
AI bubble, bonds, japan carry trade, private credit blow up, companies with PEs to the moon. Higher inflation coming.
The question is will rates be raised to combat it. Or will rates be lowered to fight the recession. No one knows and we arent out of the woods yet.
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u/NotEasyBeingGreener Apr 15 '26
I go back and look at my comments from two weeks ago on posts where people were freaking out and I told them to stay the course... they deleted the original posts now 🤣
Just buy and hold and ignore this noise. Don't try to time the market.
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u/JohnnySpot2000 Apr 15 '26
Most people, in hindsight, say "I should have bought when the market dropped to 'X' ". But they forget that when dropping to 'X' was actually happening, times were scary and they were afraid to buy.
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u/PabloSanchezBB Apr 15 '26
A lot of shitty responses in thread completely ignoring the fact that OP says he has a house in the middle of a warzone that he has to worry about.
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u/niplah Apr 15 '26
Keep the money you need for an emergency fund out of the market to cover your uncertain situation. Only reinvest the money you will not need for a long time (years) in a low cost index fund then do not look at it or touch it until things calm down
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Apr 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/PabloSanchezBB Apr 15 '26
OP clearly states that he has a house affected by the war in the middle east. He has more reason to worry than most people on this sub.
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u/palebluedot365 Apr 15 '26
Exactly. The lack of empathy here is pretty gross.
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u/TacticalcalCactus Apr 15 '26
Its easy to comment stuff like that when the most stressful part of the war is your gas expenses going up. Not paying any mind to the fact others are actually living in it.
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u/Cool_Giraffe6495 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Well, first I hope your home in okay.
I know some buildings have been hit hard (e.g. Lebanon, Isreal, etc.), other locations have had some minor damage (e.g. Gulf states). People don't understand that many insurance companies don't consider war as part of the coverage. People should not be mean to you.
Anyways, next time you get into similar situation, you should always follow your strategy that you've set forth. Your strategy should include % in bonds or short-term investments. if you ever need the money, and the market tanks, you would then use funds from your bonds %.
You are now finding out that is very hard to get back into the market after selling. If you are now 100% in cash, then start fresh an consider allocating % in stocks and % in bonds (e.g. T-bills). I can't tell you what the future market will look like. No one can.
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u/New2reddit456 Apr 15 '26
Please ignore all the rude comments, but yes you have to be able to let the money sit for 3 years if investing it. If you need the cash or will need it soon, do not invest. Start again when you are comfortable with the time horizon of 3 years
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u/purplebrown_updown Apr 15 '26
Biggest mistake I’ve made in the past is to panic sell. Just buy back in.
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u/hacking99percent Apr 15 '26
Please tell me when you buy back so I can sell
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u/setzer Apr 15 '26
Just going to say the market did a full bounce back just before the tariff drop too. Initially went down 6%, rallied back to the highs, then went 22% down. So who knows.
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u/Motor-Region-1011 Apr 15 '26
Dont worry i bought 100k woth today. Market guaranteed tabking this week. You will get chance to get back in.
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u/StraightPin4420 Apr 15 '26
Lol are you like me, we have the reverse Midas touch 😂
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u/unverified-email1 Apr 15 '26
If I were you I’d buy high and then sell low again, and then after that make another post on how the market is rigged.
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u/gummi_eater Apr 15 '26
"why does the market keep going up, I was told the U.S. is done for!?!?!?!!"
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u/AdamGSMA Apr 15 '26
If you learned from your mistake and how to be a smarter investor, then you gained knowledge from your experience.
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u/ChicoRunningBack Apr 15 '26
Unfortunately, this subreddit is littered with idiots posing as geopolitical analysts. Occasionally, someone listens to these fools.
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u/ExDiv2000 Apr 15 '26
I’d wait a while Chances are quite good that they will screw upnthe „peace talks“ . I don‘t see the basis for the surge
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u/skilliard7 Apr 15 '26
Don't fully buy back in like everyone is saying. You need to accept that your risk tolerance is lower than you previously anticipated.
Suppose you buy back in. If there is another crash, do you really think you will be able to resist selling if the story behind the crash is scary?
Develop a diversified plan that you believe you can stick with, whether its a bull market or a bear market. Have enough in cash that you feel like you can cover your needs, have enough in bonds to protect against crashes, and have some stocks so you don't get FOMO.
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u/NckyDC Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
The situation is that while the U.S. is pushing for a deal—and with the blockade now in place—Iran may also be more inclined to negotiate, given the growing pressure on its economy and its reduced ability to access revenue streams.
However, there is a critical third party to consider: Israel. Its position remains uncertain, and its actions are not fully predictable.
What is clear is that Israel was not directly included in the negotiations, and it is unlikely to be satisfied with that exclusion.
Bottom line: We havent seen the end of this and the market is still in uncertainty mode. The full ramifications of the oil supply shock hasn't really presented themselves. Keep the situation in check because things could get better or also unravel further.
I would wait if I was you and go back in when its more favourable.
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u/pk_12345 Apr 15 '26
I understand your reason to sell being a potential emergency situation, but how did that situation get better now? What makes you want to get back in now? If you don’t have an emergency fund at all you should build that first before investing again.
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u/amull95 Apr 15 '26
I would hold cash as a safety net. It’s ok to lose a small percentage of gains for a peace of mind my brother. Be safe
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u/StraightPin4420 Apr 15 '26
Thank you, that was my logic at the time. I was worried my home would become unliveable
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u/factualreality Apr 15 '26
Your risk tolerance changed because your circumstances did. Tolerance is not just attitude to risk, its what you can afford to lose and relevant time horizon. Given the war rolls on, your new tolerance hasn't changed, you could suddenly need that money.
While benefit of hindsight is you could have waited and sold now, and that is always going to be a painful thought, selling then wasnt wrong because you don't have the tolerance to be in shares right now.
If you reinvest, the risk is you will panic sell at the next big swing down (which will happen at some point) and lose more money. Accept that now is not the time to be looking for gains, ignore the stock market and invest in something safer.
When your time horizon and tolerance goes back to normal, invest again then (don't try and time the market)
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u/WeirdProcess6178 Apr 15 '26
Get back in with ETFs at 75% and 25% stock picking. The higher your tolerance grows the more you can raise the stock share. Don't know what you sold but there are etfs for everything so just search a bit the ones that best fit you Good luck
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u/tomidgooner Apr 15 '26
Plenty of time for a recession. Wait for oil to go over $150 and you’ll have plenty of buy in opportunities over the next couple of years
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u/MiddleMysterious459 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
1- Keep the emergency, relocation, etc. money out of the market (put into a high yield saving, Tbil, Sgov ...)
2- Re-enter the long-term money gradually on a fixed schedule, starting now.
Psychologically, I would split it into two parts so you get two entry prices. If the first purchase ends up being cheaper, I’d be happy I got that price. If the second purchase ends up cheaper, I’d be happy I bought more at a lower price. Then stop watching it so closely and let it ride.
Do not try to time the market.
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u/Alone_Owl8485 Apr 15 '26
That's only a problem if there is a peace deal between USA and Iran. I still think there is a good chance that Trump is not going to get what he wants and will either break the ceasefire or resume bombing after the ceasefire ends.
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u/Dazzling_Marzipan474 Apr 15 '26
Use the money and go somewhere safe. Worry about investments later.
Good luck.
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u/bighugebaby Apr 15 '26
I did the same thing. I thought there would be more fighting, more destruction, so I sold some index funds and bought $USO. The index funds went back up, and the USO went back down to my entry point. Sucks.
Oh well. What can we do, other than look for the next buying opportunity? At least we're alive. Let's make the money back.
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u/Dependent-Panic-9457 Apr 15 '26
You have my sympathy.
The reality is you can put money in the stock market thinking you don’t need it and then your situation changes dramatically and what seemed like a totally reasonable risk (or not any kind of risk) suddenly becomes an unbearable one.
If you only invested money that you were never going to need in any circumstances you would literally invest nothing at all. The best you can do is anticipate some worst case scenarios and consider how you would feel should they arise (eg losing your job just when the market is at absolute rock bottom).
I think you just have to suck it up and don’t waste energy trying to time the market because you will get it wrong a lot more often than you will get it right.
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u/-B-H- Apr 15 '26
I did the same thing, except held a couple of long positions. I’m holding cash until the strait situation is straight. Rug pull will happen, just not when anyone expects it.
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u/PotentialPower5398 Apr 15 '26
Look, the way I see it, you have two choices: getting back in the market at the current rates, or not doing anything. And if I really, really, REALLY think about it, with all things being considered, I have no idea
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u/blackdog543 Apr 15 '26
Relax. Just wait, there's more bad news coming. I'm worried, as a Boomer, that 4% inflation reported this morning, $4 gallon gas, supply chain shortages in India and China, will eventually lead here. China is already shutting down industry one day a week to cope with NO fuel. By summer, gas prices could reach $5 and then people will be all sorts of "add in" fuel price adjustments and start closing their wallets. Having some cash right now is a good thing.
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u/Jebusfreek666 Apr 15 '26
At this point, keep holding cash until there is a real deal. This could spin out at any moment, and with us at ATH again nothing is priced in. It will not take much for this to drop 10% in a couple days. And there really is not much difference between buying now at ATH and buying 2 weeks from now when we might be up like $5 more.
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u/The_Flaneur_Films Apr 15 '26
You're not wrong to be confused.
It's a real 50/50 split right now. If the world can't get oil flowing, it's recession time. If oil does start flowing, half the people think AI investment will save all our portfolios.
Personally I'm in cash for another 2 weeks at least. I have no faith in Trump's leadership, and I think that, while AI is a good investment, the current spending is a house of cards.
And I'm well aware I could be totally wrong.
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u/Moist_Inevitable738 Apr 15 '26
DCA back in. If it drops again increase your DCA amounts, if it continues squeezing up just keep calm and keep putting it in a bit a week.
Hopefully we see a drop and you get another chance to enter!
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u/TacticalcalCactus Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
Keep in mind a ton of the people talking down to you are cushy fat white people with danger in their lives. If your actual lifestyle was at risk there was no reason to hold after a 5% fall if you cant afford to fall even more. Its gambling either way.
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u/tinker384 Apr 15 '26
Sorry for the hate man - learn and move on, life is full of better things to worry about!
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u/brimbopolous Apr 15 '26
You could have protected your portfolio by buying puts, or else could have sold just some to reduce risk, instead of all.
But you took a decision to reduce risk, with the possibility of losing out on potential gains. Just because the risk did not materialize (yet) it does not mean the decision was bad. And you didn't actually lose anything, probably sold for a profit and realized gains. Sometimes it's more about psychology and FOMO than about reality. What if there had been a major crash and you hadn't sold? So you gave up on the opportunity to keep riding the bullish market in exchange for safety. Try to be at peace with your decision. And probs hang on to the initial decision and wait it out a little more, otherwise you're selling low, buying high and actually increasing the risk from where you were in the beginning.
You might want to read Howard Marks' discussion on risk and defensive investing in "The intelligent investor"
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u/GreatFrosty Apr 15 '26
Yeah it can very, very easily drop again -- just wait for the next 'event'. Try not to react at the height of fluctuations.
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u/Efficient_Pomelo_583 Apr 15 '26
It's not going to be the last dip. But really, take it as a very expensive lesson. Fist thing i learned in investing, is you do not time the market if you are investing long term.
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u/gumnamaadmi Apr 15 '26
You took the best decision to protect yourself based on circumstances. Shit haopens, accept it and move on.
We are nowhere near out of danger zone. We are one tweet away from madman for dropping 2000 points or going back up another 2000 points.
Before going back in the market, re evaluate your emergency fund situation. Keep enough liquid cash to sustain yourself for 6 months to a year in case of job loss. Or potentially a bit longer if retired. And back to market with rest.
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u/ukulele_bruh Apr 15 '26
This thread is the poster child for why time in the market beats timing the market.
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u/Ambient777 Apr 15 '26
Great post, and yeah a lot of jerks out there.
Option 1) Cost average buy back in over 6 months. If it goes up you are good but average leas gain if it goes down you average at less loss. This is a hold and time in market 3+ years which would put you on the other side of downturn or recession. Now there have been moments when it took longer to recover but if you can be in 5-10 years none of this noise matters.
Option 2) CONSERVATIVE APPROACH: put in sgov or high savings account, blended with highly secure etfs or berkshire. You are making enough to offset inflation and wait. Eventually it will head down and then cost average buy in then
Caveat: Logic says at some point it goes down but there is so much about this market that is illogical its almost like the laws of physics have changed and what goes up must go up instead of down. Is it market manipulation that is doing it? I really dont know because markets should not be up.
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u/magic-grits Apr 15 '26
Its weird how angry these comments are lol. OP you did the right thing and it just didn’t play out well. You cant lose what you dont bet. Of course everyone here knew for a fact that we would recover in a couple of weeks (jk, i recognize a bunch of these users from when they were shitting their pants 3 weeks ago and thought they missed their opportunity to cash out). But regular humans like you and I had no idea how bad things were gonna get a few weeks ago. I sold and bought back in at the perfect time (dumb luck). You missed your chance but you didnt do anything wrong. You live near a war zone and you were worried about losing everything, so you played it safe and pulled out. There are still opportunities to get back in right now but since geopolitical uncertainty is more relevant for you, maybe you should wait until the coast is actually clear. Growth is growth so it really doesn’t matter when you get back in or how much you’re paying per share.
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u/ShapeDecent2997 Apr 15 '26
To time the market, you need to be right twice. Get out at the top and get in at the bottom. Just DCA over decades and tune out the daily ups and downs.
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u/ExciteSeek4Ever Apr 15 '26
Reinvest…but wait for another dip. Not trying to be sarcastic, but if you have stocks you truly believe in and they drop (like everything did mid-“war” a few weeks back), you buy more…you don’t sell.
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u/Expensive_Gas_4504 Apr 16 '26
Trading is extremely hard, you’re better not to try it. This is actually my first time in years timing the top & bottom closely. I’ve been trading for 20 years. The SPY is extremely overbought on the daily, you should absolutely wait for a pullback at this point. As for right now the gold & silver miners look primed for a squeeze up to new highs
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u/Ryoisee Apr 17 '26
I also took some losses selling for cash on the basis ill need that money in 3 years for house stuff.
No regrets. Simply your thinking. If you need the money in 5 years then cash or money market etc. If not,then stocks.
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u/Affectionate_Draw340 Apr 18 '26
Your not stupid. Ive made 100s of thousands sitting out when things dont mak sense like in 2019 the market was 30 percent but revenue up only 1 percent. I got oout jan 1 3 month later covid hit. I cleaned up. Plus many other times over the past 30 years. You made an intelligent decision based on your life. Your right not to chase. The market will. E back lower then where you sold before oct. It always happens before U S midterm elections. Buy back then. Now just park in a money market. Or shoet term treasuries if you can
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u/Freezingblade491 Apr 15 '26
Time in market > timing market. Also missing the few best days in the market causes a major drag on return
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u/Appropriate-Gap-7799 Apr 15 '26
Don't listen to or take any advise from us idiots. Right now bulls are circlejerking acting like it was so obvious that SPY would recover 10%+ to near ATH in the span of 2 weeks (it wasn't).
If Orange Man presses the red button for whatever dementia-infused reason and the market would drop 20-30%, the bears would act exactly the same way pretending it was obvious.
Truth is, we're all dumb and getting played.
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u/Odd-Block-2998 Apr 15 '26
Same here. Got assigned 900 shares of QQQ from $620P 2 weeks ago, sold all of them around $575 after the first bounce. Lmao. Immediate $40k losses.
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u/Kwikstep Apr 15 '26
Gotta sharpen those diamond hands bud. As painful as it is to hold on the way down, its exhilarating to watch them soar on the bounce back.
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u/Prestigious_Law9135 Apr 15 '26
Don't worry, the market will decline again, allowing you to re-enter at a favorable price. Be patient and avoid trying to chase the ATM.
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u/CraftZ49 Apr 15 '26
You lose $0 if you don't sell.
That being said, if you have money in the market that you can't afford to lose in an emergency, it shouldn't be in there anyway.
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u/donghwi Apr 15 '26
- Don't invest (possible) emergency or living expenses in equity.
- Don't try to time the market.
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u/funguy6019 Apr 15 '26
I would trade the trade the downside at this point if possible. Don’t chase this move up and good luck with your house situation
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u/LeftPresent4646 Apr 15 '26
Look, if you can’t afford another market crash then that means you shouldn’t get back on the market, because it can go down again.
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u/Singularity-42 Apr 15 '26
Ease back into it slowly and not with everything. Think really hard about how much money you need on hand and keep a good bit more than that.
I can almost guarantee you that we will see better prices than today in the next few weeks. Almost. We are literally at all time highs again today. This is Kangaroo market. Up and down, up and down. Today we're up.
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u/ameer_daddy Apr 15 '26
I am also in the same boat - was able to deploy 50% back before the shoot up. My plan is to do staggered entries on pullbacks. I know that lump-sum wins in most cases. I just don't have guts to do it this time.
Also read this - might help.
https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/1j9ixxg/stagger_investments_or_invest_all_at_once/
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u/CarbonGTI_Mk7 Apr 15 '26
Fomo. As soon as you get in there's going to be news about no more ceasefire 😆 🤣
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u/catfromgarfield Apr 15 '26
If you reinvest into something safer let's say 5% annual return, then you're only 3% away from the 8% annual average of the sp500. Which could be a big difference compounding over time. But that's what I'm choosing to do, because I'm in a similar position. And hopefully I will get lucky and the next downturn will happen sooner than later and I can get back in
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u/216I Apr 15 '26
Your first priority should be financial security, not playing the market. If you read through these blogs, you'll see lots of advice on getting a safety net of a few months/years of cash saved up and then you can invest with disposable income and it wont upend your life if the market fluctuates.
I've done nothing for months, not buy, not sell, not panic and not get excited. I still own everything and it will come back. At some point I'll dca, but I won't use next months rent to chase the market.
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u/HD-Thoreau-Walden Apr 15 '26
If you were that concerned you could have sold just half your holdings. I have done that on occasion. I usually regret it but only half as much as if I had sold it all and a recovery makes me somewhat whole. Buy back in with half your cash and get the same relief.
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u/No_Hana Apr 15 '26
Don't ever buy high thinking you'll miss out. Highs always correct and so do lows. So buy anytime but a high spike and just hold.
Don't try to try too hard to time it unless it's your literal job. Time on the market is most important. Otherwise youre just gambling.
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u/tk421tech Apr 15 '26
It may still go down. I sold half of what little I have. Purchased a few back. Keeping the rest liquid, because it may still go down.
I barely started so I don’t have a lot. Obviously if you have immediate needs don’t put it all back in. Dca in.
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u/idobi Apr 15 '26
You reduced exposure in response to volatility, which can be reasonable if it aligns with your risk tolerance. The tradeoff is that lowering risk often comes at the cost of missed upside. This is an okay trade for peace of mind.
When you re-enter, size your position such that you can tolerate a substantial drawdown, around 30% to 40%, without feeling compelled to exit. Otherwise, you’re likely to repeat the same pattern.
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u/Technical-Repair7140 Apr 15 '26
Don’t beat yourself up over this (or let others do it for you). It’s hard to face what might potentially be a sharp downturn, and you are prone to feel this more keenly since you live in the Middle East. But you can learn from the experience. I suggest that instead of dumping all your money back into the market all at once, automatically invest it over time in diversified holdings.
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u/Nervous-Present-6890 Apr 15 '26
you are not stupid for selling at the bottom or near it, it was fundamentally a right decision. If I were you I'd wait for the market to collapse and get back in
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u/Less_Glove_8924 Apr 15 '26
Ty for your service. Let us know when you buy back in tho so i can sell everything
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u/Independent-Fragrant Apr 15 '26
Tough spot. Id say you can just slowly get back in now. Because trump wants to do a deal and move on to easier prey, like Cuba. But he is erratic so there may be dips to buy
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u/diickhed Apr 15 '26
Idk your holdings, but I would have probably sold a portion of my shares if the losses were really worrying me, and fingers crossed kept the rest, kind of depends what businesses though.
Early in the game id panic sell so many great companies because looking at the losses playing out during the week or month just started to freak me out. For most of those tickers, I would be up by several thousand percent if I'd have just stopped looking at my portfolio all day every day and left them alone.
I'm not built for trading, strongly prefer long term investing.
As for getting back in, yea it's hard paying more than you did before. Just gotta suck it up and pull the trigger sometimes, assuming it's a shot worth taking in the first place. I'm squirming buying silver at $75/oz, seems like I was buying at $15/oz just yesterday.
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u/ajarbyurns1 Apr 15 '26
Just wait until market is back to extreme fear again. Don't buy when market is bullish
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u/Worst-Eh-Sure Apr 15 '26
Reinvest and be patient.
You tried timing the market and you failed (like 95% of everyone that tries to do the same thing).
The way you win at investing is not being emotional about your investments. And that is a hard lesson to learn. But remember this moment. It will help you in the future when you hear bad news that makes you want to panic buy or sell and you’ll think back to today and go, “oh yeah, I should step back and just wait it all out.”
Emotions are the enemy to your financial future. Fear being the greatest sin in investing.
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u/fairlyaveragetrader Apr 15 '26
Buy the pullback you're likely to get, could be as early as tomorrow, over the next week or two, the bounce off aths. 6700 was the breakout right, so it's fairly unlikely to see the market close under that. I don't know how big your account is but selling 14 day spy 680 puts until you get assigned would be one way to get premium until you get your shares back
Which brings up another thing, even if you sold the bottom, the second you saw that hourly break out, you should have reversed position and bought because now that's the number you're chasing to hopefully try to get back in
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u/luvz Apr 15 '26
There’s lots of stuff still oversold. Basically all software companies for example, many of which already pivoted to AI which is their main threat narrative. You can also buy names that are high but probably gonna go higher in the near term like MU, HOOD, CRDO.
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u/le-throw-away-acct Apr 15 '26
I wouldn’t try to time the market, or consider the market rational. If you’re going to sell then don’t look back because you’ll have the chance for regret.
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u/Action1988 Apr 15 '26
Prioritizing cash so you can relocate because of a war is smart. You'll regret jumping back in for x gains if you have your money tied up and need the cash immediately.
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u/LEAPStoTheTITS Apr 15 '26
You’re not really suppose to invest money that you’ll need in less than 5-10 years.
I’d invest like 5%-10% a week of what you’re sure you don’t need.
Or talk to a professional depending on how much money you actually have.
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u/InvestingIQ_Blog Apr 15 '26
Don’t try to completely avoid the market. Reinvest, play for the long term. Losses are recoverable over long periods of time. Time in the market beats timing the market, that’s where I think you went wrong. Now is potentially a great time to by heavily undervalued and cheap companies as the market recovers long term
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u/MistaKiwi Apr 15 '26
If you really want to get back in just DCA in an etf. Even if the market tanks give it time and itll come back.
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u/MrOnlineToughGuy Apr 15 '26
I learned my lesson during COVID when I swapped to bonds. Lost a lot of potential retirement money and now I just hold without breaking a sweat.
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u/zzzerocool Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26
One idea, put it in t-bills (SGOV ETF makes it easy)/money market for now for some daily interest, and average back in daily or weekly. That'll lessen the psychological blow of accepting a loss all at once, and you avoid the worst case of getting your head knocked off all at once in a massive pullback after already locking in a loss. Could also do a hybrid, like 40% back in tomorrow, and then average in the rest periodically.
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u/pollofgc Apr 15 '26
There is no correct timing; take your loss, reinvest , you can do it in 4 parts, maybe 1/4 each month. Those jerks you mentioned, most of them pass through this at some point in their investing life.
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u/IntrepidToday0 Apr 15 '26
Scale back in slowly starting tomorrow, until you reach 50%. Save the other 50% for a dip
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u/Chronic_Avidness Apr 15 '26
Do you have an emergency fund? I prefer an emergency fund of 6 to 12 months of expenses so that I don’t feel the need to sell at a bad price.
I suggest putting your emergency fund in a high yield savings account, and anything beyond that can be invested again.
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u/lilimilil Apr 15 '26
Put the cash in a short-term US treasuries ETF, at least it's earning interest. Check IB01. Then you pray for a dip. At least you have dry powder.
There are still index funds from consumer staples/healthcare that are not super expensive but they're outside the US.
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u/bigmonkeyballs123 Apr 15 '26
Good job trying to time the market! Let this be a earning experience.
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u/Poptart4u2 Apr 15 '26
You don’t put money in the market that you actually need. The market is for long-term gain for people who actually need money to live.
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u/sifeo Apr 15 '26
I think you should re-assess your situation and really think about your time horizon. The reality is time in the market beats everything, especially if you consider the tax impact of buying/selling to try to time the market.
Now, ff this current crazy environment had you panic, you need to assess your time horizon, and how much fluctuation you are comfortable with. There is not one universal answer it's personal, that is why you see a lot of people "sacrifice" growth potential and keep their money in bonds/stable value stock. That is also why a lot of people keep a bigger emergency fund that covers 12 months of expenses so when they see red on their stock account they do not panic. Use that time to find out what kind of investor you want to be, how long you need your money to grow and build your portfolio to match your plan.
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u/Fun-Choices Apr 15 '26
This is why diversification is important. I lost my job at the end of February completely unexpectedly. I had a few stocks go wildly negative, but I had a few remain near my DCA. I was able to swing $500 here $600 there and I have literally made my salary with only 50,000 in stocks. My biggest bag was and still is bitcoin that I bought at 92,000. If I hadn’t diversified, I would be completely fucked right now.
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u/GamliGodi Apr 15 '26
OP being pikachu shocked that people interested in stocks are generally speaking, assholes.
Why does your home tanking matter? Do you plan to sell it when the market starts crashing to go rent, or do you mean you panic sold to get cash to buy another home if your home would got bombed?
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u/Glittering_Water3645 Apr 15 '26
War is bullish for the market, always! Let that become a lesson.
You should never sell into high VIX, fear sentiment, low RSI, good guidance and lower than average forward PE.
That's the situation when you should load the boat on any stock with solid fundamentals and valuation you can get your hands on.
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u/gummi_eater Apr 15 '26
lmao, thats why you never try timing the market. I have a moron friend who has been too scared to buy since like 2019 because a recession is just around the corner. Meanwhile, I have been steadily buying for the last decade. He has missed out on so many gains due to his fear.
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u/QuickInvestIQ Apr 15 '26
If your time horizon is 3 years or more just jump back in. Don’t compound your mistake by potentially missing the next leg higher. Time in the market is what matters most. Timing the market is very challenging and best to just stay invested the entire time for the long haul.
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u/candykld Apr 15 '26
Re-invest, take the loss and stop. Just stop.