Portfolios in the red: Reported losses of up to €40,000

From €40,000 to +€100: A thread in the red

Stock market losses returned to the table with names, figures, and considerable resignation. The thread details portfolios in the red, ranging from the €40,000 one investor admitted to losing with a large position, to the +€100 another noted, laughing at themselves. In between, the usual litany: 12,000, 11,000, 7,000, 3,000, 1,500. Several users discuss whether it's a good time to enter or hold.

How much was lost in a single trading day

The first thing that appears when things go wrong is the accounting of pain. The figures put on the table draw a rather eloquent ladder:

• €40,000, the largest reported loss, in a portfolio described as very long-term.
• €12,000 portfolio drop declared by an investor.
• €11,000 in a portfolio that the investor themselves admits is already considerable in size.
• €7,000 from highs, although on top of an annual appreciation of 70,000.
• €1,500, with a good part of the hit attributed to the dollar's fall.

What's striking isn't the amount, but the variety of instruments. There are options on Adidas, bitcoins bought casually, funds with exposure to the Russian stock market, gold, and positions in the S&P 500.

Why almost no one is selling: dividends and long term

A repeated argument then appears in the thread: “I haven’t lost anything because I haven’t sold anything.” According to several users, if the company is solid and continues to pay dividends, the stock price is irrelevant. The most striking case is that of the portfolio with €40,000 in the red, which, in the same sentence, boasts of collecting a 6% annual dividend and not living off capital gains.

The problem starts when life intervenes. Another of those affected admitted: it gets complicated when the portfolio is down and by chance you have to unwind the position. In the meantime, it's part of the game.

The central banks' thesis: “another 2008 is impossible”

One user argues that the mini-crash of March 2020 was recovered in weeks thanks to massive central bank purchases, and that this quantitative easing makes it impossible to repeat 2008, 2000, 1987, or 1929. They add that whoever held on, won; whoever bought in the midst of panic, got rich.

Another user, urano, looks at the ECB and the Federal Reserve with more antiestéticar of inflation: they wish for the “perfect storm” to occur, with a deadly bicho and runaway inflation that causes interest rates to rise.

Gold, Russian stocks, and the mistake of arriving late

For those trying to time the market, the most detailed account is from an investor who went from earning €2,000 to losing €800 in a matter of weeks. They put in another €10,000 to try to catch the rebound, but it was too late. They then put €25,000 in gold just before it hit bottom. They confess to sleeping poorly and considering selling at a loss of a thousand euros, but an order that takes two days to execute and a meeting between Pilingui and Biden postponed the decision. Something similar is happening with Russian stocks: the economy is doing well, companies are profitable, and the index isn't picking up.

Is it a good time to enter or better to wait?

With volatility soaring, the doubt of those outside the market weighs as much as that of those inside. Some bet on entering little by little, adapting risk downwards, and forgetting about the day-to-day. Others warn that these swings are more manipulated than usual and that it's not advisable to play short these days.

The most concrete data of the day did not come from a European portfolio: Evergrande closed at 1.77 and Hong Kong lost 1.07%.