The Loss-Pron Thread

When I started trading last year it was mostly to try to learn about investing, trading and the market. I would put profits from swing trades into a share of SPY here and there. I started with just a little money so didn't have very many. When the market started dipping at the start of the CV crash I added a few shares as it dropped. Before too long I had almost my entire account wrapped up in SPY, and it was still falling. I realized if I had any hope of riding the rebound back up and making any money I would either have to add money to the account, or I would have to cut what I had at a loss so I had money to trade with. I was afraid to add money I might need (since I had NO idea what to expect from the pandemic) so I cut my SPY position.

I cut the entire position at a loss at the price of 222.79 March 23rd .

I have learned a little since then, and in the end it worked out because I had money to put to work on the recovery but cutting 15% of the value of my account at almost the low made me a little sad.

My only contribution. I only own 5 shares of this company because I like the brand... clearly not enough to be a big time investor... but you better believe I will hold it until I retire!

Not a loss that I could do much about, but in the last year my company stock options (and some RSUs) have fluctuated in value from nearly nothing, to $1M (about 50% vested at the time), all the way back to about $50k. Unfortunately we were in a trading blackout for most of the year during all the highest highs. Had some brief trading periods where I could have exercised for around 100-150k but I figured I would gamble a bit to see if I can catch another high when we aren't blacked out. Somewhat stressful seeing my portfolio fluctuating like that but it's a fun ride. In retrospect I probably should have cashed out at 150 but the psychology of seeing it at $1M a couple months prior before kept me from pulling the trigger (then it kept crashing...). I work at a small-midsize biotech so it's kind of how things go - incredibly volatile at the whims of unpredictable funding and results.

Included screenshots of a high back in June of last year, and a more recent screenshot from earlier this year... Ouch. This is without exercising any of my options. Probably should have set up a trading plan to avoid the eternal blackouts.