How I Take the Bite Out of a Downward Stock Market Trend

Overall, I’m a dollar-cost averaging investor so I do receive some benefit in my account when the market has dips.

However, when the market has days where it dips 600 points in the DOW in one day, I still feel the pain.  Or at least I did in the past.

These days as long as the stocks that I own have value, I just let them ride.  It’s never good and quite disheartening to cash out at the bottom of a deep dip in the stock market, only to see it rebound the next day.  When I was younger I would occasionally make this error, but now I just leave the stocks I have invested in the market go because the stocks that bought have a good story and financial figures.

Still, it’s a bit painful to watch the value of your portfolio drop, so I created a little distraction to take some of the pain out of a downturn in the market.

Here is what I do:

  1. Keep a small position in cash that I use for play money (not much, just a few thousand)
  2. I divide the money into 2 or 3 parts.
  3. I follow and invest in a favorite stock that I know very well.
  4. I buy the stock as long as the market falls (and the stock falls in price too).
  5. I do the purchase of the stock in a Roth IRA, that way I avoid the capital gains tax.
  6. If the stock market falls by another large percentage, buy more with the second amount.
  7. If I have a third amount, and the market continues to drop, I buy with the last amount.
  8. Next I wait for the market to recover, knowing that I got great low positions on my purchases of my favorite stock.

This process is what I use to take the bite out of a down market.  It’s more of a game than a real investment strategy, but at least I’m not as upset when the market is in a downward spiral.

There you have it,

MR

13 thoughts on “How I Take the Bite Out of a Downward Stock Market Trend

  1. I like that method of using your Roth IRA and buying in three stages. Treating it as a game also makes it way more fun! -Sydney

    • I ignore the 401k funds and other stocks that have solid stories and a huge moat, so I actually was hoping the market would keep it’s downward spiral, then bobber back up sometime in the future.

  2. I freaking love this strategy. I haven’t been able to formulate how I am going to work into these dips.

    I am not sure I have the cash flow to do both buy and hold build up this sort of “investment emergency fund” but I am damn well going to try

    • I find if I know a stock very well, I get a feel for the movements that it makes around quarterly earnings and seasons in general.

      My problems in the past were that I would pull the trigger too quickly during the downward spiral and get bummed because it would keep on going down but I wouldn’t have any more money to buy in. It’s fun, and I’m still learning. I usually wait at least 1 week before making another purchase. If the stock goes up a lot, then I sell the first purchase win-win…

      Only in my Roth though. And only a stock that I totally believe in!

  3. I have some liquidity because I’m saving for a 4 plex. Once that’s done, then I’ll be able to buy more stocks. I have a bit more than I need for down payment so I should be able to pick up some extra shares.

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