DHJ

Attention Locusts: The Party Is Moving to Merrill and AIG

Hi Baby, this is a very high-risk environment and there is no telling what might happen next or how market participants might view what happens. Have you thought about what you would do if the market full-on crashed? It has happened before and it could happen again.

I have heard many traders of 20 or 30 years say that this is the hardest market they have ever traded and the most volatile. My personal feeling and advice is that this is no market for retail investors. Why not wait till the smoke has cleared and re invest if you have to? If your broker is not protecting your hard earned capital - something that can be quite challenging given this environment - then you need to be in cash.

I say this because however far down your account is at the moment it can go down further - trust me on this. If you feel that the market is going to rebound from here you could tell your broker that if your account goes down another 8-10% (or whatever you are comfortable with) you want out, but that if it starts to rebound then to hold on and not sell.

The most important thing to remember is that investing is risky and I would say investing at the moment is higher risk than usual. It is very important that you define your risk by deciding how much more you are willing to risk or loose in order to make some gains from here. My 2 cents.

Hope this helps