Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Bears Have It

I'm looking for an opportunity to sell against a rally. Problem is, in the last month, we had only one day of rally, and in my IRA I'm not able to trade fast enough to get in on it (it takes 24 hours to process an order and they didn't process the trade till the rally was over) and the same problem seems to work on the getting out side as well.

I'm already somewhat hedged but the relentless downward drumbeat is just annoying. Every time I finally call "uncle" to sell something - that's the day before a rally. I'm starting to feel like I have the timing of John McCain.

It's in extreme situations like this that you see how the rules are definitely stacked against the individual IRA investor. All the big funds get in and out first - once the market's made it's swing, then they make your trades on the loss.

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