Surviving the 2022 Bear Market
Once upon a time, long before lockdown mandates and Robinhood became public enemy number one, stocks behaved in a (semi) rational manner. Companies growing their earnings were rewarded with higher share prices, while the losers got their stock flushed down the proverbial toilet bowl. There were always some outlier moves in stocks, but for the most part things were “normal” for many years.
And then came fucking COVID 19.
Someone decided to eat a bat, or a rogue scientist in some Wuhan lab tried to kill half the planet. Truthfully we’ll probably never know how this thing got started, but who really cares. All that matters is the world started getting sick, everyone freaked the fuck out, and the stock market crashed to the tune of 30% quicker than ever before in history. I remember being on a cruise ship at the time (lol), seeing the S&P 500 LIMIT DOWN for the first time in my life. It almost didn’t seem real. Bill Ackman was on TV calling for the end of the world (while covering his short position and pocketing 2.6 BILLION dollars), cases were exploding everywhere you looked, and there was genuine panic and confusion in the air from just about everyone, especially stock traders.
But something funny happened.
After Congress and the Fed stepped in to save the economy from actually collapsing, stocks began to rebound. Not only did they rebound, they started to ROCKET upwards as the stimmies entered the market. Panic quickly turned into exuberance, and that exuberance lasted for the better part of the last two years. Sports gamblers started trading stocks, people quit their jobs and became TikTok experts, and Melvin Capital got their fucking brains blown out trying to short Gamestop. NOTHING was going to stop stocks from not only moving higher, but making moves not seen since the dotcom bubble of 99-00. Throw a dart at the wall and you probably made money, maybe even a lot of money. All the while, people were somehow blaming short sellers for holding down their stonks, but that’s a topic for another day.
“Sports gamblers started trading stocks, people quit their jobs and became TikTok experts, and Melvin Capital got their fucking brains blown out trying to short Gamestop.”
Now we’re back to reality
Having 7 vodka redbulls is pretty fun in the moment. The music is blasting, world is spinning, and you really don’t give a shit about anything else because you’re having a GOOD TIME.
And then at some point you wake up the next day feeling like somebody bopped your dumbass in the head with a sledgehammer. THAT is where we are in the markets. Traders and newcomers who have been accustomed to markets and stocks that only go up, are realizing that the party is over. Dips keep dipping, “innovation” stocks are off 80% from their highs, and oil is going to $2,000 per barrel. In order to make or even keep money in this environment, you need a PLAN. An actual strategy to manage your risk, and take profits when they come. You need a process for your trading, or else be cast aside and all of that easy money from the last two years, will eventually end up back in the hands of traders and investors who’ve been doing this for a long time.
I’ve seen this movie before.
I feel like I have a unique perspective on where things are at the moment, because my introduction to markets started in a similar fashion during the weed stonk bubble of 2013-2014. What I can tell you from experience is this: Stop the bleeding. Stop wishing things would go back to the way they were. It’s time to learn how to actually trade, as markets move from easy to medium difficulty. It’s time to SAVE the money you made, and learn to profit in this new world, where mother market is no longer going to baby you. Mother market will now be handing out bitch slaps, daily, to anyone who crosses the line and tries to act out.
Get real education from real traders.
Three years ago, I created GreenWallSt for this particular reason. Things are easy for a while, until they’re not. And when they’re not you must adapt. The adapting is the hard part, and the critical juncture where many people learn whether they’re doing this for fun or for real. Join today and receive immediate access to hours of trading video courses, 1-on-1 mentorship, daily watchlists, trade reviews, a Premium Community Discord and much much more. You may have fallen off the ship for a brief moment, but don’t just flail around for a bit and drown. Grab a life raft and get back on the fucking boat.
