I consider stocks/ETFs as a long term investment. That means I should stick with them as long as it follows my thesis.
For broadly diversified index funds, my thesis is 5% +/- 2% real returns over longer periods(30+ years). That means short term fluctuations shouldn’t phase me.
For individual/specific bets, either my thesis involves cutting my losses if it goes below zero or it doesn’t. If it does, I would sell. If it doesn’t, negative returns in and of themselves are irrelevant.
Make some money, buy more at cheaper prices, wait for them to recover, ???, profit
Market timing doesnt work.
You should have done your due dilligence before even starting to invest that much money. This drop is absolutely nothing in grand scheme of things.
You should buy more not sell. Keep buying.
Hi, I read a lot here before I started last year August. The plan was to have ETF as “main” ETF but also to try some other with more risk. I still believe in SCHG and SMH and also read a lot before I bought them. XHB, AVUV and AVDV I didn’t read that much I have to admit and I didn’t have time to find out, because I just recently bought those 3.
The plan is still to have mainly VT but also some others which can have a higher risk. But I probably need to think about the split. Increase VT and less from the others.
Before I sell, I anyway need to talk to the tax guys. Since I’m not holding them for longer than 6 months, I would like to know if selling somethin where I don’t make money, counts to that rule, or maybe I ask this question separately here. I didn’t find it in the forum and it might be interesting for others. If a sell of an ETF with no profit also counts to that rule, I wouldn’t sell because I don’t want to be classiefied as a professtionell.
Sorry, don’t get it.
I probably would, not right now but still cheaper than what I have paid. But…don’t have money 
Do nothing is the best strategy in most cases.
You invested beyond your risk capacity/tolerance. Probably just temporarily as you are a new investor and first need to get used to the markets volatility - but potentially, your strategy will be too aggressive for yourselves even once you got used to the markets. Time will tell.
What to do now? IF your future investments in the next 3 years are as much as you already invested. Simply invest every additional franc into a 50%/50% Portfolio. Half of it goes into your ETF and the other half into a Savings account. Your Equity Percentage will gradually come down. Then let it run its course and check again every year (and POST here before you change anything in your strategy).
If your future investments in the next 3 years is less than what you already invested. Sell 50% of your ETF and keep it in a Savings Account. Then as well invest everything new into a 50%/50% Portfolio only… and at the same time and as well check back once a year.
Thanks, the last is the case. Most of the money is now in those ETFs and a couple of stocks. I plan to buy every month, but only for a couple hundred CHF because most of the income is going into artwork and real estate. What I bought came basically from my savings account. Every once in a while maybe some more than a couple of hundred CHF, but far away from what I have invested currently.
I need to find out if it would have a negative impact to my trader status if I sell now ETFs which I didn’t hold for 6 months. I hope I get an answer here, otherwise I will try to get an answer from the tax department.
No you won’t, it’s not as simple as breaking one of the rules making you automatically a professional investor. Myself and many others in this forum break at least one of the rules (e.g. I use leverage) and nobody here has been classified as professional so far.
Thanks, then I probably better not ask the officials and fly under the radar, if I sell 
Why are you talking about selling?
ETFs and stocks are supposed to be a long term investment.
If you bought an apartment for 1M$ and your friend offered you 0.9M$, would you go ahead and sell it because it dropped 10%?
Don’t open the brokerage app and go do something else.
Look again in 5 years and be happy you didn’t sell
There’s no risk in asking him, he’ll tell you the same thing.
They are specifically looking for people that trade for a living.
I get your point, but I think it is not comparable.
I know that it is long term, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t make sense to exit something you recently bought at the wrong time and start again with buying at lower prices than what I did. I know that timing the market is impossible for me, but I wouldn’t buy now if I sell and I wouldn’t sell if I lost 50 chf.
Not sure if it helps, but this is my portfolio. https://app.parqet.com/p/6618f50a5ccfa5cbed0530dd
The stocks you can ignore, the ones not in USD anyway show the wrong number.
Buying is easy. Selling is difficult. And it should be learned if you ever intend to have any control over your positions.
I see most people here think that selling is permanent
In fact, you can buy back a second later - after you sell. If you are with IB or any other fairly priced broker, the entire transaction both legs would cost you around 5 USD or so.
As for asking strangers about whether you should sell or buy:
“Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”
― Warren Buffett
My advice is to learn some basics about macro events that have a major impact on stock:
inflation rates decisions, unemployment, GDP, CPI, Industrial prod, PPI, etc.
Here is a calendar that provides detailed view:
Learn also basics of technical analysis:
At that point you should have some confidence.
“Number one rule of Wall Street: Nobody - I don’t care if you’re Warren Buffett or Jimmy Buffett - Nobody knows if the stock’s going to go up, down, sideways, or in fucking circles, least of all stockbrokers. It’s all a Fugazzi.”
― The Wolf of Wall Street
Hi
I understand the theory but I also understand the nervousness. I have gone through this myself couple of years back.
Theory -: stocks are long term investment, one should be okay to live through volatility and play the long game. It’s not easy to time the market so don’t bother trying.
Reality -: for new investors , it’s tough. They see stocks falling in front of their eyes and their life savings getting reduced. They think about following
So if you relate to all I said above, I suggest following
for each of your position, ask yourself a question, would it be okay for you if it got reduced by further 20-30% because you believe in long term they will recover and it’s alright to wait? If the answer is NO, you should think about getting out.
After this review, you will end up with 2-3 positions. You can just hold them and watch what happens. You can choose to further add to them over coming months or just sit outside and wait while you gain confidence.
Just to share - only positions where I can say yes to question above in my portfolio are real broad index funds (either global or regional).
And remember - it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to take risks. That’s the only way to learn. Everything else is theory.
Don’t worry, I like this forum and tone and didn’t take anything offensive and opinions are always appreciated.
It’s just sometimes difficult to explain in words, especially in a foreign language. I know that my portfolio is more aggressive than most of what others here have. I’m aware about that and I accepted the risk, still do. I just think I have started with non VT at the wrong time and I should have bought the other VT already in August. But I can’t change that and I don’t regret it.
Really only talking about what I have bought lately.
And if I sell, think about a “better” split when buying again.
One thing to always keep in mind is that stocks may never again be cheaper than they are today.
Another one, to balance it, of course, is that they could crash 50%+ tomorrow.
A good example is 1996. Stocks were highly valued, it was not that far before a bubble burst, people were publicly stating that stocks were not due for such gains as they had had until then: '96 stock market projections were widely off the mark
Yet, taking the S&P500 as a surrogate for the stock market as a whole, stocks have never been cheaper since, even on an inflation adjusted basis, even after the dotcom crash and even after the Great Recession: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=QlS8Byy8qMETFoiumufpa (scroll down to see the chart).
Thanks again. It is ok for me to loose 20% or so, but it depends a little on the asset. iRobot for example, I knew it is a gamble. I lost that game and I would now just sell it to have it out of my portfolio. It is down by >50%. I don’t really care about that, same for my Nio stocks.
AVUV and AVDV I just bought last week, now I know that it was bad timing. Someone else more experienced probably wouldn’t have done this because of the geopolitical situation. And I think the split I made was not good and could rethink about that strategy if I sell something which I lately bought
The AVUV and AVDV by the way, I bought from the VOO which I sold last week, I bought VOO also in August last year. Luckily I sold VOO before it dropped as well, unfortunately it was only a small amount