...I have a friend who has some long term investments. When all the markets dropped because of this covid thing he called the managers of the fund. He was thinking of possibly changing some things. They recommended he leave it as was. Then it began to come back.
I don’t know for sure if he averaged down and bought more on the drop but if he did he is probably sitting ok.
Basically that is the basis that dozu888 has argued for. I rail jokingly on him a bit but he is absolutely correct and will be vindicated. We will soon see all time highs again. And he will be proclaiming himself again a master trader and the rest as idiots.
See the similar forces are at work intraday. The TF and holding time is just different. You could look at averaging down intraday as cost-averaging but intraday. Scaling in sounds more PC but it is nothing less than just plain old averaging down...
Typical investor / fund is diversified in their investments...its not just one investment.
In contrast, the typical trader is only trading one trading instrument but some do trade a basket of different trading instruments at the same time.
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Typical investor is less dependent upon their investments as a source of earning a living.
In contrast, the typical trader is more dependent upon trading as a source of income (e.g. full-time, part-time...2nd source of income).
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Simply, the key issue here is the
market context for the investor versus the market context for the trader. Therefore, its
not similar forces.
For example, a trader that took a Long position prior to the Pandemic and held it as a loser and continue averaging down (adding to his/her Long position)...
You forgot to mention the other variable that involves
the Broker (their risks) versus the account size of the trader. Thus, the broker will issue a
margin call and then close the position regardless to what the trader wants to do (continue with the average down philosophy).
My point, the typical investor is investing for different reasons in comparison to the typical trader that is trading for different reasons. The difference is then
magnified by the broker.
A investor can Buy at 100 and then Buy more at 1 at a very cheap discount...the investor will
not get a margin call. Also, the investor can hold the losing investment for many years if needed and add other investments to their portfolio.
Risk of Ruin (black swan event)
In contrast, a trader can't do that...the trader will get a margin call long before it reaches 1. Also, I don't remember hearing about you having a basket of different trades at the
same time to minimize the
risk of ruin.
In other words, completely different forces at work intraday and a poor explanation (excuse) for averaging down in trading via the investment analogy.
wrbtrader