April 23, 2009
I lost my job as an engineer in the automotive industry in early September 2008. Before I could get my 401k assets transferred under my IRA, 40% was gone. The employer match erased...and then some, by the big drop.
This was a double whammy.
I have clawed back 20% now, by actively trading during my time out of work. And I have been most successful in ETFs, including leveraged inverse ETFs, and especially on the banks (FAZ, SKF).
I hear a lot of whining about leveraged inverse ETFs, and how they are unfair to the banks. Well, the banks were unfair to me. Misbehaving bankers are partially responsible for tanking our economy, costing me my job, and my savings. Leveraged inverse ETFs democratize the tools of instant trading, leverage, and shorting...tools once reserved for big shots, and are slowly allowing me to save myself.
Please do not take the common citizen's new found freedom away. Please do not inhibit the ability of the little guy to level the playing field. Please trust me to understand that these are not long term instruments (Direxion recently added the word "daily" to the FAZ description to make that really clear).
I put trailing stop loss orders on every position...I'm not sure how a circuit breaker benefits me, unless it's going to protect me from aftermarket gap downs that could blow through my stops. I'd love that.
I would be in favor of circuit breakers on individual stocks if ETFs were exempted. The average person can't short individual stocks from their retirement accounts...they need margins accounts, and that's not the masses. So doing that doesn't take a tool away from them. Inverse leveraged ETFs gives them those tools within non-margin retirement accounts. This should be preserved.
Thank you for your consideration. I feel very strongly about this.