Rookie Traders Are Calling it Quits, and Their Families Are Thrilled

 Spouses, parents and other family members who have been subjected to too much play-by-play of market movements say they are happy to have their loved ones back — and equally happy to no longer have to hear about popular stocks or cryptocurrencies.

The market swooned in 2022, which took the fun out of day trading for many newcomers. The S&P 500, after rallying during the pandemic, has just finished its worst year since 2008. Bitcoin lost about 65% of its value throughout the year.

The families of some amateur traders are now facing the disappearance of the life-changing sums of money they had in their wallets at the height of the run. The stakes are lower for those who put a modest amount of money into meme stocks or crypto for fun.

Alan Garcia started trading on Webull Financial LLC early during the pandemic, when his work as a musician dried up. Soon, Mr. Garcia was parked behind his desk every day from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. managing his roughly $2,000 portfolio. He bet heavily on companies like ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp. , allowing an electric car to accommodate one person; ticker symbol, SOLO

The obsession didn’t stop as he sat down in the living room with his wife, Adriana Rodriguez, every night. For about two years he talked about investing. Mr. Garcia, a 34-year-old Houston resident, even started watching investment videos in bed at night.

“He was here,” Mrs. Rodriguez said, “but he wasn’t here.”

In early 2022, Mr. Garcia bet everything in his wallet from a bad options bet, which put him in a bad mood. But the next morning he felt relieved. After Ms. Rodriguez, a lawyer, left for the office, he worked all day on his music instead of scouring the market. He has not acted on the app since then.

Mrs. Rodriguez is excited. Mr. Garcia agrees that this is for the best, most of the time anyway. “We’ve never been better in our lives,” he said. “Someday, though, I’ll get that $2,000 back.”

Commerce exploded into the mainstream during the pandemic, as many Americans were stuck at home, swamped with stimulus and eager to pass the time. New apps made it cheap and easy for newcomers to trade from the comfort of their mobile phones, and many found a sense of community in investment forums online. In 2021, fledgling traders fueled a run of meme stocks chasing hedge funds.

Individual investors generally remain invested in stocks, unlike in previous recessions when many dumped their holdings. But many one-time day traders find that they are now content to buy and hold instead of trying to time their investments. Average daily trading volume has fallen significantly at major brokerage firms targeting retail clients.

Vince Major took a job as the head of marketing at a cryptocurrency wallet company in 2021, and soon subjected his mother, Vikki Major, to his thoughts on various cryptocurrency projects and how the industry could revolutionize the financial system.

His mother found it unbearable. Ms. Major, who is 66 and a juvenile probation officer in Phoenix, told her son to call it quits. That inspired him to give a presentation at an industry conference in October titled “My Mother Hates Your Project (and Mine!).”

A duly chastised Mr. Major has reduced crypto talk during morning FaceTime calls with his mother. After trying to talk about crypto in a more understandable way, he even convinced his mother to buy ether and leave it in a virtual wallet using his company’s app.

Ms. Major’s ether is down about 40% since she bought it in the summer of 2021, and it’s now worth about $14,000 in total. Mr Major, who is 36 and lives in Los Angeles, said the value of his crypto holdings has generally increased since he started buying in 2015 when prices were much lower.

Mrs. Major thinks her son knows what he’s talking about – even if it was in a nasty way at first. “He’s very intelligent,” she said.

Marvin Lahoud went all in on investing when the pandemic hit, spending up to 10 hours a day trading. Mr. Lahoud, who works at a construction management company in Boston and moved to the US from Lebanon in 2017, started wearing an earpiece to listen to CNBC while doing odd jobs.

His wife, Suzie Lahoud, also tried to embrace the investing subculture, though she thought his interest might wane as it had for past obsessions like photography and video games. The couple sang a song about investing as a lullaby to their daughter.

“It’s always nice to see him get excited about something,” says Ms. Lahoud, a PhD student. “But there were times when I got a little frustrated just because it took up so much of his time and mental space.”

In February 2021, Mrs. Lahoud told her husband that she was pregnant with their second child. Its Robinhood Markets Inc. portfolio had just reached nearly $1 million. He posted a screenshot of his account and news from his family on Reddit. “I’m on my way to early retirement and spending time with my kids,” he said, drawing 2,000 responses. He was rich, at least on paper.

In early 2022, Mr Lahoud’s investments began to decline and he faced a huge tax bill on the profits he made in 2021. Mr. Lahoud stopped trading.

Without investing to keep him busy, Mr Lahoud said he felt depressed for the first time in his life. He threw himself into a new venture: researching the year 536 AD, which a Harvard professor called the worst in history. That year, a volcanic eruption plunged large parts of the world into darkness and caused widespread famine. Reading about it made him feel better.

“My problems are so small,” said Mr. Lahoud, “and life is too short.”

https://chof360.com/rookie-traders-are-calling-it-quits-and-their-families-are-thrilled/