On paper, I'm down $50K on PLS alone.
Many multiples of that with all the Lithium / battery materials type stocks. No doubt there are others down a lot on paper too - and this post it to let them know they are not alone. I am the +1 in this situation and would like to hear from them.
I topped up at 49 cents thinking it was an absolute bargain!!.
Yes, I made plenty of mistakes - should have sold high, had stop losses, protected capital, trimmed my positions etc etc. I bought a few too many on the way down also. I'm not a trader, but equally I wasn't looking for a 5-10 year hold at the time I bought.
Like many, I believed a little too much in the EV story, got caught up in the hype (and the rising Spod price) and thought I was investing in very solid companies (mostly at the larger end of market cap), and didn't see this coming.
It hurts. A lot!!!!. It could affect my future (my family's future) in a fairly big way. If I sold now, it won't bankrupt me, but it will sting for a decade or more. A decade I don't really have as I was looking to retire in 10-15 years.
BUT, what now??????.
As I see it, I have 3 obvious choices.
1. Sell the lot, accept that I have f%^&ed up bigtime and take many years to recover these funds by saving, investing in safe things
2. Hold firm for possibly 5-10 years to see if I can recover and maybe even get back into the green over time and reassess
3. Double down or at least start buying over the next few months in the hope that when prices recover I can at least sell a few at higher levels and reduce my average price and position - but this option needs even more cash and I am pretty much all in already
For the last 6 months I have stuck with option 2. Hold for the longer term to see what happens. Thankfully, I didn't buy much in recent months as the prices have kept plunging.
It's pretty scary. Trump is trying his best to totally destroy the world economy and send us all into recession. Commodity prices are being mostly hammered and the Chinese will have less capability to hand out subsidies etc for the EV industry to really take off. Who knows what all that means for our markets and battery materials - likely quite negative.
But I have personally decided to hold long term to see how this plays out. EV's have to grow rapidly soon and with them batteries and raw materials. I might buy a tiny amount while share prices continue to get hammered - when I can afford to.
I could be wrong, but the stocks like PLS, GXY, AJM and others that are down 70% are likely closer to the bottom than they are to the next 3 year highs. I would be very surprised if PLS and GXY in particular went under and were worth nothing. I just don't see that happening. So on the basis that they are worth something, have excellent tier 1 assets and decent management, then there is every chance they will recover in the next 3-5 years.
History has taught me that sometimes the best thing to do is do NOTHING. It may not be the best or most pro-active strategy, but for now that's exactly what I am doing. I don't need to sell so the shorters will not get my shares. Hopefully other holders hold firm and make it hard for them to cover - as cover they will - eventually.
Good luck to all and let's hope a JV partner sees some nice long term value in the PLS assets and strike a nice deal for all.
I hope there will be a good ending - even if it takes a few more years than I was anticipating
(20min delay)