Equity markets around the world have now set themselves up for...

Equity markets around the world have now set themselves up for the mother of all reversals. All equity investors will have to cling to soon enough are solid fundamentals (which themselves may not even be good enough to stem the tide in the short term). It's either find companies with solid earnings outlooks or got to cash where you earn next to nothing or find a way of shorting the markets which is safe (small execution risks). I wouldn't trust CFD platforms to stay liquid in a crisis and equity put options on the ASX are very illiquid and the spreads are usurious so it leaves retail investors with virtually no safe way to go short. Bear markets and fast falling markets are were sophisticated investors make money not the little guys, so if you are trading charts and don't keep a close eye on the basic fundamentals (cash, debt, earnings, longevity of earnings, and market segment) you better have stop losses in place (and watch out for slippage, read your contract). I personally think stop losses cost you more money than they save you in any case so I'd rather look for deep value positions in the market and hold them through the cycle.

Is RMS deep value at 20cents? Probably not, but we are not at the pointy end of the market quite yet. Next year we will see the "honest" market raise its ugly head so be prepared. Hopefully gold will get a lift when the market shows its ugly face again.

Eshmun