We've has nearly a nine year bull market. The S&P 500 is at pretty heady valuations these days. How many have taken a cash position in anticipation for a fall? Congratulations in advanced in you shorted the market today. (UVXY)
Which way is the market going? I can promise you only two things. 1) Nobody knows, and 2) no matter which way it goes, how far, and for how long, once it happens, everyone will claim to have known.
It would be a good idea to go for a precious metal approach during this time. Cash will be good but only for a temporary amount of time, and if the market continues to plummet, then the dollar would plummet along with it.
About a month ago I had to make this decision and I felt strongly that a crash was imminent. I ignored my own feelings because there's no point timing the market unless you happen to be a genius in that area. So it's been mixed feelings to see what's happened. It doesn't matter though. There always a crash around the corner and that doesn't change the fact that a modest lifestyle with savings in a low cost equities tracker (e.g. VTSAX) is one of the best paths for securing your future.
That also happens to be boring which is why I like the idea of a small allocation for trying to time the markets, picking specific stocks or, god forbid, investing in Ethereum or some other crypto in case it's a genuine emerging market.
unfortunately most amateur investors are not in a position to short the market. We can only buy bargains. I think this is just a temporary correction. a way of the market being driven down, for Pros to make money on a later rise. I think the rumours of US interest rate rises at the weekend, were just used as a pretext, to cause the fall. The rumours were made on the weekend, ready for pro investors to make their move on Monday. I think the US economy under Trump is going on to great things. The repatriation of billions of US corporations money back in to the US is just the start. This is a buying opportunity.
If your going to short learning options trading is your best bet. Many people will sell cause they made a good profits and others will sell cause of fear. Seems like a sellers market now. Not sure about a crash but the market was under 20k before Trump came into office and it jumped quickly. AMZN NVDA and other some other stocks double or more within a year. Also a little thing I have notice over the years every time you see gas price jumping too high know there will be a sell off somewhere in the market.