Making a killing on a market downturn is hard. Particularly when the majority of your investments are in an IRA which has pretty strict limits on shorting and t

Making a killing on a market downturn is hard. Particularly when the majority of your investments are in an IRA which has pretty strict limits on shorting and trading options. Trust me, I tried in early March. The big problem is unless your timing is perfect, you have to be able to suck up huge losses until things fall apart. To make your million bucks, you might have $100,000 in puts which you watch turn into $10,000 over 6 months only to have the market correct after you cover your position. Bill Ackman did set up a hedge and pocketed a couple billion betting the market was wrong about the risk the virus presented. https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/03/25/billionaire-bill-ackman-100-fold-return-on-coronavirus-hedge-2-billion/#762efb196fcc https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/03/25/billiona... I’m not Bill Ackman. I doubt you are either. If you’re lucky, you spot these trends enough where you avoid getting soaked on downturns. I’ve been pretty good at that last bit.