Is Trump Manipulating the Stock Market? What Can You Do?
In 2016, I had only been swing trading for 5 years. Trump got elected and market turmoil began immediately. He’d tweet one thing, markets would surge. He’d tweet something else, markets would tank. It took me removing myself from the markets and sitting on the sidelines for a few months to realize what was happening.
He was manipulating the market for the benefit of his millionaire and billionaire friends. When that lightbulb went off, I said, Oh. I can do this, too! I started day trading on his insane tweets. I’d never been more successful.
Now, he’s back. And he’s doing the same thing. But of course, much worse. His policies are reckless and dangerous. How can we have a businessman who understands so little about business WHO IS ALSO President and understands so little about government?
Oh well, that isn’t the point.
The point is, we can take advantage too. On a shorter timeline, I’m taking advantage of any day when the markets are down over 500 points. And I’m being very cautious because I DO believe markets will go lower over the next four years.
But the truth is, if I pay $80 per share and it goes to $50 a year from now, as long as it’s a high quality company (or ETF) and I’m remaining diversified, I’m not going to stress too much because I believe at some point, whether it’s 3 years from now or 10 years from now, that stock (or ETF) will be well over $80. And if I’m wrong, oh well. That’s why I’m diversified.
I’m also being cautious because like I said, I do think there’s a LOT of pain ahead. But with Trump, we really never know one day to the next. I’ll tell you one thing, businessmen and women of ALL sizes will get frustrated being dicked around like this with the will they won’t they tariffs. He’s gonna impose tariffs! We’re raising prices! WAIT! He’s pulling back! Should we lower the prices again or …
You can see how that’d be exhausting.
But another reason I’m not waiting is because trying to time markets is a losers game. My stock could be $80. It could go to $120 and then drop to $95. Well, then I’ll be kicking myself for waiting. I always like to have a little skin in the game if I’m wrong, but I hate the idea of buying everything here if I’m right. Then I have no money left to buy when the stock is $50.
So, that’s how I’m playing things. I’m adding about 5-50 shares at a time depending on the price per share, and how risky I view the investment to be (you can use my fundamental analysis template here to research).
If money is tight, I urge you to consider being as uncomfortable as possible. Move back in with your parents if you can, get roommates if you can, move further away from where you want to live, get a side hustle. Here’s my side hustle kit to help you get started.
