Trading Vehicles, Stock, ETFs, Futures, and Forex 19

sector or industry is hot or running cold, as the dot-com bubble demon-

strated. Since we can learn from history and a picture speaks a thousand
words, let’s go over a few chart examples if you want to know more about
the disadvantages of investing in stocks. If you were invested in these com-
panies, had a bad experience, and do not want to be reminded, just flip
through these next few pages. If you are new to the investment world and
want to know how fast fortunes and retirement accounts were lost, just ask
investors who bought Enron, WorldCom, United Airlines, Kmart, and FAO
Schwartz just before these companies filed for bankruptcy. And that is just
a few of the companies that took major dives. There are those investors
that are hanging onto hopes of their stocks coming back to life, companies
like Lucent, as shown in Figure 1.1. Lucent Technologies, Inc., engages in
the design and delivery of systems, services, and software to communica-
tions service providers, governments, and enterprises worldwide. It will
take a lot more patience to see this stock come back to life. This stock was
going to be the next IBM of the telecommunications world, which goes to
prove that you can’t believe everything you hear.

FIGURE 1.1
RealTick graphics used with permission of Townsend Analytics, LTD.