Wishing that your investments went up in value is not a strategy; its an aversion to loss. Theres a reason stock prices are down, and theres a reason that people lose significant amounts of money; people are irrational. Stock prices were inflated, not rational, and people lose money on investments because they refuse to take a small loss and sell, which turns into a larger loss. Selling too early only costs you a potential profit, but it never costs a total loss.