PSEI down 10.33%, triggers circuit breaker, halts trading

The PSE implemented a 15-minute trading halt on the entire market at around 3pm today, 12 March 2020. 

This is when the PSEi’s decline breached 10.33 percent to 5697.13 (see chart above), activating the circuit breaker introduced in 2008.

This is the first time, I saw a market crash. I learned something about the stock market (PSE) in 2015 only. I was introduced by my friend Don Juan of DCS to a magnificent group called Overseas Filipino Smart Investors (OFSI). Then it was OFSI that introduced me to the stock market and to personal finance in general.

The severity of the decline can be compared to the 2008 financial crisis. The steepest decline during that crisis was on 27 October 2008 (see chart below). I heard about this crisis back then and how it affected the global economy, but I have no idea how the stock market would look like. It must have been blood red. The same happened today.

During the 2008 financial crisis, I have no idea what a stock market is and no stake whatsoever. This time, I had 5 years of experience in the stock market, out of which; 4 years as an investor; 1 year as an active stock trader. I'm very thankful because, despite my limited experience, I was disciplined enough to follow the trading strategies I learned from the Traders Lounge. 

From January to February, the strategies I learned provided several entries but resulted in losses. Minimal losses per trade though. I realized there must be something wrong. In February, I closed all my positions and never traded this March... and boom! There's really wrong. I think we just entered the bear market. I think the worst still has to come, but I hope not. 

I learned that as a trader, you must rely on technicals/chart and forget about or pay less attention to any news. But well, I'd love to read and I like to be abreast of what is going on around.

So in my humble opinion, this crash is somehow inevitable because of the following triggers.

1. Trade war - The tariff war between the US and China and other countries.
2. Middle East tension - The confrontation between the US and Iran that could easily escalate.
3. Bush fires - Amazon, Australia, Lebanon. 
4. COVID-19 - the virus that was declared a pandemic by the WHO. It affected the global economy.
5. Saudi vs Russia oil price war - The oil price plummeted to as low as 29 USD per barrel.

Seriously, we really have a lot to worry. At least as a trader, you should not have to worry about red portfolio by closing your position and just be on the side ready to pounce back when an opportunity appears.

Market indices at the end of  12 March 2020 trading day.