Learning from IPOs

Are you a new-generation investor who is currently unhappy with the way the markets have treated new-generation stocks? I don't know whether this is any comfort to you but you are not alone. There seems to be an unusually large cohort of investors who are roughly in the same situation. Many of them are particularly unhappy because the 'new-age digital IPOs', which had seemed like such a sure bet, have all basically tanked. Some, maybe many, have made catastrophic losses in their trading and investing over the last few months, both in these digital IPOs and the secondary markets. There are a few characteristics that make equity investors likely to make large, possibly catastrophic losses. These are: young age, margin trading, derivatives trading, short experience and great enthusiasm for all IPOs. At this point, a lot of you will be up in arms pointing out personal or anecdotal exceptions. I'm sure there are exceptions. However, that's not the point at all. This is about trends and probabilities. All these characteristics increase th