The Crash of 1987; A Look Back

[ExFlyBoy5]

I meant to post this yesterday, but got busy doing something else...that happens when you are retired.

Anyway, I saw this posted and thought it was somewhat interesting..it was a short clip of an interview w/ Paul Tudor Jones at the end of that fateful trading day. I thought it was neat to see the "classic" FNN footage and after watching the speed of the ticker...I am pretty sure almost every trader back in the day had to have been doing blow.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1318177385896906753

Something else I found interesting was a documentary from 1987/1988 about Paul Tudor Jones (Peter Borish is in it as well). Quite the period piece!

 

[NYEXPAT]

I meant to post this yesterday, but got busy doing something else...that happens when you are retired.

Anyway, I saw this posted and thought it was somewhat interesting..it was a short clip of an interview w/ Paul Tudor Jones at the end of that fateful trading day. I thought it was neat to see the "classic" FNN footage and after watching the speed of the ticker...I am pretty sure almost every trader back in the day had to have been doing blow.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1318177385896906753

Something else I found interesting was a documentary from 1987/1988 about Paul Tudor Jones (Peter Borish is in it as well). Quite the period piece!

Great times and me think´s you are correct!

 

[CoolRich59]

I remember it well.

I was just getting started in my career and so had nothing invested. But, I recall my boss coming out of his office and looking like he'd gotten some really bad news.

 

[kgtest]

Yeah, wake up at 5am to trade deutsch marks for dollars.... definitely on that nose candy, and no, he never went to bed...never actually woke haha.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Black Monday 1987 was the event that got me started in investing. I was in my 20's and had an older co-worker that was a frequent trader. The market had been on a run since 1983 or so and he would sometimes talk about the market and some of his trades. I was interested in getting involved but felt I had missed the boat.

The day after the market dived he begged, pleaded, and cajoled me to get into the market. I bought about $2,000 of Cray Research, a supercomputer company, and held my breath waiting to see what would happen. After about 2 weeks I was up something like 30% so I sold my position. There's been a lot of wins and losses since then.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I had placed half of my entire savings in the stock market the Thursday before, $5,000. It was worth $3,400 the next week.


Been investing every since.

 

[easysurfer]

Compared to what's going on in today's pandemic world, the Stock Market Crash of 1987 is considered "The Good Old Days" ,

I was just starting out my career. Didn't know much about investing so was still just having my money in checking/savings accounts. I do remember many folks in the office panicking and talking about how their investments were plunging.

 

[erkevin]

Had $50K in Washington Mutual Investor's Fund. After that day, I did not.

 

[kgtest]

Compared to what's going on in today's pandemic world, the Stock Market Crash of 1987 is considered "The Good Old Days" ,

I was just starting out my career. Didn't know much about investing so was still just having my money in checking/savings accounts. I do remember many folks in the office panicking and talking about how their investments were plunging.

Lol I felt that way in 2006 financial collapse. I had just started an entry level job and was waiting for the day I could contribute while I watched company stock tank and older engineers chat at water cooler. Someone told me to buy a 60/40 at age 26 during that time . I did. Rolled that over about 3 years after I left as I was too scared to do anything. In hindsight maybe it was good I had to wait and my first foreay was in a bear market. I decided to always forego company stock unless handed to me and so far that strategy has outperformed the companies ive worked for. So I learned lessons applicable or not.

 

[Brat]

The week before I thought the market was unsustainable so sold to cash. I held cash for a week then purchased Exxon which I held for a couple of years until the lack of diversification became problematic.

So someone else liked Cray! I didn't invest in Cray but did learn that their secret sauce back then was that their wires were all precisely the same length. The supercomputer businesses dived, I ran into them in Seattle years later. The business is still a tough one, I understand that they have been bought by HP. I hope they do well with that relationship. I wonder how HP is doing with their purchase of 3PAR.

 

[NYEXPAT]

I was working on a trading desk and resigned 3 weeks before. A few days later I set up my own desk and started trading the NYFE with 5 other guys in a office we rented in the WTC. I went into the market short that day and by lunchtime, I had made enough money to retire. That was 33 years ago and was the most stressful day in my life! I rarely think about it as I start shaking whenever I do. Never set foot in that office again and gave up the blow. Now at 67, I prefer my calm retired life.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I was working on a trading desk and resigned 3 weeks before. A few days later I set up my own desk and started trading the NYFE with 5 other guys in a office we rented in the WTC. I went into the market short that day and by lunchtime, I had made enough money to retire. That was 33 years ago and was the most stressful day in my life! I rarely think about it as I start shaking whenever I do. Never set foot in that office again and gave up the blow. Now at 67, I prefer my calm retired life.

Wow. Just wow.

 

[jazz4cash]

wow. Just wow.

really!!!

 

[ImThinkin2019]

We had been working for about 7 years when the crash of 87 happened.

We kept seeing the market go down and down. Since we were not sure what to do, we just stayed invested. Got all the money back eventuallly.

Cracked up about the blow comments. I remember that time. Came of age around 1970 and remember what it was like then. Drugs were deemed more "safe" than they eventually turned out to be.

In my high school graduating class there were a little over 700 people and I knew only about 12 that did not get high.

Glad that time is behind us.

 

[Qs Laptop]

So someone else liked Cray! I didn't invest in Cray but did learn that their secret sauce back then was that their wires were all precisely the same length. The supercomputer businesses dived, I ran into them in Seattle years later. The business is still a tough one, I understand that they have been bought by HP. I hope they do well with that relationship. I wonder how HP is doing with their purchase of 3PAR.

Cray Research was a local company. I was a research engineer working on semiconductor materials for IR sensors, to be used in missile defense in SDI. A couple of the scientists I worked for knew Seymour Cray and sort of endorsed the company as having a bright future. That lessened some of my anxiety, so I placed the trade.

 

[Brat]

I still think Cray computers are fantastic. I hope that HP's corporate culture doesn't change their engineering expectations to the middle of the road.

HP had a great engineering culture, like Tektronix I think it lost its sauce once it became a leader in its industry. Now I see them as just a printer company making money on ink. [That is a snide comment in case you missed it.]

 

[Lsbcal]

I always try to learn something about these things to avoid them in the future. That crash happened when real bond rates were incredibly high. Nothing like now. The 10 year Treasury was at 8.8% with inflation running something like 4.4%. Now the comparable numbers are 0.9% and 1.3%.

So I would like to think if real bond rates got anywhere near that I'd be much heavier in bonds then now.

On the other hand, we just witnessed a massive crash this year and that was due to a completely different kind of event.

 

[Midpack]

May be true in the times but not sure what the “every trader on blow” had to do with the crash. It is thought that the cause of the crash was precipitated by computer program-driven trading models that followed a portfolio insurance strategy as well as investor panic. Basically caught in a loop downward with nothing to stop it, since corrected - not that another unintended glitch can’t happen some day.

 

[Koolau]

I had so little in the market at the time (maybe 10%) I hardly noticed it. There were folks in my area who were visibly shaken over the ordeal. Now that I'm more in the 30% equities range, I still don't worry too much UNLESS a big downturn signals something else (think in terms of the issues surrounding the 2008 time frame - I think we were very 'close' then, but YMMV.)