Watching Twitter crash after-hours today on the same day I watched 3D Systems crash in the pre-market really got me thinking about the power of timing in the market. Personally, I believe 3D printing has a bright future, and DDD seems like a well-run, fast-growing company. Traders that bought shares about a month ago might disagree with my optimism:

1-month chart of DDD.

But traders that had the foresight and patience to buy and hold DDD over the past five years are singing a different tune:

5-year chart of DDD.

It’s not that it doesn’t bother me when one of my largest holdings has a bad month. In fact, my largest holding, Melco Crown Entertainment, has just experienced such a month:

1-month chart of MPEL.

Minus 2.89% for the month isn’t good, and neither is the nearly 15% drop from it’s all time high of around $45.50  about two weeks ago to today’s closing price of $38.98. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. How much farther will it fall? What if this is just the beginning of the downfall? How much money have I already lost? These types of fears and doubt creep into the minds of every trader when a stock takes a dive. That’s why it’s always important to maintain perspective. Yes, my MPEL holding is down about 15% in the past couple of weeks. Luckily, I didn’t buy MPEL two weeks ago. I bought it in June of 2009, and I haven’t sold a single share:

5-year chart of MPEL.

Timing and perspective: the keys to a good night’s sleep on bad days in the market!