Mel Abraham explains why being down $20,000 on paper is not the same as losing $20,000. Your loss only becomes real when you sell. Until then, it's just the market price moving while your shares stay put.
Down and lose are 2 different words. Yesterday you owned 1,000 shares. Today you actually still own 1,000 shares. Nothing about what you own has changed. The only thing that changed is the price that somebody's willing to pay for it right now. Your app says that you're down $20,000. That $20,000 loss only becomes real when— When you sell. You sell it. It only becomes a number you actually eat the moment you sell. There's a world of difference between saying, my account is down 20 grand, and saying, I lost 20 grand. Those are not the same sentence.
