Many investors were extremely excited when the Russian ETF (RSX) debuted in May 2007. While it’s been a bumpy ride, the bias at first was definitely to the upside as the 1-year chart shows:
From the top, which was made on May 19, 2008, it’s been all downhill, and YTD this ETF is down some 23%. Russia’s recent “excursion” into Georgia has not given the world community a warm and fuzzy feeling, which contributed to the recent acceleration to the downside.
Since breaking the long-term trend line to the downside, RSX has lost 21%. As always, this serves as a reminder of the importance of watching where the trend is headed to avoid either giving back all of your profits or limiting your losses.