Once an investor has sold a stock, it’s satisfying if the stock then goes down (providing evidence that the sale was at the correct time). If the stock goes up after a sale, the investor possibly didn’t sell for the right price.
“The greatest bear is a sold out bull” (or “The biggest bear is a sold out bull”) has been a Wall Street saying since at least the early 1900s.
9 August 1903, Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, first section, pg. 15:
You must have first bear conditions before the bear traders can do effective word, and usually the most ferocious bear is a sold out bull.
18 August 1903, Wall Street Daily News, pg. 2:
The reactionist, who is a sold out bull, has taken the place of the bear, and he is crying for a setback so that he can obtain a line of cheap stocks.
Google Books
Psychology of the Stock Market
By George Charles Selden
New York, NY: Ticker Publishing Company
1912
Pg. 83:
Indeed, it is a sort of proverb in Wall Street that there is no bear so bearish as a sold-out bull who wants a chance to repurchase.
19 September 1916, Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, pg. 13:
There is no bear temporarily like a sold out bull as the saying of the street goes.
6 October 1916, New York (NY) Times, “Topics in Wall Street,” pg. 14:
It is an ancient saying that no bear is so bearish as a sold-out bull, and this would seem to have application now.
Google Books
Auditing Theory and Practice
By Robert Hiester Montgomery
New York, NY: The Ronald Press Company
1922
Pg. 345:
The greatest “bear” is the sold out “bull.” No one cares to acknowledge that he sold too soon or for less than his property was worth.
Google News Archive
3 July 1925, St. Petersburg (FL) Independent, “Stock Market New High,” pg. 8, cols. 1-2:
It is an old Wall street quotation that “the greatest bear is a sold out bull.”
Google Books
Why You Win Or Lose:
The Psychology of Speculation
By Fred C. Kelly
Published by Courier Dover Publications
2003
Pg. 28:
“The biggest bear is always a sold-out bull.”
Google Books
Ten Years of Wall Street
By Barnie F. Winkelman
Published by Cosimo, Inc.
2005
Pg. 263:
The old maxim that “the most rampant bear was a sold-out bull” found its corollary, that the same bear duly chastized, and in the bullish ranks once more became a mainstay of the continued advance.
and in the bullish ranks once more became a mainstay of the continued ...
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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