bag holding

or bag·hold·ing

[ bag hohl-ding ]

noun

1. the act of retaining an unprofitable investment to avoid selling it at a loss, only to suffer an even worse loss when the investment eventually becomes worthless:

   Bag holding is something most traders have done at some point, even the best ones.

adjective

1. Usually bagholding. having, relating to, or characterizing an investment that is or will likely become worthless after the investor’s failure to sell it at a loss earlier in its decline:

   Sites like that give bagholding investors a false sense of security.

   He told me how to identify and avoid stocks that pose a higher bag holding risk.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bag holding¹

First recorded in 2015–20

Example Sentences

Wells hit a grounder that appeared headed for center field, but Edman smothered it with a diving stop on the second-base side of the bag, holding Wells to a single that loaded the bases.

From Los Angeles Times

Jimenez was arrested the day after the shooting after his friends told police he left the theater halfway through the movie and returned with a bag holding a “strap,” according to a search warrant.

From Los Angeles Times

He looked at a plastic beaker in a plastic bag holding the new legally grown weed and a much smaller plastic container for illegal pot.

From Seattle Times

Inside a post-mortem room in Tel Aviv, a pathologist leans over an exam table, marking a bag holding the remains of one of the Israelis killed by militants.

From Seattle Times

Her 20-year-old brother George told Worcester Crown Court how she had asked him to take out the bin bag holding Stanley's remains in March 2019.

From BBC