Breath a little… don’t be so negative…
yes, you are an inexperienced investor. yes, there is an ipo bubble. yes, you should not have invested during the first day. and yes, you shouldn’t have tied up all your money.

From your note, it appears that you were expecting a quick turn over. Well, now your investing strategy has just changed. You now are the owner of the stock for the longer term (this strategy can work- think Warren Buffett).

There is a lot of data out there, and it’s got to do with the market in general, and you will have to do your own research – but it looks like 12 months post IPO most firms are up 26-35%.
I think you will be fine.

FYI – I have never heard of Pandora Media until I googled it. Looks like it was one of those major frenzies.

Sounds like a love affair gone sour. Rather than a speculative investment.
Has the stock got potential?
Can you afford to hold the stock and forget about it for a while?
Were you mad (buying at the top $ 26)?
The IPO was $ 16. You should either have got in the issue or paid max $ 19/$ 20 (20%).
The stock could go anywhere, hopefully you will get a chance to get out at a profit or break-even. If you can afford to lose your investment just hang on and fingers crossed.
There’s probably no way to analyse this stock.

buy some puts

You said yourself; “I have no idea what this stock is going to do.”

Learn your lesson from that. See if you can figure out why on Earth you bought the stock in the first place if your Common Sense was telling you that you had no idea what it was going to do….then fix that “flaw” in your thinking…

Watch the actual earnings data….P cannot compete unless their numbers grow to resemble (then outshine) their competitors.

I do think this will happen myself, but not for another two or three years…if you can wait that long, you should be fine

JMHO

You want a quick answer to something that takes years of experience. Many of the best traders and investors stay clear of IPO’s. They are… as you’ve found out the closest thing to gambling that the stock market offers.

The headline news is always about how much people made….. not how much people lost (which is the “usual” result).

I’m a good trader. I trade based on my having an “edge”. I also use good share sizing techniques. I also place well thought out stops. In short… risk control. Many times I buy high beta stocks, high risk. However I never buy IPO’s. There’s no history for me to base a decision on. I can’t have an “edge”. The only thing I have is what I believe…… I learned many years ago that trading what you “believe” will kill your portfolio. Now I only trade by what the market tells me & risk control. It works much better. My goal is to make money… not to satisfy my ego by being “right”.

If you attempt to “get even” for your loss, you stand a greater risk of losing more. The most important thing with trading is psychology. After that is risk control. You need to take a stand. Place a stop. Take a loss if the stop is hit. That’s the professional way to do it. That’s why professionals make money. They look at how much they can lose… never on how much they can make.

You should still be able to put a stop loss order in. You can try to make some money by selling a covered call or limit your (further) losses by buying a put.

There is empirical evidence that investors tend to hold on to losers, when they should sell, and sell winners when they should hold. My best advice, since Pandora has no decent fundamentals (i.e. negative earnings, small cash flow to equity, etc.) is to take your losses and get out. While some IPO’s will rebound, it looks as if (based on fundamental analysis) Pandora may not be one of them. If the stock does recover, it will take a while. Consider this…if you bought at 26 and the stock is now 18, the price would have to increase (26-18)/18 = 44.44% in order for you to “break-even”, assuming no time value of money and no transactions fees. ($ 18 is about current price.) This is unrealistic.

Try not to get caught up in the IPO hype. If the stock looks good fundamentally, and you plan to buy and hold, then invest. If you’re hoping to make a quick buck, the big guys will have you beat on day one of the IPO. Get out and invest long term.

I’m sorry for your loss(es).