ticker shocknoun.
The anguish experienced by an investor who owns equities and who sees the value of their portfolio diminish when the stock market goes down (cf. sticker shock).
Example Citation:
"The notion of turning Social Security into a go-go investment fund quickly loses its political appeal whenever the stock market rediscovers the law of gravity. If Social Security were privatized, I would worry on mornings like this that the nation's elderly might succumb to ticker shock."
—Walter Shapiro, "Stock-still, out of bed and into the fray," USA Today
