Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

actually you don't win until you cash out your stock. you don't get anything tangible until you cash out. Otherwise you'd be paying capital gains on gains not necessarily realized, and taking losses on losses that aren't necessarily happening. So even if you bought your stock at the historical low of 16 and now it's up to 126, until you convert your stock by selling it, you don't win anything monetarily. Up to that point, it's all paper gains.