IHSG Falls 2%: Five Things Investors Should Do to Avoid Further Losses
Jakarta — As Eid approaches, stock market activity typically becomes quieter, with many market participants restraining their trading to focus on holiday preparations, whilst some investors take a break from trading activities.
The situation feels particularly acute this year given that the Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) has experienced considerable pressure and sharp declines since the start of the year. From its highest point of 9,075 reached on 22 January 2026, the IHSG has plummeted more than 22% to 6,998.06 as of Monday, 16 March 2026 at 10:08 Western Indonesia Time. Over the year to date, the IHSG has fallen 19%.
By 10:08 WIB on Monday, the IHSG had collapsed 2% during the day. Alongside the sluggish IHSG movement, transaction activity in the week ending Friday, 13 March 2026, became increasingly sparse. The average daily transaction frequency on the Indonesia Stock Exchange also declined 31.54 per cent, falling to 1.87 million transactions from the previous 2.73 million transactions.
The average daily transaction value also declined 31.10 per cent, from Rp24.97 trillion in the previous week to Rp17.20 trillion.
What should investors do?
In market conditions that remain quiet with the IHSG still under pressure, investors need not rush into decisions. Indeed, such a phase could represent a good opportunity to strengthen long-term investment strategies.
Several actions investors can consider include:
- Reassessing their portfolio
Investors can use the period of a calmer market to review stocks in their portfolio. Do these companies still have good growth prospects, strong fundamentals, and business models relevant to the future? If there are stocks of poor quality or that no longer align with the original investment thesis, this could be an opportune time to make adjustments.
- Deepening fundamental analysis of companies
When market volatility is not excessively high, investors have room to focus more on understanding the quality of issuers’ businesses. This includes examining financial performance, earnings growth, debt positions, and competitive advantages of companies within their industries. This approach is particularly important for investors with a long-term investment orientation.
- Building a watchlist of quality stocks
Weakening markets often create opportunities to identify stocks with strong fundamentals but trading at more attractive valuations. Investors can begin compiling a list of target stocks with strong growth prospects, so that when prices reach more attractive levels, they are ready to take positions.
- Viewing market weakness as an accumulation opportunity
Within the stock market cycle, decline phases often provide opportunities to purchase stocks at cheaper prices. When market sentiment is weak, many quality stocks experience corrections. For long-term investors, these conditions are often called “discount” phases, where valuations return to more rational or even attractive levels for gradual accumulation.
- Focus on long-term prospects, not short-term movements
Rather than attempting to predict market direction in the near term, investors can focus more on the potential growth of companies’ businesses over the coming years. If companies’ fundamentals remain solid and industry prospects remain promising, short-term price fluctuations often represent merely part of market dynamics.
Ultimately, when the market is in a less vibrant phase, a more prudent approach is to prepare investment positions with greater maturity. With a portfolio containing quality stocks purchased at attractive valuations, investors have better prospects for enjoying growth potential when market sentiment improves after the Eid holiday period and when the market cycle turns in a more positive direction.