Um, does this ever happen? Ever? It looks like an imaginary situation.
The closest direct analog is a crash--if I go from being able to buy one share for one dollar to being able to sell my one share for one penny, one can see this as the value of cash going up 100X.
(This is somewhat contrived when dealing with cash, but it does seem that the foundational level of wealth is food and ammunition. It could happen that the exchange rate between those and cash and stocks skyrockets, and that would be Bad News for a lot of reasons.)
Indirect analogs rely on opportunity cost--because you invested in A and got a 2X return, you missed out on investing in B, where you would have gotten a 2000X return. This is a profoundly unhealthy way to view markets.
The closest direct analog is a crash--if I go from being able to buy one share for one dollar to being able to sell my one share for one penny, one can see this as the value of cash going up 100X.
For this to work you need for basically all financial assets to crash, not just some particular stocks. Besides, we still have the problem of the unit of measurement. If you want to measure your wealth in consumables (say, cans of beans) then for "unlimited" losses from long positions you need not only a financial crash, but also cans of beans becomin...
This thread is for asking any questions that might seem obvious, tangential, silly or what-have-you. Don't be shy, everyone has holes in their knowledge, though the fewer and the smaller we can make them, the better.
Please be respectful of other people's admitting ignorance and don't mock them for it, as they're doing a noble thing.