Shakeout - A dramatic change in market conditions that forces speculators to sell their positions, often at a loss. A shakeout is a situation in which many investors exit their positions in a stock or market segment at the same time, often at a loss. A shakeout is usually caused by uncertainty or recent bad news circulating around a particular security or industry. Shakeouts can be quite variable in duration, but they are usually sharp in terms of the amount lost from recent highs.