Michael Douglas dumped his "greed is good" catchphrase and pulled out of the stock market after losing almost half his fortune.

The Hollywood star -- who made the motto famous as trader Gordon Gekko in 1987 film "Wall Street" -- said he chased the big bucks for years.

Then it all came tumbling down.

The actor, 65, said: "I lost 35 to 40 per cent of my net worth on the 2008 crash."

Despite prices starting to recover, he was shocked into ending his profiteering -- and pulled most of his cash from stocks.

He revealed: "At the end of last year, I took a whole bunch out."

But he admitted he had loved his earlier years of gambling on the markets like slimy Gekko.

The movie veteran said: "I played. Years ago, through the tech booms, I definitely did it.

Michael, who is married to Catherine Zeta Jones, 40, is estimated to be worth more than US$212.5 million.

He owns homes in New York and Bermuda.

A sequel to Gekko's story, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", is out in September.

It follows the character after a jail term for insider trading.

Douglas said co-star Shia LaBeouf, 23, played the markets to get into his role.

He told Esquire magazine: "He took US$20,000 and in six weeks he was up to US$380,000. He did all right."