CASH COW

[IRISHBULL]

* When to sell?? Read on

This is what I do, repost from the Investors Help board:

What kept me in business is I always take profit. You ain't making any money unless your selling stock. When I see a decent profit I will take 30%-50% off the table and lock in profits. Even if I think the stock is going to the moon, I don't care, I lock in profits. What this does is a few things. One, I took profits which is money in the bank, two I create a nice cushion for myself and feel much more relaxed on the dips. Takes alot of stress out of the trade. Its a win win situation. If the stock goes higher, great!!! I still own a chunk. If the stock goes down, thats OK, I took profit. I will play it by ear. If the stock looks weak and is getting close to my original buy I will sell the rest at a smaller profit and be happy. If the stock continues north I will take more profit. ie: I had a million shares. I sold 400K and took profit when it was up/ It continues up. I might sell 200k. If it continues, maybe sell another 200k and so on. YOU CAN'T LOSE if you take profit. SO SO many times traders buy a stock and see a nice profit but don't sell.. (greed) then it goes down and they still don't sell..(hope) then the stock goes below their buy. They are so mad they refuse to sell,they hope it will recover. before you know it, they are at a huge loss. Its a vicious cycle. I watched trades get wiped out over the years because of 2 main factors. 1> NEVER took "SOME" profit on the way up. 2) Could not take a 10% loss. One of the hardest things to do in trading is take a loss. As dumb as this sound, the second hardest thing to do is take profit lol I know, sounds silly but is very true. Because, when a trader gets a good runner, they are hoping this will be the big one they have been waiting for.. They are SCARED to sell because they think it will go up much higher and they will miss the big one. The same with taking a small loss. They are scared that when they sell, the stock will run and they will mis the run.(guess what, if you sell, you can always buy back in) How do I know this?? I LIVED THIS!! LOL It kills you as a trader. I knew if I was going to last in this game I had to have some simple disciplined. These are the rules I TRY to stand by. I fall off the wagon ones in a while, but for the most part I follow these rules..

Hope this helps.

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