If you didn't need the money I would have waited until after January since that is the drop dead date for the current extensions. So that pivot point is definitely on the minds of many investors and seems to be pushing them to make a decision to hold or not plus normal investors might be doing this for tax reasons as well. If this what was left of your investing stake and you could not afford to lost it then the risk/reward may have been on the wrong side for you or you needed to clean up your portfolio for tax reasons. But if the sale was for tax reasons I would have waited until the 30th since what could it hurt?