From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Jun 11 2003 - 14:11:41 MDT
On Wed, 11 Jun 2003, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
> I didn't have the sense to sell it when
> they traded at 160, so I have to admit that aside from the narrow use of my
> professional knowledge I am a very clumsy trader.
Two words Rafal (having watched people -- myself, my father, my brother get
tripped up by this again and again). "Stop-loss orders". Study the stock
enough to know what the variability is, set the stop-loss order such that
it will not easily be tripped by daily variability but will be tripped when
the market trends go in the other direction (for individual stocks or generally).
It takes the "thinking" out of the should or shouldn't I sell equation.
If a stock is on a run-up you can keep adjusting the stop-loss order higher.
The "thinking" then goes into the "should I buy" part of the equation.
That generally requires a careful evaluation of whether or not the stock
is undervalued.
In short, make the selling automatic, make the buying something that requires
some careful thought. You will not maximize returns (as one could if one always
bought and sold at the depths ahd heights) but you should have better returns
than if one simply holds through cycles driven by investor enthusiasm.
Robert
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