Ok...so how many stocks do you hold at one time? 6,10,20,40+ too few = too high a risk To many...poor performance. What's the "sweet spot" for you?
I think the important point here is: 21 is an odd number. If you hold 4, for instance, 2 would go up and two would go down. Best to own 5, then you could have 3 up and 2 down but if 3 were down and 2 were up then you have to increase the number of stocks to 7 and hope you could have 4 up and 3 down. so on and so forth until you become your own best mutual fund and only have to beat some benchmark for bragging rights and losses are just an illusion.
Two. It's a Fib number. But I would really like to bring it down to One. Which is also a Fib number. Seriously... I only look at 5 stocks to trade. I typically enter 1 position, and max 2. Too high a risk? If you think so. I am a very short term trader. I don't leave my chair when I am in.
ok...i am not talking about day trading here. End of day holding for the 6-12 week+ moves. I presume you are talknig about day trading? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not more than 5. Anything more is a disaster waiting to happen.
I hold one ETF, which is EWZ, seven different accounts. Everyday, I concentrate on selling two accounts, then repurchasing. My purpose is to accumulate additional shares without adding new money.