I like to buy at dips or 52 week lows and wait for the stock to rise and then sell as soon as I can make a little profit. Then almost always, the stock goes up big and I have missed the huge ride up. I can't seem to discipline myself not to sell. And a few times I kept the stock it went down Anyone have any tips for me? Thank you
Got into NFLX at 90, 110, 92 and 120, 160, 185 and 192.5 Sold 90% of it at 217. NFLX is at 272 today! Regrets? Maybe! But happy NFLX was a profitable trade! Stay happy taking profits even if they're small! Market will give you more opportunities!
I bought AMD at 14, it went all the way to 9 or lower. I kept it and sold at 12 with a loss. Tomorrow it will take off!
Not enough information really. So much depends on your time-frame and what you want out of it. That being said, no matter what, anytime you open a position you should have a well defined plan as to what you want out of it. Play out both scenarios in your head, ie if it goes down this much I will do this, if it goes up this much I will do that. Then stick to it. Thats the hardest thing, but you must do it before you hit the "buy" button. Long term success can only be achieved through adherence to a disciplined approach from the moment you buy till the moment you sell. Side note...buying the dip on quality stocks is okay (depending on the cause of the dip)...but as a general rule of thumb... its not a good idea to go long stocks making new lows. Similarly, you never want to short a stock making new highs. Wait for confirmation of the reversal. Trying to catch every point in a reversal will burn you more times than not.
I'm not surprised: I think I'd probably feel pretty sated, myself, after 44 years in any industry ... She wouldn't go out with profit-takers???
Like above poster. All you can do is backtest/forward test a strategy and follow the rules if you want to know for sure. Could always take your past trades and see if you are consistently getting out too soon or getting in too early even. If you are selling too soon, measure your MAE and MFE and see if the risk/return works for your tolerance. Take all your past trades with similar setup and see if theirs a consistent problem or maybe your eyes are fooling you. Very easy to focus on the ones that got away then the trades that worked.
Don't understand buying at 52wk lows. Buying a stock that is going down. All the big players with smart analysts and fancy computers are selling. That said, my advice on exits is never set a TP. If the holding gets into profit, move the stop-loss up and buy another load so you double your upside exposure while not increasing your capital risk. Keep doing this until price falls back and hits all your stops' price. Get back in again when the trend resumes. What do you mean, "Trend, what trend?"? If there isn't an uptrend what are you buying for, and if you've already bought what are you holding for?
That's part of the BITCH about trading. The market will give you lots of opportunity to turn a "potentially large winner into a small one". IOW... the market makes it difficult to secure a BIG gain. Mr. Market will also give you lots of opportunity to turn what should have been a "small, stop-out loss" into a devastating loser.