Is there a number you use to stop yourself from losing all the gains you made. I am up $XXk from Facebook Weeklies and buying 75 BMY Calls when the stock was at $61.8 and AVGO. On my Overnights I've been dumping all my BIG. When do you stop are will you push it harder, after thirty years one would think I would know or did I answer the question by posting it?
I have to have a rule based reason to get out of trades, I have percentages I use for accounts and anything too much is taken out based on end of the year. I readjust funds in accounts, shift to buy real assets like real estate or physical Gold and Silver etc. And if something is just too much beyond the percentages, I just readjust, I want steady growth, whereas those who I have read about tumble down badly cause they had too much on at highs.
What do you think of CRUS blowing through its highs, so many great stocks on sale after the drop today has been a blessed day. I hope you doing great, take care!
Another $1500 on MRK Oct $62.5 bought at 100 contracts since I posted and trying to sell out. Good Luck!
This is a somewhat complicated question to answer. -- it all depends on a variety of factors...that only the trader can answer. But like you said...if you've been doing this for a while...you will just kind of know or sense...when is the right time. I could explain this further in detail -- but I'm a man of a few words.
It's a great problem to have and I'm dealing with it as well this earnings season. The three common views: 1) Book Your Profits, Manage your Losses 2) Let your winners run 3) Cash out 50% (or x%) and let the rest run I've been applying 2 currently and hoping for a massive return on expiration Friday Aug 19, but the mark-to-market profits are so good already I may start putting in exit orders starting Monday. The exit price would be based on short term technicals, ranges and not % of risk or profit. The exits on the options with extrinsic value near the top of their range already (for me, Bollinger) are obvious targets to book.
I am having the same issue myself and it all has to do money management and the trader and the trade itself. because everyone trades and think and feels different. So no one answer fits all, but its a great discussion. So here is what I decided to do. 1. Open my plan book and write a section called Monitoring the Trade if up by $200 (i trade the es future and $200 is half of what I intend to make on the trade) 2. I there I wrote how I plan to monitor the trade and adjust the stoploss at this potential profit. The concern, is what happen if price come back to my entry or above the $200. And so on and so on. Because everyone has there own way of managing the trade. Some breakeven, some breakeven, some do nothing, some that half profits, etc. etc. I will test the money managment that I believe will work for me and my logical and for each trade record the data for my plan, and what others suggestion. After about 500 trades, I will then have EMPIRICAL DATA for what works best for my trading business. But its great that ET experienced traders are sharing their knowledge.