Hi, I recently bought shares in Virgin Money and have seen gains of around 35%. I suspect with the UK election result and some Brexit certainty the shares are likely to continue to rise. My question is how do I sell to make the most from my gains? Do I sell just my gains and leave my original investment or do I sell everything and move on?
You could sell 33% right now, put a tight trailing stop loss on another 33% and a loose stop loss on the remainder.
You bought at a good time, which is good, but you bought without an exit plan, which is not good. If you have a better prospect in sight, sell all now and re-invest all or part of the proceeds. A better prospect might mean a stronger or more secure dividend payment stream, not just a more likely or more dramatic price rise potential. Bear in mind that the election will be followed by another year or more of wrangling over trade deals and financial sector share prices will be vulnerable to news and tweets and rumours - a roller-coaster market. Without a better prospect, why not protect your gains with a trailing stop-loss? Say, 10% off their best recent high, 187p? Move the SL higher as price makes higher daily highs.
You got lucky, don't let it turn against you, so watch it and if it gets weak or starts to turn against you then bail on all and look to repeat when it starts heading back up again.
What is your thesis on this stock? Up? Down? Sideways? Would you enter this trade anew, today? If not, then it's time to go. If you believe it's stable, and simply not a place you wish to tie up capital, then exit with a call -- write it further in the money, the more you wish to exit. (So, for a $100 stock, write a call at $110 if you want to keep it, $99-$101 if it's more 50|50 $95 if you're worried, $85[!!!] if you're scared. But, have a SL in place, too.
%% Looks like a good up trend, close to highs.BUT with single stock risk, I most likely would sell some of it, even though it most likely goes higher. [2]IF it was an ETF paying> 2% dividend; I would probably hold it longer, but its a single stock, so I seldom do those much, even with some of them doing >110%, in 52 weeks...………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
If your play is based upon fundamentals, you sell when the fundamental story changes in a negative way for your position. If you play is technical, there are 2 logical places to sell. #1, aggressively... "exhaustion" in the move, and #2, defensively... deterioration in the price pattern such that it looks like the move is "over".
%% Trailing stop exits tends to be best; but that is with a top trender/tight trender. Junk like TSLA, mostly down/bear trend all year; noW up 1% /+ YTD can chop one to pieces,, if a trailing stop is used LOL ,