>>Eric, After your recent successful trades I was
>>beginning to think you were superman (or super
>>trader, at any rate).
Had I joined this thread in April, you would have heard me expressing a lot of pain. I also admit to having bought AOL at around 166 - and then selling it at 135 (again at the time I bought, analysts were talking of price targets of 200).
I like to think that I did learn something from these losses: the buy and hold strategy that I successfully followed in the past with stocks such as MSFT and INTC does not necessarily work in the short term for volatile internet stocks. Many would argue that I did not hold long enough - that YHOO might hit 300 at some point in the future, and that I should endure the short-term pain. I'm not so confident. I now believe that the internet landscape is too uncertain, that a company the size and popularity of Yahoo has the potential to suffer, and might never bounce back. The fundamentals and the risks keep staring me in the face, and I can't ignore them.
In this market, I no longer buy and hold. Each position, either long or short, is held with caution - in order to allow me to either cut my losses, or take quick profits. I have, in essence, become a bit of a day trader - without every really intending to do so. But I know of no other strategy with this market - I don't know of any stocks that I can comfortably buy and hold long term.
I'm glad to hear that you have recovered most of your losses.
Thanks,
-Eric |
