Joelle,
I guess I'm of the "take your profits regularly" school of thought, like freeus. As you know, I started as a daytrader, a bad word these days, but I learned early to be ruthless about cutting my losses early, taking profits regularly, and cleaning house often (only figuratively, <gggg>). For example, I've been taking profits since Tuesday, when I could sense a Nas pullback in the air. I wanted to lock in some money, as well as to release a bunch of the equity that's been held against my naked put positions so that it would be free during a downdraft.
It's tough to sell a position and watch it run. I try to set a number in my head when I take a position. If the trade yields that profit in an hour, I close out the position at that point. If the position is a long term one and doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I'll close it out and move on. There are opportunities every day.
I don't know if this'll help. I'd love to hear other peoples' answers to your question. |
