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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Schulte who wrote (150853)	1/9/2000 11:15:00 PM
From: Patrick E.McDaniel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

George, I'll take a run at your question. My comments are general enough that they apply to stocks or options of any company. When a stock goes up and down the investors get whipsawed by the action and in some ways a longer term investor that is bothered by this action is better off not to track the stock frequently but track it over a longer period. Another approach if you don't have confidence in your stocks or the market is to consider the best investment attitude. Consider at the time you are deciding if the stock you are invested in is the best you can be in. If not, why are you invested in that stock? This is like the chasing the best looking girl. Eventually you will find one you want to stay with a while. Jumping in and out of stocks (Day-Trading) works for some but can also require a lot of energy and time. This approach chases the momentum players and isn't for the unstable! If you are investing, consider the factors why that stock was purchased, write them down and date it. When considering selling the stock, review those reasons for the purchase, decide if the stock is underperforming and decide if it has gone far enough of track that it should be sold. Be decisive! If a company can get back on track you will be rewarded. If not it may be a sign of management or market conditions that may accelerate the decline. During these up and down periods the companies management is focused on the company. The markets and stocks go wild and maybe a calming hobby would be something to think about or a good business shrink. :o) Pat

To: George Schulte who wrote (150853)	1/9/2000 11:15:00 PM
From: Ex-INTCfan	Respond to of 176387

George, here is one opinion, and you know what they say about opinions. I used to use stop losses more often than I do now. I rarely use them today. The market is too volitile and it is too easy to be shut out of a good position. I would only use rising stops at this point if I absolutely was certain I wanted to be out of a stock, but thought it might run up. In such a case, I would set a tight stop and let the chips fall where they may, not second guessing myself if the stop got hit and the stock reversed and charged upward. If you study the history of Dell, there rarely have been instances when selling the stock, either outright or because of a stop, was a winning proposition. The last year has been different. The question is, will the next year be like the last, or like those preceding it? Who knows, but that's what makes this fun! Whatever it does this year, you can bank on it being much, much higher in three years than it is now. The best time to sell is when you feel very greedy, and have visions of how much you will be worth if the stock only goes up (insert percentage). In practice, this is very difficult to do. I actually managed to do this with a little stock this past Monday in the first few minutes of trading when the market was up 120. The fact that it worked out and I was able to roll it into JDSU during the brief correction I attribute more to luck than skill. Someone else on this thread once wrote that you can't trade with scared money. I feel this was somewhat profound. If a swing of $16,000 bothers you in a week like the one we just had, maybe it would be better to buy a mutual fund and/or rebalance your portfolio, and then shut off the TV. If not, just keep riding the market. At one time, a $16,000 drop in my portfolio would have sent me into a panic. Now, its just a normal event, and I guess I should be happy about that. If you are lucky, one day your portfolio will drop $1,000,000 in value in a day and it won't bother you any more than the $16,000 drop did. But to get there, you will have to get used to bigger and bigger occasional declines in your portfolio. I doubt you will get there by using stop losses. JMHO INTCfan

To: George Schulte who wrote (150853)	1/10/2000 7:50:00 PM
From: On the QT	Respond to of 176387

Hi George, As a general rule, I have found that having an exit point on the down side is infinitely more "profitable". Regardless of how astute someone is, there will be times when one is wrong about the stock ( not necessarily about the company). Should the stock behave in a downside manner not consistent with its history it is time to get out of the stock. My own experience is to "buy and hold" as long the stock continues to appreciate in the manner consistent with its history. In fact, regardless of its history if it is going up stay with it! You will probably be better off not limiting your up side and limiting your downside. Regards, QT