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To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (6)7/24/1998 2:19:00 AM
From: Druss  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 253
 
Bill--That is a beauty, That one could give the best investors I know a nightmare.
If you like Peter Lynch, he advocates riding your winners, I have heard others who are less well known but I certainly respect say if you get a double get out. As far as the NICEY part of your question I like to think I would normally have ridden it longer but there is one glitch. I played an Isreali tech stock a little over a year ago and it was an experience to remember. Arab kids on the West Bank stared throwing rocks and my company dropped not to its book value but to the value of the cash they had on hand. I held through some horrendous paper losses (this would have been a good company to have averaged down on) and came out with a nice gain and I also sold too soon but was glad to get out of the Middle East all the same. My attitude now is ride your winners unless they are Isreali companies.
The fact that you knew and understood NICEY's tech is an edge I would hate to give up. However I am as twitchy as can be about Isreali stocks now, I probably would have bailed too (I think I got out of mine for slightly more of a gain and it proceded up for a ways longer). I could have had a three bagger.
As for the ADPT the best I can say is I hate it when stocks start trending down as that is a typical bad sign. It is real easy to second guess you under these circumstances however. Are there any warning signs you feel you missed or ignored?
I am not sure there is a right answer to how to play a stock like ADPT. I think I would have reacted to the down trend. I would be interested in how others would have played this one too and why.
All the Best
Druss



To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (6)7/24/1998 7:58:00 PM
From: Nazbuster  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 253
 
Bill,

I had a similar experience with INVX which had great fundamentals, but made components for the disk drive sector. One of the most difficult lessons for me to learn is when to exit a loser. I'm getting better with my emotions - meaning trying to establish objective criteria rather than go by the fear/elation cycle --, but I really did not have a way to measure when to exit.

I just finished reading a TA book this morning that suggested a simple, but effective strategy: Buy when stocks break out into an uptrend and hold until the trend is broken AND the intermediate (50 day) or long-term (200 day) exponential moving average is broken (depending on how sensitive a signal you want). PERIOD! There are other "sells" as well such as the classic Head-and-Shoulders pattern, but the basic timing is as stated.

I went back to look at ADPT. It broke the 50day average in October touching the 200, and broke the 200 in early December. You might suspect this drop was a "spike" (a false move followed by a reversal in direction), but it was confirmed pretty quickly when the price rose to the 200 day average then turned south again about 5 days later. This would be a clear confirmation to get out. This would have put you out at about $40/share.

Believe me, I'm only a novice just reading about this stuff, but it is such a relief to know there are actually objective ways to make these decisions!!! You can always adjust and fine tune your methods as you learn.