Originally Posted by
Newman
RickF, this is my problem with the system you described: How many times have you seen the stock price make sudden, unforeseen, and DRASTIC cuts, either up or down, only to settle down back where itw as when it started the day? These MMs can see where the orders for buy and sell are. They may spike the stock price down by 10 cents, trigger your sell, and then bring the stock back up in a matter of minutes or even seconds. You are then out all of your shares, for absolutely no good reason.
As far as I am concerned, and Relmor, Cos, and several others are doing this as well:
Decide how much of your position will be the "Core" position. This core position is your long term holdings. You will reevaluate your decision at least 2 times a year, determine if the company is still performing like you think it should, and determine if you want to sell or not.
The rest of your current position is what you consider your "trading" stock. This is the stock that means little to you. It is meant for short term trading. Sell on what you believe are the highs, and buy back on what you believe are the lows. I myself sold out a portion of my trading shares at 47 on Friday. I expect the stock to retrace down to at least 42-45ish. It may not happen Monday, it may not happen Tuesday, but I believe it will happen this week, and I will buy back then. If you have a decent number of shares, these 2-5 cent gains can be significant. A 5 cent gain on 10k shares is $500, or about 1000 more shares of Sirius. (an increase of 10% of your trading shares). Not too shabby. You don't necessarily have to buy more shares either. You could simply pocket the difference. No body will ever shame you for putting cash in your pocket.