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acipojesa
10-14-2015,
For longer term trades, is there a good rule of thumb as to how long to keep a long position when it's just moving sideways? I want to make trades that gain 3-5% and then exit. But sometimes, I will take a long position and the stock decides to go sideways. If after a week and it doesn't move much, should I get out of the trade and look for something else? Or should I stay with it? Does the probability of the stock going down increase the longer I keep it? Or does it stay at 50/50?

For the long time, experienced traders, do you have any guidelines or advice? Thanks in advance!

acekuwihaz
10-15-2015,
My opinion says it depends on how much money you have to play with. I personally have been down 30k in a stock that is a good stock and I am sure that it will start to go back up and it has. I would never bail out of a stock just because it goes sideways. Of course I am dealing with good companies. No penny stocks is a rule that I follow along with no IPOs.

A45T
10-15-2015,
Everyone is going to have their own trading style and risk tolerance. It's important to find what works for you.
My personal take....I hate locking in a loss. But I also hate tying up capital on something that isn't producing. Maybe the question to ask yourself is....Would you buy that stock right now? Because every day you hold it you are basically buying it again. I like to buy into weakness....so maybe if the stock is on its ass it might be a good time to buy. Or can the capital be used on something that has better potential than that one? These are some of the questions that one might use to come to the best decision for them.

The probability of it breaking one way or the other is going to mean different things to different people. Those who trade on technical or fundamental analysis may arrive at some assumption based on historical data. However the options pricing models are forward looking and based on partly on Brownian motion....means they give it a 50/50 shot.

As you gain experience you will find what works for you.

If I woke up tomorrow owning shares of a stock that had me at a loss (assuming I had at least 100 shares and it had options available) I would check the option premium for at the money calls and if there was a fair market and enough premium I would sell and roll them until I got my damn money back. If not I would base my decision on whether or not I thought the stock was a good buy at that level.

You might include the ticker and price you paid....might get more opinions then.

abuaboyisonib
10-16-2015,
I only buy when the probability that the stock is going to move have increased. Thus, I look for stocks with average intra-day range above 25 cents for small caps and 50 cents for large caps with recent volatility increases or a potential volatility increase due to upcoming events, recent news ( I do NOT buy just because of news though, price action dictates entries) or chart reversal or continuation breakout. I'm not going to be in something sitting sideways. I can come back to it if its not working how I want. Always something moving.