Comments on: Trailing Stop Discipline: How to Know When to Sell Your Stocks http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2009/September/trailing-stop-discipline.html Investment Advice and Investment Research with a Contrarian Point of View Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:55:11 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: Two Tips to Avoid Letting a Bad Stock Sucker-Punch You - Contrarian Stock Market Investing News - Featuring Bargain Stocks http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2009/September/trailing-stop-discipline.html#comment-26383 Two Tips to Avoid Letting a Bad Stock Sucker-Punch You - Contrarian Stock Market Investing News - Featuring Bargain Stocks Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:50:14 +0000 http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2009/September/trailing-stop-discipline.html#comment-26383 [...] I immediately stopped worrying about my losses. That’s because we religiously adhere to a 25% trailing-stop discipline and a position size of no more than 4% in any one investment. Thus, losses are always [...] [...] I immediately stopped worrying about my losses. That’s because we religiously adhere to a 25% trailing-stop discipline and a position size of no more than 4% in any one investment. Thus, losses are always [...]

]]> By: Chuck Bilbe http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2009/September/trailing-stop-discipline.html#comment-24521 Chuck Bilbe Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:54:34 +0000 http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2009/September/trailing-stop-discipline.html#comment-24521 First, let me say I agree 100% with the idea of disciplined, automatically-activated stops. As part of my ongoing "self-education" I have been experimenting and I think the topic needs more scientific method. Specifically, wouldn't it make sense that the more historically volatile a stock, the wider its trailing stop should be? Or, as a stock is approaching its target, that the stop might need to be narrowed? I realize that 25% is a good "rule of thumb", but it seems to me that there may be times that you should narrow it, capturing more of your gain, and other times that you should widen it, so you don't stop out prematurely. Alex, can you give this some thought and talk about it in your future articles? I bet I'm not the only one who has stopped-out, only to lose a real opportunity, or bought a stock that never gained 25% and then stopped-out for a loss. Is there any way to bring more science to bear on this important topic? Thanks again for all you do. Regards, Chuck First, let me say I agree 100% with the idea
of disciplined, automatically-activated stops.
As part of my ongoing “self-education” I have
been experimenting and I think the topic needs
more scientific method. Specifically, wouldn’t
it make sense that the more historically volatile
a stock, the wider its trailing stop should be?
Or, as a stock is approaching its target, that
the stop might need to be narrowed?
I realize that 25% is a good “rule of thumb”, but
it seems to me that there may be times that you
should narrow it, capturing more of your gain, and
other times that you should widen it, so you don’t
stop out prematurely. Alex, can you give this
some thought and talk about it in your future
articles? I bet I’m not the only one who has
stopped-out, only to lose a real opportunity,
or bought a stock that never gained 25% and then
stopped-out for a loss. Is there any way to bring
more science to bear on this important topic?
Thanks again for all you do.
Regards, Chuck

]]> By: Bob Tanner http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2009/September/trailing-stop-discipline.html#comment-23199 Bob Tanner Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:57:27 +0000 http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2009/September/trailing-stop-discipline.html#comment-23199 25% is OK for volatile stocks so you don't get whipsawed but for larger cap stocks that are less volatile I would think a lower % would be more appropriate. Shouldn't the stop be related to the volatility of the stock? 25% is OK for volatile stocks so you don’t get whipsawed but for larger cap stocks that are less volatile I would think a lower % would be more appropriate.

Shouldn’t the stop be related to the volatility of the stock?

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