<p>Long time ago, I listen to the radio show, they were talking about selling strategies. The comments are, you will never get the highest price of the period, it is a good strategy to put in a stop order that you will sell no matter what to start. The price of the stop order will be lower than the market price, when the market goes up, you raise the stop order, but still below the market, until it sold.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>How long do you want to own the stock and why do you own it?</p>
<p>Well, I’ve been holding this dud (Cisco) for a long LONG time. Would expect to make some money on the ride, but it did not. It almost reached my selling point at around 32, but faltered badly.</p>
<p>Need to shade some to pay college bill. :)</p>
<p>If you buy a stock and it goes down 8 percent, sell the stock no matter what. Never break this rule. </p>
<p>If a stock goes up and you think it will continue up but want to protect profits, then use stop loss orders to protect profits. It’s a wise practice. Your risk is that the market will drop enough to trigger the stop but then rebound and be above where you sold the stock. I have had that happen and cried the blues until I realized I still had profits. </p>
<p>If you are trading currencies and do not use protective stops, you are an absolute idiot who will lose everything within a short period of time. </p>
<p>If you are trading futures, I would be careful using stops because the futures market for many instruments is smaller than the stock market and market makers can see your stops and run them intentionally. </p>
<p>In other words, I would not mess with the currency or futures markets unless you really know what you are doing.</p>
<p>If you are going to hold a stock for several years…you don’t need stops…</p>
<p>You probably shouldn’t be using stocks to pay for schooling, because stocks fluctuate…as you know…</p>