When To Sell A Stock: Cutting Losses Short Is The First Rule (2024)

How do you know when to sell a stock?

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You may think owning stocks is all about making money. True, you may be looking for capital appreciation, but if you lose more than you gain, it is all for naught. Top priorities should be to manage risk, preserve capital and take losses quickly.

When To Sell And Take A Loss

According to IBD founder William O'Neil's rule in "How to Make Money in Stocks," you should sell a stock when you are down 7% or 8% from your purchase price, no exceptions. Having a rule in place ahead of time can help prevent an emotional decision to hang on too long.

It should be: Sell now, ask questions later. By limiting losses to 7% or even less, you can avoid getting caught up in big market declines.

Some investors may feel they haven't lost money unless they sell their shares. They hold on with the hope it goes back up so they can break even. But it's still a loss if the current price is below your purchase price.

You may ask the rhetorical question: How low can it go? Actually, it can go to zero.

Ask yourself: Would I buy this stock, right here, right now? If the answer is no, sell it. The time you spend waiting and hoping it will come back, is an opportunity cost to deploy the capital elsewhere, O'Neil advised.

It Takes More To Come Back When You Sell A Stock Too Late

The more a stock falls, the more ground it has to recoup.

If you purchased a stock for 100 and it drops to 90, that's a 10 point drop representing a 10% loss. It looks like you have to make up 10 points to be back to even. But that same 10-point move now represents 11.1% of the now-90 stock. Therefore, you need to have an 11.1% gain, not just 10%.

If it drops further to 80, that 20 move equals a 25% gain you must achieve to get back to break even, and so on. The percentage decline accelerates as you lose more.

You can see how this can get ugly fast.The key is to stop the bleeding, cut your losses and move on.

Domino's Hits A Sell Signal

When To Sell A Stock: Cutting Losses Short Is The First Rule (1)Domino's Pizza (DPZ) broke out of a flat base Dec. 27, 2021 (1). Shares climbed only 3% above the 549.51 buy point before they started to roll over.

On Jan. 5, Stephens & Co. downgraded DPZ to underweight from equal-weight with a price target of $500, adding to the drop in the stock which started Jan. 3. The stock picked up downward momentum on Jan. 4 with a 28% spike in volume. It continued to drop, falling below the 50-day moving average. on Jan. 5.

It closed at 520.53 on Jan. 5, down 8.3% from the high (2). This was the time to sell. On Jan. 11, Domino's cited "unprecedented" expected increased food costs of 8%-10% in 2022. A few days later, Morgan Stanley downgraded Domino's from overweight to equal-weight, and cut its price target from 545 to 535.

It continued it's drop to a low of 321.15 on May 12, 2022 for a total decline of 43.4%, peak to trough. You could have avoided this massive decline, if you sold using the 8% sell rule.

You Don't Always Have To Be Right When You Sell A Stock

According to Bernard Baruch, a famous Wall Street investor, you only need three to four winning trades out of 10 to make a healthy overall return.

By following a 3-to-1 ratio of gainers to losers, if you have a 25% gain, you can allow up to an 8% loss, and no more. If in an unfavorable market and your winners are only up 10% to 15%, you need to cut losses sooner. This would amount to only 2%-3% down, to keep the ratio intact.

All this sounds good, but in practice it can be hard to admit you're wrong. Trading is an emotional activity filled with ego and the desire to be right. The key is to be steadfast and disciplined in following your rules so you can be around to trade another day.

This article was originally published April 20, 2023, and has been updated.

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When To Sell A Stock: Cutting Losses Short Is The First Rule (2024)

FAQs

When To Sell A Stock: Cutting Losses Short Is The First Rule? ›

A good rule of thumb that most investors live by is to cut losses anytime a stock falls 5-8% below the price you purchased it at. The most important thing to remember is that the earlier you accept a loss, the more money you'll save in the long run.

What is the 3 5 7 rule in stocks? ›

The 3–5–7 rule in trading is a risk management principle that suggests allocating a certain percentage of your trading capital to different trades based on their risk levels. Here's how it typically works: 3% Rule: This suggests risking no more than 3% of your trading capital on any single trade.

When to sell stock to cut losses? ›

When To Sell And Take A Loss. According to IBD founder William O'Neil's rule in "How to Make Money in Stocks," you should sell a stock when you are down 7% or 8% from your purchase price, no exceptions.

What must one do first in order to sell a stock short? ›

To short-sell a stock, here's the process from start to finish:
  1. Open a brokerage account and fund it. From here, you must take several actions.
  2. Apply for margin trading. ...
  3. Borrow the stock to short-sell. ...
  4. Monitor your account equity. ...
  5. Mind, then close your position.
Apr 24, 2024

What is the first rule of stocks? ›

Warren Buffett once said, “The first rule of an investment is don't lose [money]. And the second rule of an investment is don't forget the first rule. And that's all the rules there are.”

What is the 70 20 10 rule in stocks? ›

Part one of the rule said that in the next 12 months, the return you got on a stock was 70% determined by what the U.S. stock market did, 20% was determined by how the industry group did and 10% was based on how undervalued and successful the individual company was.

What is the 15 15 15 rule in stocks? ›

Meaning of the 15-15-15 rule in Mutual Funds

The 15-15-15 rule for mutual fund investing has three parts to it: The Investment: You should invest Rs 15,000 per month. The Tenure: The total of your investment should be 15 years. It means that you will invest Rs 15,000 every month for the next 15 years.

What is the 7% stop loss rule? ›

However, if the stock falls 7% or more below the entry, it triggers the 7% sell rule. It is time to exit the position before it does further damage. That way, investors can still be in the game for future opportunities by preserving capital. The deeper a stock falls, the harder it is to get back to break-even.

How do you know when to sell at a loss? ›

Here are some good reasons you might want to sell a stock at a loss:
  1. Changes in company fundamentals.
  2. Changes in earnings.
  3. Changes in revenue.
  4. Debt levels.
  5. Changes in dividends.
Feb 23, 2024

Why are capital losses limited to $3,000? ›

The $3,000 loss limit is the amount that can be offset against ordinary income. Above $3,000 is where things can get complicated.

What is the rule for short selling? ›

Under the short-sale rule, shorts could only be placed at a price above the most recent trade, i.e., an uptick in the share's price. With only limited exceptions, the rule forbade trading shorts on a downtick in share price. The rule was also known as the uptick rule, "plus tick rule," and tick-test rule."

What is the short selling technique? ›

Short selling involves borrowing a security whose price you think is going to fall and then selling it on the open market. You then buy the same stock back later, hopefully for a lower price than you initially sold it for, return the borrowed stock to your broker, and pocket the difference.

When should you use short selling? ›

Sometimes investors become convinced that a stock is more likely to fall in value than to rise. If that's the case, investors can potentially make money when the value of a stock goes down by using a strategy called short selling.

What is the golden rule of selling stocks? ›

IBD's golden rule of investing is this: Cut your loss if the stock falls 7% below your purchase price. But can you do better than that?

What is the 90% rule in stocks? ›

The Rule of 90 is a grim statistic that serves as a sobering reminder of the difficulty of trading. According to this rule, 90% of novice traders will experience significant losses within their first 90 days of trading, ultimately wiping out 90% of their initial capital.

What is the 25% rule in stocks? ›

According to William O'Neil, a noted investor and stockbroker, you may consider selling the stock when its price has gone up by 20%-25% from the ideal buy point. For example, if Cici thinks $100 is an ideal buy point for stock A, she can sell the stock when its price reaches the range of $120 to $125.

What is the 357 strategy in trading? ›

A risk management principle known as the “3-5-7” rule in trading advises diversifying one's financial holdings to reduce risk.

What is the 60 30 10 rule stocks? ›

This reinventive basic rule to portfolio structure means allocating 60% to equities, 30% to bonds, and 10% to alternatives. The exact percentages may vary by portfolio, but the key idea is that Alternatives should be an integral part of every portfolio, in some percentage.

What is the 11am rule in trading? ›

It is not a hard and fast rule, but rather a guideline that has been observed by many traders over the years. The logic behind this rule is that if the market has not reversed by 11 am EST, it is less likely to experience a significant trend reversal during the remainder of the trading day.

What is the 70 30 rule in stocks? ›

What Is a 70/30 Portfolio? A 70/30 portfolio is an investment portfolio where 70% of investment capital is allocated to stocks and 30% to fixed-income securities, primarily bonds. Any portfolio can be broken down into different percentages this way, such as 80/20 or 60/40.

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