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? ›

What is the 3 5 7 rule in trading? A risk management principle known as the “3-5-7” rule in trading advises diversifying one's financial holdings to reduce risk. The 3% rule states that you should never risk more than 3% of your whole trading capital on a single deal.

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 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 7% rule in stocks? ›

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.

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 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.

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. The $3,000 loss limit rule can be found in IRC Section 1211(b). For investors with more than $3,000 in capital losses, the remaining amount can't be used toward the current tax year.

What is the 30 day rule for stock loss? ›

Q: How does the wash sale rule work? If you sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 calendar days before or after the sale, you won't be able to take a loss for that security on your current-year tax return.

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 stipulates investing 90% of one's investment capital toward low-cost stock-based index funds and the remainder 10% to short-term government bonds.

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 20% rule in stocks? ›

Nasdaq 20% Rule: Stockholder Approval Requirements for Securities Offerings. An overview of the so-called Nasdaq 20% rule requiring stockholder approval before a listed company can issue twenty percent or more of its outstanding common stock or voting power.

What is the 10 am rule in stocks? ›

Traders that follow the 10 a.m. rule think a stock's price trajectory is relatively set for the day by the end of that half-hour. For example, if a stock closed at $40 the previous day, opened at $42 the next, and reached $43 by 10 a.m., this would indicate that the stock is likely to remain above $42 by market close.

What is the 80-20 rule in stock trading? ›

While stock market investors rely on several rules to formulate their investment strategies, the 80-20 rule remains the most famous. Before we proceed, if you're wondering, 'what is the 80-20 rule? ' - it simply means that 80% of your portfolio's gains come from 20% of your investments.

What is the 357 strategy in trading? ›

The strategy is very simple: count how many days, hours, or bars a run-up or a sell-off has transpired. Then on the third, fifth, or seventh bar, look for a bounce in the opposite direction.

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 3-5-7 rule in trading strategy? ›

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.

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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