Last year I did a full breakdown analysis of my past 10 years of investing/trading
Now, over that time my methods have evolved but one thing remained fairly constant.
The longer the hold, the greater the profit. For every 10 trades I made, only 1 ended up being more than 100% and that had a strong correlation with the amount of time I held it.
Now that may sound fairly common sense to some, but you ask how many blue chip holders think the same about the buy & hold strategy that they would have say 15 years ago.
More often than not I will exit on a stop-loss but sometimes i will get out because it doesn't "feel right". I've often regretted those decisions.
In this end of the market, if you've got the patience, rewards are significant but i'll bet that most HC posters are in and out with a small profit before the real profits are made. I used to be one of those.
About 6 years ago I spent more on brokerage than I made in the profit. It was at that stage I decided to adopt a "get away from the screen" policy. Since that time it's been easier to let my profits run.
You make some great points.
Marchello
CNO Price at posting:
25.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held