• If after months of advancing, the stock suddenly jumps way up on heavy volume, maybe 25% or more in just a week or two, it will probably pull back significantly. This is called a climax top. When it makes its biggest one-day rise, sell.
• When a stock suddenly jumps up on weak volume, sell.
• If a stock closes at the bottom of its day's trading range on high volume, consider selling half your shares.
• If a stock drops below its 50 day moving average on heavy volume, or closes down on record volume, sell.
• If there are 3 days with the market dropping on heavy trading, reduce your positions. This may be signaling the start of a bear market, or a baby bear.
• If the Put/Call Premium Ratio (found in the Wall Street Journal and IBD) rises to over 2.0, begin reducing your positions. A big market drop is on the way within a few months.
• Don't ever sell and take a profit if your leading stock runs up 20% or more in only 2 or 3 weeks. Most market leaders last a year or more
• On any bad news about a company whose stock you own, sell. Wait until the air clears and the stock begins rising again before repurchasing.
• When you review your portfolio of stocks, the laggards will clearly stand out. Sell them and buy more of your winners. As many wise investors have found, it’s a good practice to weed your garden regularly.

It is hard to sell a stock at a loss when we believe that we are skillful investors. But are we really that skillful? We can and should control basic investment things like minimizing taxes, keeping trading costs down, and maintaining the quality of our investments.

But no matter how much effort we put into beating the market, we’ll probably be disappointed. We figure that if we spend enough time hunting for hot stocks and searching for the superstar mutual funds, we will spot them.

This is an illusion. We can only control our investment results in a basic way. The rest, for better or worse, is just good or bad luck.

Other Stock Market Basics Topics:

1. Stock Market Investing – the Right Way
2. More Stock Marketing Investing
3. How to Pick Winning Stocks
4. The Golden Rule of Investing
5. Avoid Psychological Traps to Have Successful Investing
6. Changes in Stock Values Can Be Big Numbers
7. How to Invest Smart
8. Stock Advice - Important Selling Rules
9. Poor Stock Buying Decisions
10. Market Indicators
11. Stock Market Cycles
12. When a bear stock market may not be a bear market
13. Stock Index Futures
14. Four Things that Affect Stock Valuation
15. What is a P/E ratio?
16. Value Investing
17. Cheap Stocks
18. What is a Financial Statement?
19. Analyzing Financial Statements
20. Stock Market Tip - Red Flags to Look For When Investing?
21. The Annual Report – How to Read
22. Stock Market Analysts – Stock Market Advice and Tips