When To Sell Stocks: 10 Best Sell Rules In The Current Stock Market (2024)

The current stock market's two-part turn — from "confirmed uptrend," to "uptrend under pressure," and finally to "market in correction" — is a clear message to investors to dust off their sell rules and be ready to use them.

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Knowing when to sell stocks requires as much study and experience as when to buy. And some of the harshest early lessons come while watching hard-earned gains — some of them significant — fizzle back to zero or even into a loss.

Best Sell Rules: First Do This

At the top of the sell rule list is the automatic sell rule. This says sell a stock that declines 7% to 8% below a correct buy point after clearing that buy point. The move reduces risk and assures your losses remain minimal, preserving capital for the next breakout.

When markets turn choppy or go into corrections, it is often a good idea to tighten the parameters on this rule up to 3% to 4%. Rotate into cash. Build a watch list. Wait for the market to turn.

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When To Sell Stocks: Know The Subtle Signals

IBD and investors.com articles spend a good deal of time discussing moving averages and support. These are not some sort of voodoo boundaries to which stock prices seem to somehow magically adhere.

Institutional investors — the funds, bank and insurance company portfolio managers who drive the market action — use these as guides for adding to or paring down holdings. This is why stocks often "find" or "rebound from" support at their 10-week moving averages.

But a stock dropping below its 10-week line in busy trade is signaling that its big-money backers have let go of the leash. On its own, such a move does not always mean "get out now." But it does hoist an important warning flag to watch out for other potential signs of weakness.

Those can include a breakout that reversesand heads back toward its buy point. In a late-stage base, any breakout that fails — particularly in an uptrend under pressure or market correction — can be considered a sell.

A drop through the 200-day line in heavy trade would be a sell signal. Also, leaders in the same industry group that begin breaking down should place an investor on notice to sell.

Current Stock Market: Selling Into Strength

Getting out of a stock that appears to be breaking down is one thing. But deciding when to sell stocks that have posted sizable gains can be more challenging, both technically and emotionally. After its first-quarter run-up, the current stock market is rife with stocks sitting atop healthy ruins.

The first and easiest upside sell rule is to take profits when a stock rises 20% after a breakout. Stocks tend to base, on average, at 20% intervals. This makes 20% a good place to lock in gains, before a new base begins.

Climax Top Signals

The remainder of rules governing when to sell stocks relate to those that have already had a strong run. These are often discussed in terms of a climax run, as a stock ramps up to the peak of its rally. None of these are hard-and-fast rules, like the No. 1 cut losses rule. But once they start to appear, they often come in twos or threes, sending clear signals that the stock rally's circ*mstances have changed.

Largest Daily Price Gain In The Rally: A stock should be extended and have climbed for months since its last breakout from a valid base. Watch for its largest single-session run-up of the entire rally.

Exhaustion Gap: A stock gets far extended from its most recent breakout and opens on a gap-up in price from the previous day's close.

Giant Stock Splits: A company announces a massive stock split (think 4-to-1, 7-to-1 or larger) after a significant stock rally.

Breaking The Upper Channel Line: A stock rises sharply above its upper channel line after significant gains. Determine an upper channel line by drawing a line across the three highest peaks over the past four to five months in the stock's rally.

Moon Shot Over The 200-day Moving Average: Prepare to sell if a stock rises more than 70% above its 200-day average.

Keep a list of these rules handy. Learning to act on them will increase your track record of positive sells, decrease your stress level and boost your returns.

Find Alan R. Elliott on Twitter @IBD_Aelliott

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When To Sell Stocks: 10 Best Sell Rules In The Current Stock Market (2024)

FAQs

When should you sell stock rules? ›

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 10 am rule in stock trading? ›

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 3 5 7 rule in trading? ›

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.

At what point should you sell your shares? ›

If certain shares have consistently underperformed with little hope of recovery, it may be wise to sell them. Selling under-performers can free up capital that could be better invested elsewhere and allow you to use capital losses to offset gains for tax purposes.

Should I sell my stocks now in a recession? ›

The bottom line is that, during recessions, it's important to stay the course. It becomes a bit more important to focus on top-quality companies in turbulent times, but, for the most part, you should approach investing in a recession in the same manner you would approach investing any other time.

What is the best time of day to sell stocks? ›

The best time of day to buy and sell shares is usually thought to be the first couple of hours of the market opening. The reason for this is that all significant market news for the day is factored into the stock price first thing in the morning.

What is the 11am rule in stocks? ›

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 11am rule in the stock market? ›

​The 11 am rule suggests that if a market makes a new intraday high for the day between 11:15 am and 11:30 am EST, then it's said to be very likely that the market will end the day near its high.

What is No 1 rule of trading? ›

Rule 1: Always Use a Trading Plan

You need a trading plan because it can assist you with making coherent trading decisions and define the boundaries of your optimal trade. A decent trading plan will assist you with avoiding making passionate decisions without giving it much thought.

What is the golden rule of traders? ›

Let profits run and cut losses short Stop losses should never be moved away from the market. Be disciplined with yourself, when your stop loss level is touched, get out. If a trade is proving profitable, don't be afraid to track the market.

What is 90% rule in trading? ›

The 90 rule in Forex is a commonly cited statistic that states that 90% of Forex traders lose 90% of their money in the first 90 days. This is a sobering statistic, but it is important to understand why it is true and how to avoid falling into the same trap.

What is the 80-20 rule in trading? ›

In investing, the 80-20 rule generally holds that 20% of the holdings in a portfolio are responsible for 80% of the portfolio's growth. On the flip side, 20% of a portfolio's holdings could be responsible for 80% of its losses.

Why are the rich selling their stocks? ›

In mid-2023, news began to spread about the world's super-rich reducing their ownership of shares in public companies. The reason behind this move is to secure their wealth amidst rising interest rates and economic uncertainty. Similar issues are still ongoing to this day.

When should I sell my stock 20%? ›

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 day of the week should I sell shares? ›

Many traders and investors believe Friday is the best day to sell stocks. This belief comes from observations of the aforementioned Friday Effect, where stocks often enjoy a slight bump in prices as the trading week comes to a close.

What is the 30 day rule for selling stocks? ›

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 30 day rule for stock sale? ›

The IRS instituted the wash sale rule to prevent taxpayers from using the practice to reduce their tax liability. Investors who sell a security at a loss cannot claim it if they have purchased the same or a similar security within 30 days (before or after) the sale.

What is the 50% rule in stocks? ›

The fifty percent principle is a rule of thumb that anticipates the size of a technical correction. The fifty percent principle states that when a stock or other asset begins to fall after a period of rapid gains, it will lose at least 50% of its most recent gains before the price begins advancing again.

How long should you keep a stock before selling? ›

In most cases, profits should be taken when a stock rises 20% to 25% past a proper buy point. Then there are times to hold out longer, like when a stock jumps more than 20% from a breakout point in three weeks or less. These fast movers should be held for at least eight weeks.

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