Hi, new member here, newly obsessed with learning about trading and investing for myself. Really dumb basic question here. Like seriously basic. I've been reading books and watching videos for a few weeks. A couple weeks ago I invested in some ETFs, my account has gone up 6%. Obviously it could go down any time, and eventually I believe it will slowly keep climbing up. Should I just hold and let it ride? Or should I sell all that then buy more other ETFs that are low with the profit, and hopefully keep leap frogging up. Is it just a question of strategy - buy and hold vs. swing trade? What would you do? Thanks for any tips.
First of all, welcome to the forums. Now to answer the question. It depends what the ETF’s are. Also depends on what type of trade you had intended when you entered. You should never enter a position without a plan. It depends what kind of trader you want to be. Impossible to answer your question, but if you’re worried about it, it’s always safest to close the position with profit if you have no clue what you’re doing.
Gotcha ok thanks. Well my original plan with these positions was to just hold them indefinitely and reinvest the dividends. They are a safe investment - large cap, Value ETFs. But then I saw them go up despite the struggling state of the markets, so I'm wondering if there may be another strategy consider. Eager is dangerous, so I'm not doing anything yet. I have another amount I'm going to invest a little more actively, so now is probably the time to formulate a plan for that.
Personally, I would just continue to add to your positions either weekly or monthly. "Set it and forget it" is great +++++IF++++ you have a sturdy foundation.
I'm also somewhat of a newbie in stocks, although I've had an etrade account for probably 10 years or more. I do like to buy stocks that pay dividends, and hold them and reinvest the dividends. But I also come across stocks that seem like a good buy that don't pay dividends, and on those I generally like to sell when I reach around a 10-20% return, depending on how long I've held them and how much I like them. Sometimes I buy a stock with the intention of selling in the next day or two if it goes up, and if it doesn't go up I keep it, sometimes when they go down I buy more to lower my average price to make it easier to sell at a profit. If you are flexible it helps you take advantage of whatever is happening. And it also helps if you have an account with zero commissions. I had 100 shares of a penny stock that I think is in danger of going bankrupt, but I didn't want to sell for a loss. I held on til I finally managed to sell for a 14 cent overall gain. couldn't do that if I were paying commisions.
