95% of my current trades are day trades. I pulled in some nice gains in AAPL, GOOG, BIDU, MA, V over the past week. These high beta stocks keep ripping upwards. Which brings up the question: "When should I hold on to a stock and let my profits run?" For example: I had several Daytrade positions on AAPL which I sold for some nice profits. But today I wished that I would have held onto those positions for a hefty chunk of change.

Thanks in advance. - David

Take the first 1/2 of your position off the table; place a trailing stop on the rest, and let it run. Never say "if I had known." you do not know. The market does what the market wants to do; anyway, the trades went your way, and you made some nice money. It could have gone against you, but it didn't, so say thanks and move on to the next.

Blanche.

Good point about taking 1/2 position off the table. Personally I always approach each trade as it's own trading style, so I never change a daytrade into a swingtrade (though if a winning swingtrade moves quickly in my favor, eg during day 1 of the entry, I may often close it to take profits, or at least close part of the position).

Losing daytrades should never be 'converted' into swingtrades, as that more often magifies losses and stops. Each trade should be entered on it's own timeframe, with it's own specific technical pattern reasons for the entry, and timeframes/targets/stops.

-k