Today PLCM jumps to touch $34 off the start due to a good earnings report and an upgrade from Wells Fargo.
While I considered holding it through and trailing a stop last week I chose to stick to the target. Sure, today I may mildly regret my decision, but that can be the nature of hindsight. Taking the profit when the target is reached is always the better choice in my current trading plan even if just to keep a level of consistency about the whole objective approach to the trading.
Besides, the stock price slumped a bit after the good report after hours and only jumped following the upgrade... what if the analyst decided to not upgrade or to even downgrade the stock? I'd be left holding a position in limbo... that is where the trouble begins as indecision can be a profit sucker very quickly.
In future, once my position sizing is larger, I may consider scaling out of trades differently. In this case I only had one trade in so there was nothing to scale with. Even had I had two I would not have tried to hold for a run. Seeing the activity this morning I would have sold off fairly quickly at anything over $33.00.
I did have a possible counter trend play to short this stock today at $31.00 but decided against it after seeing the price action... I only noted the reporting and upgrade after cancelling my order and this serves to show that following what the price says no matter the news is always the better option.
Basically, the price hit my stop for the short entry trigger pre-market which automatically negates my trade idea. This is not a subjective decision.
Jeff.
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