Taking It Easy for the Next Few Days...

I apologize for the lack of posts but as you all know, the last few days have been rather hectic market wise. I am not an investor so I doesn't make sense for me to hold onto my positions through the carnage. Thankfully, none of the positions are in the financial stocks. Regardless of this fact, many of my positions have taken a hit. I was lucky to sell a majority of them a few days ago and during yesterdays short lived bounce. Still, the last few days have truly messed up many of my favorite setups and taught me the importance of protecting ones capital during the tough times. I've been telling longer term traders and investors to get out of the market back in the late fall of 2007. Those who took my advice are probably better off than most of the others who refused to listen to me and instead, listened to their brokers at Merrill Lynch and the other failed institutions. I am not saying that I am a fortune teller or that I could have predicted the future. The only thing that I did was predict the future trend of the market following the big wave of weakness that happened in November of 2007. It was a major trend change that foretold of more future weakness. Sure, there were some sweet spots to go long. There was February of 2008 (VRUS) and the countless high flying micro-cap oil stocks (PDO, FPP, MXC, etc) that ruled the market during spring time. Then there were several good stocks that appeared right before the storm, such as MITI, NPSP, XSI and several others. I guess the point that I am trying to make is that no matter how bad the situation is, you have to look at the bright side. As tired as this cliche may be, it is utterly true. Think about it. This downtrend is anything but new. And yet, there were several good long opportunities for patient traders. Do I expect this to continue. You bet. You just have to be patient and be watchful. Do not force yourself into trades. Instead wait for good trades and trends to develop and then go for them.
For now, I have liquidated many of my positions that have done well and let go all of my positions that fell 8% from the price I bought them. At the moment, I haven't found anything new that is worth buying. My advice is take it easy for a few days and let things clear out. Take care and good luck.