When I buy and when I sell

It's come to my attention that I may have overlooked an important piece of my LT portfolio management. When/how I buy and sell.

Please remember the LT has very limited trading in it. This portfolio is built to buy and buy and buy, and trade a few common/options positions to help increase buying capacity for my core holdings.

As for buying, I do not buy heavy to open a position. I typically look to leg into any position I am trying to build. For instance, I look for a starter position around 1/5 of a position size. This can be higher or lower, but I basically want to add consistently in intervals as long as price allows me.

If price declines I will steadily add on the way down building my position. If price rises I will look to add at points on my charts that make sense.

So what points on the chart makes sense to initiate or add?

Check the highlighted area on these charts for my initiations and adds. I'm looking for setups that include contact with an established channel I have (NET, ROKU), a level of support/trend line that is has proven to hold in the existing trend or in the past (MRVL, MSFT, QCOM), an unforeseen selloff that has nothing to do with the long term thesis of the company (TDOC, TSLA), or a breakout (TSM).

When the opportunity presents itself, I will also sell puts to get long on assignment and I will sell covered calls to collect premium on my positions.

I'm going to come right out and say it, selling is the hardest part, especially on positions that I initiated as potential trades. I have no interest in selling starters and all-stars for a very long time.

But selling will usually be into one of my resistance zones, or an established price/percentage gain on the way up. Selling for loss usually comes on newer positions that I'm down 7-10%. For more rules, read the rules!

I hope this helps understand my process a little more and also helps you in the future!