Anatomy of a successful trade?

I've been wanting to write an "anatomy of a successful trade" post, but unfortunately I keep wanting to make it nothing more than the following:

1. Bought it low
2. Then it went up
3. Sold it higher

And I know for a fact that such sarcasm is completely unappreciated by my readership.

Actually, part of my "this year's strategy is to not fuck up like last year" strategy has required me to hold onto the positions that I bought that are now higher. Certainly, a few items have been sold: I've dumped some GOZ at a slight loss, got rid of my AZC position at a slight win, trimmed my excess SBB after it awoke. But my major wins - FVI, BTO, AMM, NGD, HMU, the rest of my SBB - are still being held.

Why? Cos they've broken out. I don't know how high they're going to go. I have seen no chart signal to sell each of these stocks, I have seen no macro reason to sell them, I have seen no liquidity signal to sell. So you hold what's worked so far, and squeeze a few more percent out of it.

The best example is BTO.



I bot mine at $3.10, just like anyone with half a brain could have done at any time over the past month, with the justification given that not only is BTO's production stellar, but they also have some great exploration properties with newsflow coming.

Now it's at $3.80: why sell? 4 out of the past 5 days have printed large white candles, so I could have sold on each of them and felt clever... until the next day.

Also, volume is the best technical indicator, as Joe Fahmy says; and the volume on BTO has also been stellar. Those few idiots remaining who've been selling BTO cos they didn't like their new Namibian direction are now swamped out by those who recognize that BTO is a much better gold company than anything you'll find on the godforsaken $HUI.

So, outside of buying $10K of SWD on the drillbit news out this morning, I've been pretty much quiet on the buy/sell front and will continue to be until the mood changes.