Hold Your Gains

oldpigwang

Happy Holidays, and Hold Your Gains

By Rev Shark
RealMoney.com Contributor
12/24/2009 1:12 PM EST
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If you wanted a textbook example of positive seasonality and holiday trading, you have a good one this week. Since Monday, it has been steady buying on declining volume, and market players don't seem to have a worry in the world. The only negative has been that no one is very concerned about any negatives.
Obviously, next week we are going to have thin volume once again, but I'd be surprised if we don't have at least one good bout of profit-taking as market players close the books on the year. It is very easy to let your guard down when the atmosphere is so upbeat. We need to keep in mind that a lot of this action has little underlying support, and the pullbacks can be sudden and sharp once some selling kicks in.
I'm not at all negative on the big market picture. We have had some very good trading, but the key to success is making sure you hold on to gains once you have them. I recall a number of times when the end-of-the-year action caught market players by surprise, and I'm going to keep that in mind next week.