I didn't want to sell Google. I was going to hang on for the long haul. It's a young company with young visionary founders who are still very much in charge. This is what makes a great company that can stomp on older, more experienced competitors. I sold Google via automatic STOP order which I had set at the very seemingly reasonable price of $275. Google went from over $300 down to just below $275 before moving upward again. So it kicked off my STOP order and sold all my Google stock. This same thing happened back when I listened to all the experts who said Redhat was gold. The difference there was that Redhat was a turd and when I fell out I didn't want back in. With Google I didn't want out and I do want back in.
So, I broke several rules today, many of which I can only vaguely remember. But I also did a few things right.
1) I rebought Google today, at a higher price than I sold it for. This Dumb Memphis Mistake requires no explanation. It's just throwing money away.
2) I bought it on a Friday. Can't remember why this is usually a mistake. But in my defense, I waited until after 3 p.m. Eastern time so I could get some idea of the direction the stock was going with the 'real' investors. This requires more explanation then I care to give right now.
3) I bought it in late August, when the market is in the toilet and looking to stay there throughout September, and with oil prices going higher and higher. Who's to say that Google isn't about to turn around and dive like a Penguin after a fish come Monday, dropping way below the price I just paid?
4) I bought it on the fly, without much thought. I just made up my mind that I hadn't wanted out in the first place and jumped back in as quickly as possible to minimize the time between the automated sale and idiotic repurchase. "Without much thought" is the key phrase here.
5) I see insider trading reports showing that Mutual Fund Managers are buying Google up like mad. This can be good, if they are going to hold onto it long term, or it can be bad, as they are driving the price up artificially and will send it into the toilet if they should change their mind come December and begin dumping. Yes, Christmas is a common time for big stock dumps among the New York Wall Street elites. Still, I don't see a major dumping of Google any time this year unless something big goes wrong, like someone at the top dies or starts making speeches about using all the profits for global socialist evangelism like Steve Case, President of AOL, did right before he took AOL down the toilet.
So anyway, I'm an idiot and I've told you so. There are two big arguments about using STOP orders and I don't know which side I'm on. Right now I'm using them, but I just got burned by this one. The last time I sold because of one it was a good thing. And the time before that it was good, too. So it's open for debate as far as I'm concerned.
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