With each passing day in the stock market i am realizing that it is critical to book profits. Book profits when it is up 15-20% itself in a short period of time. Any type of asymmetric gains should be booked instead of getting greedy.
There is no such thing as long term. That is only to keep the markets stable. There is only a narrative to keep the structure stable. When shit hits the fan, and it always does in this world, the FII are almost always liquid. They don’t seem to have any issues cause they keep booking profits. They don’t sit on it and think that oh well i will stay long term i guess.
Long term is the biggest scam that has been sold to investors. It only helps in keeping the stock markets stable and avoid freezes and mass dumps. Retail investors become the exit liquidity and DII get their share from expense ratios. Individual investors end up being the ones who take the biggest hit.
Doesn’t matter if it is stocks or debt or mutual funds. Gains are gains. This current economic scenario has really shown the importance of profit booking. The markets won’t get any better just yet. So might as well book profits and stay liquid.
Seeing holdings go from +30% to -10% in a matter of days has made me realise when the gains are asymmetric then book profits. Forget about taxes, forget about future “possible gains”. Book profits and rotate capital.
Profit booking is the biggest lesson that needs to be taught to retail investors. It is shamed and shunned that don’t book profits. Don’t sell. Hold and hold and hold and when you die pass it on to the next generation for them to still hold. It “might” go up. It “might” grow. Shitty narratives being floated in this market every single day.
The world is not the same like what it was 20 years ago where there was no movement, no liquidity in the stock markets. Long term narrative no longer makes any sense. In 1990s NIFTY would hardly move and that is when it made sense to hold for years as it inched few points in few months. That is where long term investing made sense. Now in few days, some stocks move 10-20% itself. Who the hell gets that much percent gains in days. It was hard to get that much in a year, let alone in days now. When looking at a “longer” period, it seems like oh well NIFTY went sideways, but when you zoom in to shorter period chart then it shows how much movement was there, and there was scope to book like 30-40% profits if profits were actually booked.
Reliance reached the price it was in April 2025. Had someone booked profits, it would been a good thing but no hold long term. Bend over and sit and wait. Don’t book profits. Pass on your legacy so they remember you for your patience. Pass on your wealth instead of some paper holdings.