“I'm interested by your reaction to the Investors Intelligence poll, for those of us who are invested for the long term, would you be thinking we should take some profits and wait on the sidelines. Also I wonder if you would have any thoughts about what those sidelines would be!”

David Fuller's view

Thanks for your relevant email which is sure to be of interest to many other subscribers.

If you are leveraged, I would consider taking some profits.  Also, I would do the same if/when any of your best performing shares clearly accelerate well above their 200-day MAs.  Alternatively, you could place a trailing sell stop order on those positions, raising it following each new high.  In a clearly accelerating trend, a 5 to 6 percent trailing stop should lock in most of your profits and it could be even tighter, subject to the volatility that you are seeing.

The Investors Intelligence poll is yet another reason why Wall Street and a number of other stock markets could easily experience a correction at any time.  However, that periodic event has been held at bay, so far, more by extremely accommodative monetary policies than any other factor.  

Meanwhile, IG Index has just told me that the Alibaba float is expected to be on 19^th September.  I am wondering if that will be a watershed event?  It could easily contribute to volatility, as will the IPOs that follow a successful Alibaba float. 

As to the “sidelines”, the only real one is cash, although it loses money beyond the short to medium term.

Those are my thoughts at this time and I hope that this service helps you, not least in terms of perspective.  However, if you feel strongly about staying either fully long or reducing exposure somewhat, preferably on strength, do not hesitate to follow your instincts.  They are important and should help any of us to develop our investment skills.  If you have the time and inclination, you are also probably the best person to manage your own financial assets.