How To Invest: 8-Week Hold Rule Helps Latch On To Big Winners (2024)

IBD has two main rules for selling a stock: Take your profits at 20% to 25% and cut your losses at 7% to 8%.

X

If you are buying stocks on breakouts from properly formed bases, following these guidelines will keep your head above water. But there is also a third option, one that can take your 25% profit and turn it into much more. It's called the eight-week hold rule.

If your stock produces a gain of 20% or more within three weeks of breaking out of a proper base, you may have a true winner on your hands.

IBD research shows that in many cases, stocks that make this quick and powerful move are capable of doubling or tripling in price. Unless your stock shows a clear sell signal, you should sit on your hands for the first eight weeks of such a move.

IBD Founder Discovered Signal

IBD founder William O'Neil conceived this rule in the early 1960's after being shaken out of Certain-Teed, a winning stock. In a moment of market weakness, O'Neil sold his position for only a two- or three-point gain. Certain-Teed tripled in price without him.

Doing nothing can be a challenge for investors, but your 20% profit cushion helps ease the difficulty.

Unless you are in danger of a complete round trip of gains, hold your stock for those eight weeks. It may appear to wane as it pulls back to or just below the 10-week moving average, but this action is normal.

After the eight weeks lapse, it is time to reassess the stock. It's likely your stock has returned to or surpassed the area of initial strength, and you can then decide when to sell and take profits.

How To Invest: Shopify's Monster Run

Shopify (SHOP) broke out of a deep cup base in April 2020. While deep bases normally don't work out, this was one of many deep patterns that formed during that 2020 bear market and still panned out.

How To Invest: 8-Week Hold Rule Helps Latch On To Big Winners (1)Following the lows of the Covid crash, the stock ran up 24% in three weeks from the 59.39 buy point, triggering the eight-week hold rule (1).

The remaining five weeks saw the price continue to a superb 42% gain, then pull back nearly 19%. But Shopify did not cross below the 10-week moving average, which would have been at least a red flag. The eighth week closed at a split-adjusted 74.26, or 25% above the buy point (2).

Patient investors were quickly rewarded; the very next week ended with Shopify up 48% from the entry (3).

Since the breakout did not cross the 10-week line at any point, it would be logical to use that as your stop. In the week ended Sept. 4, 2020, the stock finally had a close below the 10-week line after notching a 64% gain (4).

The eight-week hold rule is a conditional tool: It is most effective in the first two years of a new bull market.

This article was originally published April 14.2023, and has been updated.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Get Free IBD Newsletters: Market Prep | Tech Report | How To Invest

What Is CAN SLIM? If You Want To Find Winning Stocks, Better Know It

IBD Live: Learn And Analyze Growth Stocks With The Pros

MarketSmith's Tools Can Help The Individual Investor

How To Invest: 8-Week Hold Rule Helps Latch On To Big Winners (2024)

FAQs

How To Invest: 8-Week Hold Rule Helps Latch On To Big Winners? ›

If your stock gains over 20% from the ideal buy point within 3 weeks of a proper breakout, hold it for at least 8 weeks. (The week of the breakout counts as Week No. 1.) If a stock has the power to jump over 20% very quickly out of a proper base, it could have what it takes to become a huge market winner.

What is the 8 week hold rule? ›

It's called the eight-week hold rule. If your stock produces a gain of 20% or more within three weeks of breaking out of a proper base, you may have a true winner on your hands. IBD research shows that in many cases, stocks that make this quick and powerful move are capable of doubling or tripling in price.

What is the 8 rule in the stock market? ›

The 8% Rule was built to have higher returns and more shallow pullbacks than stocks in general. With this combination, your money compounds MUCH faster. Over the long-term, The 8% Rule beats the market 4-to-1, allowing for a safe withdrawal rate of 8%.

What is the most common winning investment strategy? ›

Investment Strategy #1: Value Investing

They buy stocks that appear to be trading for less than what they're really worth. They're willing to bet that these stocks are being underestimated by the stock market and will bounce back over the long run. As those stocks grow in value, they turn a profit for the investor.

What is the number 1 rule investing? ›

Warren Buffett once said, “The first rule of an investment is don't lose [money]. And the second rule of an investment is don't forget the first rule. And that's all the rules there are.”

How do you lock in stock gains without selling? ›

Covered call options are another way to lock in profits. When you write a call option against a long stock position, you generate premium income that you can use to lower your cost basis. If the stock declines, the premium payments can help offset those losses without selling the stock.

How do you calculate hold period? ›

A holding period return is the total return you received from holding an asset or collection of assets. You essentially subtract the price you initially paid from the price you sold the security, add any income paid, and then divide the sum by the initial value.

What is the 357 rule in trading? ›

What is the 3 5 7 rule in trading? A risk management principle known as the “3-5-7” rule in trading advises diversifying one's financial holdings to reduce risk. The 3% rule states that you should never risk more than 3% of your whole trading capital on a single deal.

What is the 80% rule in trading? ›

The Rule. If, after trading outside the Value Area, we then trade back into the Value Area (VA) and the market closes inside the VA in one of the 30 minute brackets then there is an 80% chance that the market will trade back to the other side of the VA.

What is the 80 20 rule in stock trading? ›

80% of your portfolio's losses may be traced to 20% of your investments. 80% of your trading profits in the US market might be coming from 20% of positions (aka amount of assets owned). 80% of the US stock market capitalisation comes from around 20% of the S&P 500 Index.

What investment strategy does Warren Buffett use? ›

Buffett uses compound interest, dividend reinvestment, and the power of constantly reinvesting the operating cash flow generated by Berkshire's businesses to his advantage. How powerful is this? Berkshire has averaged a 20.1% annualized return since Buffett took over in 1964, compared with 10.5% for the S&P 500.

What does Dave Ramsey say to invest in? ›

Plain and simple, here's the Ramsey Solutions investing philosophy: Get out of debt and save up a fully funded emergency fund first. Invest 15% of your income in tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Invest in good growth stock mutual funds.

Which trading strategy has the highest success rate? ›

If you're looking for a high win rate trading strategy, the Triple RSI Trading System is definitely worth checking out. This system uses three different Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicators to identify potential buy and sell signals in the market.

What is Warren Buffett's golden rule? ›

"Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1."- Warren Buffet.

What is the safest investment with the highest return? ›

Overview: Best low-risk investments in 2024
  1. High-yield savings accounts. ...
  2. Money market funds. ...
  3. Short-term certificates of deposit. ...
  4. Series I savings bonds. ...
  5. Treasury bills, notes, bonds and TIPS. ...
  6. Corporate bonds. ...
  7. Dividend-paying stocks. ...
  8. Preferred stocks.
Apr 1, 2024

What is the golden rule of investing? ›

Warren Buffet's first rule of investing is to never lose money; his second is to never forget the first rule. This golden rule is key for long-term capital protection and growth. One oft-used strategy to limit losses in turbulent markets is an allocation to gold.

How long is a short-term hold? ›

Generally, if you hold the asset for more than one year before you dispose of it, your capital gain or loss is long-term. If you hold it one year or less, your capital gain or loss is short-term.

What is the minimum holding period? ›

The Basics of a Holding Period

The holding period of an investment is used to determine the taxing of capital gains or losses. A long-term holding period is one year or more with no expiration. Any investments that have a holding of less than one year will be short-term holds.

Can you buy back stocks after selling at a gain? ›

You can Sell a Stock for Profit

This is, as mentioned earlier, a capital gains tax. You can buy the same stock back at any time, and this has no bearing on the sale you have made for profit.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Ray Christiansen

Last Updated:

Views: 6225

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (49 voted)

Reviews: 80% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Ray Christiansen

Birthday: 1998-05-04

Address: Apt. 814 34339 Sauer Islands, Hirtheville, GA 02446-8771

Phone: +337636892828

Job: Lead Hospitality Designer

Hobby: Urban exploration, Tai chi, Lockpicking, Fashion, Gunsmithing, Pottery, Geocaching

Introduction: My name is Ray Christiansen, I am a fair, good, cute, gentle, vast, glamorous, excited person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.