Quote from Handle123:
I got long in March of 2009 in S&P500 futures and reversed in May 2011, went back long in Sept 2011 took some profits as Dec 2011 and remainder out at breakeven, then had losses cause markets usually whipsaw at turning points in mid trend for going back up, most investors hold through these times whereas swing traders get to cursing, but finally got back on right side of long. I went short big S&P500 8/21/2012 as my rules say it has to be new contract highs, took profit on half and today was lucky to get out at breakeven on futures. When I trade futures long term, must be at or very near contracts highs/lows using options to hedge. In stocks I use different approach of seeking divergences on monthly, weekly, daily and 60 minutes, each has a rating system of when you put on the trade.
I trade stocks based on their merit off the weekly charts but only take signals based on overall S&P500 weekly signals for trend, don't see any reason to buck overall trend on Dow30 stocks. Most stocks I have gotten out with breakeven or few little losses, this week, UGH!
So I have been able to stay in some trades up to approx two years. Especially the ones that pay dividends, I am most likely to keep if I got in low enough even though I will get a sell short signal, depending on volatility of the stock, will sell call options and or buy puts long term.