Luckily, during the recent downturn, I didn't rigorously stick to my 'sell if drop more 5%' rule. I did sell my HSBC and Lloyds bank, but not Apple or Yahoo. Thank goodness. Apple and Yahoo are up as follows;

APPLE - AAPL           +16.43%
YAHOO - YHOO        +11.22%

I guess my friend was right. You need to apply the 5% rules with some thought, according to the environment and the stock.

Goldcorp Inc. [TSE:G] 27.21 +2.00 (7.93%) Oct 8 - Close.

 

Already up ~8% . I missed the opportunity this time.

 

If I'm going to promote selling a stock if there is more than a 5% drop in it I've got to do it myself. It is hard emotionally to do, but I'm doing it best I can. This is my portfolio now.

Name	Gain/Loss %
APPLE - AAPL:US	10.56%
APPLE - AAPL:US	-1.98%
YAHOO - YHOO:US	5.21%	<===addition
DUKE ENERGY -DUK	0.81%	<===addition
HSBC HOLDINGS – HSBC	-4.67%
INTER PIPELINE – IPL	46.85%
JP MORGAN – JPM	51.42%
ROYAL BANK - RY	52.39%
TORONTO DOMINION - TD	9.45%
WELLS FARGO – WFC	66.60%
LLOYDS BANK – LYG	18.75%
GENERAL ELECTRIC – GE	36.71%

These stocks were sold because they dropped from there highest point [while I owned them] by more than 5%. But I made money on them. These stocks remain on my active watch list.

KELLOGG – K	SOLD
CHINA MOBILE - CHL	SOLD
CDN NAT RES – CNQ	SOLD
CDN OIL SANDS – COS	SOLD
SUNCOR – SU	SOLD

This stock dropped more than 5% right since purchase. It was a real dumb purchase.

NEULION INC – NLN

SOLD

These stocks were holdovers from when I was sure gold was going to take off. Good stocks, but bought and hung onto at the wrong time. They are a good reminder why to have the 5% rules.

GOLDCORP – G	SOLD
YAMANA GOLD – YRI	SOLD
TWIN BUTTE – TBE	SOLD

And, of course twin butte energy.  I don't know what happened to it. But a global downturn in oil prices cannot help but hurt it.

I continue to watch Goldcorp. Today's low was $25.45. A turnaround and climb to $26.70 just might get me buying in again.