GET OUT

"When in doubt get out, and don't get in when in doubt." William D Gann

“When I see a danger signal handed to me, I don’t argue with it. I get out! I figure it out this way. If I were walking along a railroad track and saw an express train coming at me sixty miles an hour, I would not be damned fool enough not to get off the track and let the train go by. After it had passed, I could always get back on the track again, if I desired. I have always remembered this as a graphic bit of speculative wisdom.” Jesse Livermore

"When something happens to disturb my emotional equilibrium and my sense of what the world is like, I close out all positions related to that event.” Bruce Kovner

"Over many decades, our usual practice is that if something we like goes down, we buy more and more. Sometimes something happens, you realize you’re wrong, and you get out. But if you develop correct confidence in your judgement, buy more and take advantage of stock prices." Charlie Munger

"If you have a losing position that is making you uncomfortable, the solution is very simple: Get out, because you can always get back in. There is nothing better than a fresh start.” Paul Tudor-Jones 

"If you think we have a big problem coming just get out. There's nothing wrong with preserving capital, having zero money. Don't compound it by putting some silly hedge on.” Stanley Druckenmiller

"We use classic hedge fund risk management and cut the position if things start going against us. We'll recognize that if we're wrong, we're wrong, and get out.” Jim Leitner

“When I am wrong, the only instinct I have is to get out. If I was thinking one way, and now I can see that it was a mistake, then I am probably not the only person in shock, so I better be the first person to sell. I don’t care what the price is. In this game you have an option to keep 20% of your P&L this year, but you also want the serial option of being able to do that every year. You can’t be blowing up.” Michael Platt

"Irregularly, my substantial turnover of the portfolio was exacerbated by my decision to ‘start all over again’. I would decide I did not like the portfolio writ large. I did not think we were in sync with the market and while there were various degrees of conviction on individual securities, I concluded we would be better off with a clean slate. I would call either Goldman Sachs or Salomon Brothers and ask to have us taken out of the entire portfolio.” Michael Steinhardt

"It is significant that Bernard Baruch and Jessie Livermore, probably the two greatest private investors of the twentieth century, made it a practice completely to liquidate their holdings every so often, take a vacation, and start over by buying a completely fresh portfolio." Barton Biggs

“I always take my losses quickly. That is probably the key to my success. You can always put the trade back on, but if you go flat, you see things differently.” M Schwartz

“A speculator of great genius once told me: ‘When I see a danger signal handed to me, I don’t argue. I get out!.” Jessie Livermore

"So many people lose money by giving a trading limit - if you want to get out, get out!" James Dinan

"If you feel you have made a mistake, get out fast." Roy Neuberger

"You just have to be pragmatic. When you get it wrong, you need to get out immediately." Martin Taylor

"We don't have many rules, but when a stock is down materially relative to its peer group we assign another analyst to formally review it and then force ourselves to buy more or get out. Not surprisingly, the analyst who originally recommended the stock is the last person to want to sell it." Jeff Bronchick

"When I get out of a trade now, it is because I was wrong. I'm thinking ‘Hmm, that shouldn't have happened. Prices are inconsistent with my hypothesis. I'm wrong. I need to get out and rethink the situation’'." Colm O'Shea

"The best money managers are also the best quitters. They quit early and they quit often. As soon as they see things turning for the worse, they don't wait around, they bail." Scott Fearon