Last year, I read a book on how to survive disasters. In addition to keeping a cool head, which the author admits is easier said than done, one of the most important factors leading to survival was the simple act of knowing where the exits are - on a plane, in a hotel, etc. Even though I'm guilty of reading my book or watching Netflix on my tablet while the flight attendant teaches passengers how to fasten their seatbelts or put on an oxygen mask, I do look around to make sure I know where the exits are. And when I check into my room at a hotel, I do the same - especially because I have a friend who survived a hotel fire for that exact reason. I do the same with my stock investments. I don't start considering when I'm going to sell when the spit hits the fan and when my emotions may be running hot. As soon as my buy is completed, I note the conditions in which I will sell. For some stocks, particularly short-term trades, I use technical analysis. I look at where support and resistance are (price levels where a stock has traditionally had a difficult time breaking below or above). For example, here is a chart of Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY). You can see that since June, every time the stock fell near $106, it rebounded. That is called support. If it broke below $106, that would be a significant change and I'd expect the stock to go lower. So if I were in this stock now for a short-term trade, my plan would be to sell if the stock traded down to about $103, which is 3% below the support level and represents a meaningful break of that support. Another strategy is to use a trailing stop. | 
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