Retail investor: I sell the second a trade's green. Lock in the win before it disappears.

Me: & your losers?
Retail investor: I hold those, hoping they come back.
Me: So you cut your winners fast & let your losers run? That's backwards from how money is actually made.
Retail investor: ...wait, is that bad?
Me: It's the most common mistake there is. You cap every win small & let every loss get big.
Retail investor: So I've got it completely flipped?
Me: I let my winners run for years & never sell a great company as long as the valuation remains reasonable. The "bad companies" at bad prices, well the goal is to never allocate to them. But if you do, it's worth it to trim because of opportunity cost in something more advantageous.
Remember... Water the flowers & trim the weeds.