Sold 2 lots of STI ETF @ $3.18

The innate human tendency to be greedy makes selling stocks difficult. For example, an investor purchases shares of a stock at $10 a share and tells himself that when the stock price hits $20, he will sell it all. When the share price finally reaches $20, the investor becomes greedy and decides to hold out for more gains. When the stock price continues rising to $22, greed overcomes rationality again and the investor holds out for more. The stock price suddenly takes a downward turn and is back at $18. The investor then tells himself that once the stock price hits $20 again, he will sell it all.

This is exactly how I felt when I tried to sell my STI ETF for the past few days. My initial selling price was $3.15. When it reaches $3.15, I became greedy and decided to hold out for more gains. When it continued rising to $3.17, I placed my sell order at $3.18 and the stock price dropped back to $3.16. Fortunately, the share price rose back to $3.18 today and I finally managed to sell all my 2000 shares of STI ETF.

My decision to sell the STI ETF was part of the strategy to liquidate my stock holdings and sit on more cash while waiting for the next market correction/downturn. I initiated a position in STI ETF last year September at $2.72 and total return for the past 15 months is approximately 20% including dividends. In addition, the share price is at its 52 week high and I feel that the recent rally might not be sustainable as uncertainties are still looming over the US fiscal cliff, Europe crisis, China slowdown and Middle East tensions.