First, it diagnoses why you want to sell.
Most "should I sell?" questions look like questions about a stock, but they're really about position size, emotion, and discipline. Are you up big and afraid of giving it back — or underwater and waiting to break even? Has your thesis actually changed, or is the volatility just costing you sleep? Different answers call for completely different moves.
The Sell Decision Assistant unpacks that layer first, then returns to the company, the price, and the position itself. Its goal isn't to predict tomorrow's move — it's to make sure you know exactly what you're betting on by continuing to hold.
It separates "good company" from "good position."
A great company doesn't mean it deserves a full position at today's price, and a falling stock doesn't mean you must dump it. A real sell decision asks how much expectation is already priced in, whether your gains came from the stock or the rally around it, and whether this position can survive the next bout of volatility.
- Audit the buy thesisCheck whether your original reason for buying still holds — played out, damaged, or long gone.
- Trace the source of returnsFigure out whether you're making the company's money or the sector rally's money — before you mistake a tailwind for skill.
- Price the cost of not sellingConvert an approaching earnings date, an oversized position, and key price levels into the actual dollar loss your account might take.
The final output is a sell decision sheet.
- 01
One-line diagnosis
It starts by naming the real problem: a broken thesis, an oversized position, a stretched valuation — or just the fear of giving back profits.
- 02
Thesis review
It re-examines your original buy logic and rules on it: intact, already played out, or disproven by new data.
- 03
Position tolerance
No hand-waving about risk appetite. The question is: if this position keeps swinging, can you avoid being forced to sell at the worst possible moment?
- 04
A clear move
It gives a lean — hold, trim, or exit — and spells out what would prove the call wrong and which signals to watch from here.
When should you use it?
Sitting on big gains and afraid to lose them, stuck underwater waiting to break even, losing sleep over an oversized position, or unsure whether to hold through earnings — it turns the agonizing into an executable discipline.
It won't make the decision for you with a confident price prediction. What it gives you is a fund manager's selling framework: check the thesis, check the expectations, check the position — then commit to a clear move and the conditions that would invalidate it.