00:00The 7% rule, also called the 7-8% sell rule, is a risk management guideline from William
00:06O'Neill's Cancelum system.
00:08Sell any stock immediately if it falls 7-8% below your purchase price.
00:13No exceptions, regardless of the story or conviction behind the position.
00:18The logic is asymmetric loss math.
00:20A 7% loss only needs a 7.5% gain to recover, but a 50% loss needs a
00:27100% gain.
00:28So cutting losses early protects capital for future trades.
00:31This is a hard stop-loss rule, not a prediction tool, and it applies specifically to the entry
00:37price you paid, not the current market price.
00:40Context changes its application.
00:421.
00:43Growth-slash-momentum traders following O'Neill's original framework apply the 7-8%
00:48ceiling strictly, often combined with buying stocks breaking out of proper chart basis.
00:532.
00:54Long-term value investors typically ignore this rule entirely, since short-term volatility
01:00isn't relevant to a multi-year thesis.
01:033.
01:03Day traders use much tighter stops, often 1-2%, since their timeframes and volatility exposure
01:10differ drastically.
01:114.
01:12In highly volatile sectors, biotech.
01:14Small-cap crypto-adjacent stocks, a strict 7% stop, can trigger prematurely on normal
01:21noise, so some traders widen it to 10-15% with smaller position sizes instead.
01:27I can't verify a single universally cited win-rate statistic for this rule's effectiveness,
01:32since outcomes depend heavily on entry timing and overall portfolio strategy, and O'Neill's
01:38own book presents it as a discipline principle rather than a back-tested percentage.
01:425.
01:43Practically, if you're a swing or growth trader, decide your stop-loss level.
01:477-8% is a reasonable default.
01:50Before you buy, set a limit or alert at that price, and execute the exit without second-guessing
01:56once it's hit.
01:56The rule only works if applied mechanically, not emotionally.
02:00Finally, remember that everything we discussed today is for educational purposes only and does
02:06not constitute financial advice.
02:08Good luck to everyone, and see you in the next video.
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