at the time of this writing. This is quite a reversal of fortune for those who have not adapted to the New Economy.The process of evaluating a trade or series of trades is whatis referred to as sizing a trade. Just as you “size” your competition in a wrestling match or other intimately competitive situation, sizing a trade is much the same. Evaluating risk, capitalconsiderations, time horizons, margin requirements, and portfolio risk are considerations that are encompassed in theprocess of sizing a trade. But it also includes sizing your competition, which, in day trading, are the market participants whotrade your stocks. Before evaluating entry strategies and sizingthe competition, it is important to form a more macroview ofthe trading environment.Today, markets fall into separate but closely related stages ofactivity that drive prices. That activity can be defined as moneyflow in and out of stocks and sectors. The influences in the market that we see today are of the following variety:1. Economy-driven environment. This environment ismost often seen when the market becomes sensitized.Periods of correction and volatility are characteristic ofthis stage since every economic report delivered seemsto create uncertainty. Interest rate revisions, employment cost index (ECI) reports, FOMC meetings, and soon all are monitored with extreme focus. The mediahelp to sensitize our market with such news.2. Earnings- and revenues-driven environment. This environment is most characteristic of strong markets wheremarket participants are more reactive to earnings thaneconomic reports because the numbers that companiesreport reflect their true health at that stage of their business. If they are strong, they build consensus of value
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for many traders. If weak, their stocks get crucified.While no one influence is ever completely dominant, aweighting of one influence over the others is everpresent. Just listen to the media, and you will hearthrough the agenda of topics what is weighted heaviest.March, April, and May 2000 were weighted heavily tothe economy forces. What will the Federal ReserveBoard (FRB) do with rates, what are the economicreports telling us, what will the impact be if they doraise rates? What is the bond market outlook? Thesequestions and concerns are paramount during thesetimes, while earnings seem to have a lesser impact.Other times, rates are increased consistently, while companies like Cisco have great earnings, and the rate hikeis completely ignored. It seems during this climatenothing can hold the market down. The weighting inthis scenario is obvious.3. Momentum-driven environments. This environmentseems to be constant. The momentum players seem tostand alone and smile at the other players in the market,saying: “Hey, you guys fight it out. We focus on thetrends of the market. Either way, long or short, we tradeit.” Momentum markets seem to be gaining dominance.Many predicted that momentum players could surviveonly in bull markets, and the first correction or crashwould shake them out through margin calls and losses.While that is true for many online traders, it is not trueof day traders. Momentum traders are now a permanentfixture to the market. They are not going away, and theydo move and influence our markets. In fact, they are thebest prepared for bear cycles, based on the daily experience gained by actively shorting stocks as well as goinglong. Day traders are indifferent to market direction andare only concerned with market momentum; hence,they are the best prepared for all market influences andenvironments.Traditionally, most factors in the market could be measuredfrom an economic and earnings perspective. This “fundamentally” sound approach has made sense for many years for the
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longer-term-oriented investor. But today momentum trading haschanged the rules completely.Technicians are not immune either; they have long been thecontraside to fundamentalists (direct opposite). Therefore, technicians’ decisions are more influenced by patterns that seek toreveal the psychological mood of the market as evidenced byactivity. The problem that exists for both sides of this argumentis that fundamentalists tend to predict too much based on earnings and economic climates, among other factors, while technicians tend to react too quickly to chart patterns andmathematical averages. In both disciplines, what is often forgotten is how to size a trade in terms of risk/reward and short-termmarket direction. Because volatility is becoming more apparentin our markets, trading short-term momentum swings offers thegreatest opportunity for profit while mitigating systematic riskthrough time. This view is quite the contrary to what analystsand brokers would tell you, but ask yourself how well this segment of market participants has predicted the future.Traders today cannot strictly classify themselves as fundamentalists or technicians. In order to size up the market to trade,the three stages of the market noted on pages 86 and 87 must allbe considered. Momentum traders perhaps fit this approach bestsince they utilize methods from all realms, hence making themthe most well rounded and multidimensional. The full-breedday trader is who I am talking about, and those who have beendelivered into it with little or no background seem to have transitioned the best as a whole. Experienced professionals from thetrading floors who have day traded for years would also beincluded. This very small group of individuals are perhaps thebest traders of all.Sizing trades and interpreting the market mood lends itselfto this rule: No clarity, no trade. Risk management is as important when opening trades as it is when exiting trades. Oncestarted on the wrong path, mistakes and errors seem to follownaturally, setting in motion an emotionally driven comedy oferrors that results in inevitable loses. Positions that are openedbased on confusion or a lack of clarity generally result in a continued abandonment of risk management and discipline. For thisreason, the rules you follow to determine what stocks to tradeand when to trade them are critical. Choosing low-risk–high-
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reward spectrum trades will be the focus of this important chapter, since once a trade is opened for the wrong reasons, such as atip, media hype, chat room manipulation, good old-fashionedgreed, or the perception that prices are cheap, following the rulesfor exiting trades will be increasingly difficult. In the precedingchapter, I asked the question: What is the state of mind of traderswhen opening a trade? The answer is that most amateurs whenopening a trade have a level of exuberance and excitement withdelusions of grandeur to make big money. Unfortunately becauseof this excitement stage, far too many trades are opened based onsomething other than clarity and good rationale. The emotionalswing from exuberance to fear and denial is often too much todeal with for the ill prepared who open trades without clarityand supporting data. The likelihood that the rules needed to exittrades will be followed (next chapter) is highly unlikely. Exuberance hindered good behavior when entering the trade; fear anddenial will hinder good behavior when exiting, hence the resultof the abandonment of discipline will be as damaging financiallyas it will be emotionally, and that paints a grim picture for afledgling new trader.Although total clarity will never be found since all tradingactivity requires some degree of speculation, clarity and confidence to trade comes from having both a macroview and microview of the market. The macroview gives you the overview ofthe market, or what Charles Dow metaphorically referred to asthe “tides” of the market, representing the overall flow, or primary trends, of the market. Remember what the market really is:All the hopes and fears of all the traders and investors, big andsmall, playing out their biases as a whole. So how is clarityachieved?Reading the daily mood of the market begins early, beforethe market opens. As you start your day, listen to a good marketoriented TV or radio station while enjoying your first cup ofcoffee. Bloomberg, for example, has a national morning radioprogram that can alert you to how the overseas markets traded,the Globex futures market, and other premarket indications,such as pending economic news. Monitoring CNBC while reading some key Web sites or reading financial publications is also agood habit to get into immediately. That does not mean that youwill react directly to the news; it simply means you are becoming
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aware of potential market-moving events. How you react to theseevents will be determined by market forces and indicators aspresented during each market session—not by the media, andthe strongest indications are seen at the open.
SIZE THE OPENWhen sizing up the market, the opening activity is especiallyimportant since a general tone or feel for the opening can be bestdetermined by exchanges such as the futures markets in Chicago,the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), leading to the rule: Sizethe open. Futures trade all night on automated electronic systems(Globex and Globex II) that can have a dramatic impact on theopening of trading. The long bond market at the Chicago Board ofTrade (CBOT) is a great leading indicator as well. The bond pricesare typically a strong indicator of the direction of the stock market. If bond prices and equity-oriented futures markets are higherin relation to fair value, you should expect to have a bullish biasat least for the open. Naturally, the opposite is also true.While the scope of this book is not to cover the technicalinterpretations of these various markets, knowing that thesemarkets are important to follow will help you formulate yourwatch list of what to monitor every trading day. The appendixes will direct you to many resources and Web sites to learnmore about how these vehicles affect the equities market. Let’sat least take a brief look at the futures market to pick up on whatI mentioned in the preceding chapter. Since the futures markethas such a strong impact on the stock market, follow the rule,Watch fair value. Fair value takes the current index level,index dividend, days to expiration, and interest rate into consideration. The S&P Futures Contract is the one stock traderstrack the most, but other financial futures contracts, such as theNASDAQ futures, are also gaining incredible attention. The formula to compute fair value is shown below, but save yourselfthe work because this formula is relative to the firms that compute it since interest rates, leverage, and the cost of capital tocarry the securities are different for all firms. But fair value is
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very close for most firms and can be found at many differentWeb sites free of charge:xFair value = cash 1 + r  − dividends365



Cash is the price of the actual index at the time of the calculation.Of course, r represents the interest rate, and x is the number of days toexpiration. The term a futures contract in the definition means a futuresindex contract, such as the S&P 500 or the NASDAQ 100.
The importance of knowing and understanding fair value isthat, when futures are in an overbought or oversold status relative to fair value, it can trigger program trading. Program tradingis defined as the simultaneous buying or selling of at least 15stocks with a market value of at least $1 million.Large trading houses execute program trades, switchingfrom futures to cash, meaning futures indexes to actual stockownership, when one has an economical advantage over theother. This can happen at the open or throughout the tradingsession. These trades are executed at the click of a mouse viathe New York Stock Exchange’s Designated Order TurnaroundSystem (DOT), automated NASDAQ trading systems, theGlobex system, and live trading at the CME, with the simultaneous purchase or sale of futures contracts and the underlyingstocks they represent. This type of trading is technically knownas index arbitrage.As a trader, knowing the fair value and when it might trigger program trades by several of the big trading firms helps youunderstand the mood of the market. If a wave of program tradinghits, it can have some serious market impact—that is, it candrive prices higher or lower. Normally, the impact of programtrading is temporary, lasting a few minutes to an hour or so,while the emotional impact it has on the market can last for theentire trading day. Traders that get burned at the open don’t forget it very easily, especially when high volatility occurs due toprogram trading. Depending on your time horizon and whetherthe fair value indicates an overbought or oversold scenario, youmay want to wait to open or close a position or you may want toscalp its market impact where inefficiency is present. Eitherway, futures contracts are one of the few leading indicators in
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the market, and they are closely followed by professionals andactive traders.
PRE- AND POST-MARKET TRADINGThe next rule relates to the new technologies that allow access topre- and post-markets. The rule to follow is, Cover or liquidatetrades in the pre- and post-market; don’t open them. I state thisrule because the liquidity is not yet vibrant enough as a rule inthe pre- and post-market. The cornerstone of a healthy economyis a healthy stock market, and a healthy stock market is foundthrough liquidity. When liquidity is low, volatility is generallyvery high, as stated in the preceding chapter. Volatility, althoughpotentially very profitable, is also very dangerous when it ismatched with illiquidity.Thin stocks during market hours are characteristic of thisvolatile condition. Now with the advent of pre- and post-markettrading, the same condition is often present, but exaggerated.Pre- and post-market trading are dangerous at this stage becausethe participation is still not even close to normal trading liquidity, and in my opinion it will not be for a while. I am not sayingit is not a good idea, but caution should be employed in engagingthis new environment until adequate liquidity or critical mass isachieved.Liquidating or covering a trade during extended hours is agood idea when the price level is attractive to you (taking profitsor covering a loss). In this case, you know where you are willingto trade out of a position, and if the opportunity presents itself inthe pre- and post-market, you are taking a known price that youaccept. For example, it is not uncommon for a volatile liquidstock like SDLI to trade 10 points higher or lower duringextended-hours trading than it did during the previous close orpending open. For the buyer of SDLI who pays 10 points morethan the closing print the day before, due to an impatient reaction to seemingly good news, the morning can be quite rough! Inthis example, the trader has opened himself or herself up to toomuch uncertainty and often pays dearly for it. Conversely, thetrader who liquidates a long position by selling to the impatient
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trader noted above realizes a 10-point benefit because that traderknew where he or she wanted out!Certainly there are scenarios where it works out just theopposite, but ask yourself the question, Is that more associatedwith gambling than trading? I believe it is, and gambling is associated with luck, and the market has no room for luck over sustained periods of time. Eventually, when luck is involved, youwill be ground down and spit out of the market through its verypure and ruthless self-cleaning mechanism. Luck rarely survivesover time, so don’t depend on it. Opening a trade in illiquid markets requires luck for the trade to work out as a rule.
MARKET ORDERSNever use market orders. That’s right: Never use them. Somewill disagree, but when equipped with the right technology andknowledge, you will always be able to see where liquidity is inissues that you should be trading and have the technology to hitbids and lift offers to enter and exit trades. If I were inclined touse a market order, it would be for the purpose of taking a profit,and certainly not to open a trade at the open.Market orders are blank checks in effect that you write toprofessional traders, completely giving all control away in termsof where you will be executed. Consider, for example, our discussion on gaps: The last thing you want to do is give that discretion to a market maker who will use your order to findliquidity at a price he loves and you will hate. That is as insaneas swimming in shark-infested waters with a bleeding artery; youwill be eaten!Market-on-open orders are the most frequent market ordersplaced, and they are placed at the worst time of day, where thelargest imbalances occur. If there is strong demand over supplydue to an announcement of a stock split, for example, where doyou think professionals will try and open stock the next day?As high as possible so they can short stock to the stampedingdumb money crowd rushing in, to take their perceived easymoney with market on open orders! Gapping a stock 75 pointshigher than the previous close comes to mind in the case of
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YHOO on one occasion. Amateurs who gave professionalsmarket orders on the open know why this can be injurious totheir financial state of being. By shorting stock to the buyers,market makers were in a position to sell high and buy back atlower prices shortly into the day to cover their shorts for a greatprofit.You may ask, what about a market order in an emergency.For example, you are in a losing position that is plummeting.You have tried unsuccessfully to get ahead of the price movement by placing leading limit orders, but to no avail because themarket is so thin at each price level. Liquidity is hard to find.True, market order will find that liquidity for you, but I doubtyou will like the price. If you are in a situation like this, chancesare very strong that you’re trading a thin stock you shouldn’t beanyway.
LIMIT ORDERSWhile you should never use market orders, you need to Alwaysuse limit orders. Limit orders allow you to keep control of theorder and determine what price you are willing to trade at. Itdoes not mean you will always get your price, but by knowingwhere liquidity is through an EDAT system, and by knowinghow to use the technology we discussed, traders can fire limitand leading limit orders directly into an ECN to find liquidity.That is control, which is something every active trader needs tolearn early in the war of trading.The use of a leading limit order can be explained by comparing a quarterback to a receiver. The ball is thrown to wherethe receiver will be, not where he is. Leading limit orders areorders that are sent to the market with room for the order towork. For example, if a Sun Micro Systems (SUNW) is tradingstrong to the upside and the market is bid 95 by 951⁄8 offered andthe offers are fading fast since buyers are taking the offer at 951⁄8,traders who want to own the stock would lead with a limitorder at 953⁄16 or 951⁄4. Any sellers at these prices or lower wouldautomatically match or cross with this leading limit bid for analmost instant execution (assuming there are sellers at that
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price). If there are any remaining sellers at 951⁄8 and your orderis crossed, you will realize price improvement and get whatever size is left for sale at that price within the ECN you tradeon. This is called “cleaning the book,” and it is considered anaggressive buy. It puts you in the trade without your giving upyour edge as market orders can do. The same concept works foran aggressive seller who wishes to liquidate a long position byhitting a lower bid, as the thinning inside bid (high bid) is fading. As bids would be thinning out on the Level II, due to weakness in the stock, selling at a lower price, perhaps a 1⁄16 or an 1⁄8below the market would make good sense. Avoid chasing thestock lower trying to hit the remaining (and fading) inside bid,which is a common mistake.Perhaps the following example will illustrate how to usemarket versus limit orders and how to maintain control usingthe proper methods of finding liquidity. For example, the quotefor AMGN stock is 60 X 601⁄8 2000 X 5000. If you wanted to buythe stock, you should be able to place a limit order to buy at 601⁄8or better and get filled. Exceptions could include if the stock ismoving higher quickly and your bid at 601⁄8 is not filled becausethere is stock ahead, meaning that others had orders ahead ofyours or if there is less stock for sale at the offer than you arebidding, hence creating what is really a micro imbalance ofdemand over supply at the $601⁄8 price level. By bidding at least1⁄16 higher than the lowest offer (603⁄16 or better), you “step infront” of all bidders at lower prices and take “standing” overtheir bids by becoming the high bid. Any sellers at $601⁄8 wouldbe crossed with your bid, providing you the opportunity for“price improvement.” For example, if there are only 500 sharesoffered at 601⁄8 and your bid at 603⁄16 for 1000 shares is crossed inan ECN, your fill would be 500 at 601⁄8 and 500 at 603⁄16. The benefit is price improvement on 500 shares plus finding liquidityfaster than any bids at 601⁄8. You are essentially leading the offerslightly to “clean” the book of liquidity on any offers at or belowthe 603⁄16 bid.By understanding the Level II, you have a portal to see muchof the market in a given issue, and this defines a form of markettransparency. By understanding transparency, traders gaininsight into where to execute orders proactively with executiontools using limit and leading limit orders. Chasing a stock lower
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or higher before finding liquidity creates an unnecessary marketimpact cost (MIC). For example, suppose you owned stock at603⁄16 and wished to sell the stock since it began to look weak. Asthe buyers at the bid begin to dissipate from the bid side of theLevel II at 601⁄8, the seller tries to offer his stock for sale with othersellers at the ask of 603⁄16. The imbalance of supply (more sellersat 603⁄16) over demand (fewer buyers at 601⁄8) suggests strongly thatthis seller should have hit the 601⁄8 bids while they existed,instead of trying to sell at the offer or ask where many sellers arealso in line to sell at 603⁄16. The result would soon show a sellerreducing the price from 603⁄16 to 601⁄8 while the bidders are nolonger willing to buy there. Instead, bidders are willing to buy atlower prices such as 60. The seller is caught up in a vicious cycleof chasing stock on the way down by trying to sell at retail prices(the offer) instead of hitting bids. As the perception of a bearishmove exists in the market for this given issue, the bids continuelower as buyers become more and more elusive. The seller in thisexample finally catches up with a buyer at a much reduced pricesuch as 5911⁄16, for example, causing him to suffer a loss muchhigher than necessary by not understanding the Level II screen,transparency, and liquidity.What could have been a small loss by hitting the 601⁄8 bidwhile buyers were present, or even 601⁄16, turned into a biggerloss, and the seller lost much more by being greedy or uninformed, trying to sell the 603⁄16 offer when the imbalance of sellers over buyers indicated weakness. Why would buyers step upto the plate in a declining market for this issue and buy from theseller at 603⁄16 when other market participants are selling to themfor less at 601⁄8? They wouldn’t, and this is the reason the seller inthis example never got filled at the 603⁄16 offer. The market impactcost is defined as the difference between the 601⁄8 the tradershould have sold at while buyers were present at the bid and the5911⁄16 price he or she finally did sell at when the stock hit a probable support level.Proactive traders who understand liquidity and where toenter and exit trades can substantially reduce market impactcosts. Reactive traders and investors give the control away toprofessionals with market orders. So remember, MIC is far moreexpensive than commissions and more of a nemesis to an uninformed trader’s success than most other reasons.
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CHASING STOCKSThis leads us to the next rule: Never chase stocks. This oftenoccurs when a stock is moving higher or lower rapidly. The amateur tries to get a better fill than he or she deserves by attemptingto lift a fading offer price, which is quickly moving higher. Themarket maker on the offer (ask) has 17 seconds to refresh the offerto sell before having to execute another order. When the offer isrefreshed, the stock may trade a 1⁄16 higher or more. If volume ishigh, the Time & Sales (TAS) screen may not be keeping up withthe market makers, especially if they take the full time to post anew price. Furthermore, that new price may be higher, putting alimit order outside the inside market. Thus, you do not get filled.It is common for new traders to keep trying to lift the insideoffer and not get filled. Often, when they do get a fill, the stockhas reached a resistance area where buying has subsided andselling pressure has increased. The move may well be over, andthe trader is too late. The more experienced trader leads the market in this situation, anticipating the next price level and leadingabove the inside offer price as an aggressive buyer before chasingthe stock to resistance.
CONFIRMATIONWhen opening trades, another rule critical to follow is to Alwayslook for confirmation among trading signals. Too often, newtraders seek to employ only one indication of price activity. Thisnarrowly focused approach leads to the largest number of tradeswith the highest degree of risk. The importance of confirmingindicators goes far beyond the obvious benefits of increasing theodds for a profitable trade, as they also influence the emotionalaspects of trading in terms of confidence and conviction.The level of confidence and conviction you have in a tradeand the range you believe the price of that stock is going to movedetermine your time horizon and how you enter the trade. Forexample, the scalper acts on very short-term momentum signalsand even instinct. He or she sees a minor increase in volume andthinning overhead selling pressure (OSP) and immediately buys
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1000 shares of Applied Materials (AMAT). If AMAT pops up a 3⁄8or a half dollar, the scalper is often out. If AMAT drops 1⁄8 or a 1⁄16,he or she is also out. This style suggests a very short time horizonwith less conviction and a lot of trades per session.Some day traders look for longer-term moves, holding positions for hours (range trading). Swing traders take positions fordays. Both of these traders must have stronger convictions. Theirtime horizons are longer, which means they must decide if theyare aggressive buyers or passive buyers (or sellers) when enteringthese trades.In other words, do they go after the market or do they waitfor the market to come to them? Aggressive buyers lead the market. If AMAT is at 401⁄8 X 403⁄8, they may go ahead and lift the offerof 803⁄8; if they are passive, they may join the bid at 801⁄8 and waitfor the market to come to them. The point is, the confirming indicators you use should be consistent with your time horizon in thetrade. Day traders will use fewer confirming indicators but will bemore aggressive while entering trades, while swing traders generally are more passive, using more confirming indicators.
THE AXNot all market participants are worth monitoring and following.Some market makers will show a strong conviction for the stock,and others will not. Therefore, you must Always know who thebuyers and sellers are. Market makers lead the way in moststocks. In fact, the most heavily traded stocks with the mostactivity are traded by the best market makers in the world.Because they trade the most active stocks, they provide daytraders the opportunity to read their intentions. Even if an activestock you are monitoring is not a stock you want to trade, findingan “ax” can tell you a lot about not just an individual stock buteven a group or sector. A trader is trying to determine if a marketmaker has strong or weak hands in terms of sentiment. There is aconsiderable difference between the Island ECN being on theinside market, either bid or ask, or a major market maker, likeGoldman Sachs & Co. (GSCO) or Merrill Lynch (MLCO). Largemarket makers, like GSCO, trade for their customers, which are
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often very large institutions or mutual funds, and for their ownconsiderable inventory. You will see market makers stay at theinside market holding their ground when they have a large needto buy or sell stock. Therefore, they show you more about thestrength or weakness of a stock than ECNs or smaller marketmakers or firms that handle more retail order flow. Monitoringstrong market makers is what I call shadowing the ax. The message here is to recognize who is dominant in a particular issueand monitor their appetite for the issue closely. If their appetiteis strong and you are scalping or day trading, going long is thetrend; if their appetite for the stock is dissipating and other indicators in the market confirm weakness, shorting is the bias.Looking for an ax to follow is the rule for active day trading.The rules covered in this chapter carry varying weights.Some are considered critical because they can help managedownside risk, while others are more associated with strategiesthat can uncover opportunities. All are important, but beforeentering a trade, what is most important to remember is thatactive trading is about taking control of your own order flow.Keeping that control while continually gaining skill throughexperience is the fine line or edge that makes a dramatic difference in performance. Just as the average difference in scores onthe PGA are very narrow, so are the statistical advantages thatprofitable traders enjoy over unprofitable traders. The real difference will come from experience and engagement in the market, since a book or class will take you only so far. Only tradingwill truly teach one to trade; therefore, I will close this chapteron the most important rule: Survive before you thrive. Onlygood discipline in selecting your criteria to open trades willallow you to survive long enough to cross the fine esoteric linethat so many aspire to. Our next chapter will pick up where thisleaves off by covering the rules of exiting trades.
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RULES FOR EXITINGTRADESRules of the TradeThe market will lead the way.Know why you are in a trade, and whereyou will exit.Know how to route your order to reachyour objectives.Set mental stops.Stocks tell their own story ahead of thenews.Don’t expect to squeeze all the juice fromthe orange.Exit on reaction, not price.101
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The market is unfair at times.When in doubt, get out.
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he rules of exiting strategies are very much the same as forentering strategies, with only minor differences. In bothcases, The market will lead the way. Emotions shouldnever be the beacon for trading. If an emotion, such as exuberance, is setting in due to a profitable situation, your tendencywill be to sell too soon. Conversely, when despair is setting indue to the wrong decision, the tendency is to stay too long, hoping for a recovery. Marrying a position or trade is the most common mistake traders make. From an active trading perspective,trades that are held for prolonged periods of time are usuallylosers. You can generally spot losing trades by their size. Whenyou see positions of 1000 shares or higher or a high percentage ofthe account value tied up in one or a few trades, you can bet thatmost of those trades are losers, and the trader is waiting and hoping for a break.Perhaps the best way to illustrate the rules that dictate tradeexit strategies can be answered through an actual trade scenariowhich highlights many events that converge to form not just asound exit strategy but also an entry strategy. Knowing how tocombine strategy with mechanical skills to enter and exit tradescomes from executing trades and using analytical data to supportholding a position or exiting one. The example I share is meantto illustrate the