The major indexes continue to reward those who follow the "trend is your friend" trading philosophy again this week. Unemployment appears to be improving, the Fed reinforces low rates and Greece cuts a deal. Did anyone really think Greece wouldn't be bailed out? That's the way the world economies work these days. No longer do things fail (sarcastically). You would think this market would be ripping into new high territory with much more conviction but it just continues to shake the week intraday and moves higher as the day unfolds. It's a fairly interesting theme of late which almost makes you wonder if there's a bit of a underlying "sell the news" tone out there? Blue chips continue to report good earnings for the most part with a cost cutting reorg type feel to them. I mentioned this could be the case earlier in the year but to be honest, it does surprise since that has been the tone for many quarters now. I really believe the next few quarters are going to be the tell-tale sign for how this economy is really shaping up... for real. For now, we'll continue to go with it until proven otherwise. There's plenty of money being made and we're no exception. Many of our trading ideas and Featured Stocks continue to do well so I thought an edition on what to do when you're in the money would be valuable and appropriate for all of our Members. I'm in the Money, Now What? For those SCN Members who have been following us for some time, do you remember our edition last September titled "Investing in Life" when we suggested Lifevantage Corporation (LFVN) as a serious long-term play? At the time, the stock was trading around $1.40 and literally putting everyone to sleep with its sideways trading for months. Well, patient investors were finally very well rewarded this week. The Company announced some executive changes, their numbers have continued to improve and somebody told me that their anti-aging Protandim product was featured on the Dr. Oz show. Bingo. Personally, it's not a show I watch unless I'm at the gym on a treadmill or something but it's similar to a fund getting featured on CNBC. If you have a novel medical or holistic product and you make it on the Dr. Oz Show, then that's sort of like hitting the big time. Good for them... and good for us. See the chart I've included here for the week. When stocks make moves like this, one of the most common questions traders or investors ask themselves is, "Now what do I do?". Do we take the money and run? Do we hold tight? There's a few key ways to play these type of events but there is definitely one important common rule that no matter whether you're a short-term trader or a long-term investor, you must employ... and that's trailing stops. What's a trailing stop? A stop-loss order set at a percentage level below the market price - for a long position or vice versa for an in the money short position. The trailing stop is a stop loss price order adjusted as the price fluctuates. The trailing stop order can be placed as a trailing stop limit order, or a trailing stop market order. Bottom line is as the stock moves up so does the trailing stop. This protects your gains. However, it's important to note that understanding your motives and desires for the trade must be considered because you don't necessarily want to put in your trailing stop to close to the current price unless it's intentional because there's a likely chance you will get stopped out. Short-term traders tend to use tighter trailing stops while longer-term investors give their trades much more room to breathe, sometimes even setting their trailing stop at their entry price so they can let the stock do whatever it wants but no matter what, they're likely going to break even at worst. It just depends on your motives. Case in point with LFVN... if you entered at $1.40, the stock has now broken out but if you believe this is only the beginning, then a trailing stop around $1.50 might be your choice. This allows the stock to get crazy and trade all over the map and your worst case scenario will be a small profit. Your best case scenario could possibly be a $5 stock or higher someday. Just remember what your motives are and act accordingly. It's a very savvy strategy. More in the Money SCN Trades to Contend With With all of that being said, we've put out a number of winning ideas lately that you should consider your trailing stop strategy with now. Lightning struck twice as we gave ya'll a couple of single baggers (100% returns) of late, Chromadex (CDXC) and U.S. Precious Metals (USPR). Both stocks took off on our alerts and have since yielded enormous returns. We suggested just the other day when CDXC pulled back, we jump in again and it has proven rewarding again. We suggested USPR had topped out for the time being and sure enough, it did. We continue to call VirnetX Holdings (VHC) perfectly as we alerted you about another VHC bottom at $21.50. The stock is trading at over $26 as I type. Vocaltec (CALL), owner of Magic Jack, tore up the charts after our alert topping out at $20 last week and has since pulled back for another potentially perfect entry. Dexcom (DXCM) is another decent winner that appears to possibly be running into short-term resistance with its stock waffling around the 200 day moving average but why bail now? Set your trailing stop and let's see if it can continue moving higher. Rite Aid (RAD) and our U.S. Energy Corp. (USEG) continue to win and break into new short-term high territory so there is no reason you shouldn't set a trailing stop to ensure some nice gains for your portfolio there. Our two most recent ideas, Anavex Life Sciences (AVXL) and PositiveID Corp. (PSID) are up a hair and down a hair respectively so be prudent, set a stop loss and ensure only a small loss if we're wrong. Speaking of wrong... recently we have been way more right than wrong but it's still important to remember, you're not always going to be right in the market. You can be wrong from time-to-time and still absolutely kill it with excellent returns. A few of our recent short-term losers of late, FROG and LSTG shouldn't have hurt much if you use the trailing stop strategies. Just as important at it is to pick winners, it's equally as important to manage the trades properly. That's the key to trading or investing no matter what you are buying or selling in the markets. A Quick Rant I've been at the small cap game for a long time and because I started today's edition on the subject of longer-term ideas, I'm going to come full circle. The key to winning with longer-term investing ideas requires an unwavering level of patience. And, it requires the guts to step in when nobody cares. I'm sure you've heard me say that many times before. The real money in the markets is often made by getting involved with the right ideas at the right time. The two stocks that come to mind right now on our Featured Stock list are Blue Earth (BBLU) and CommerceTel (MFON). I believe at least one if not both of those two ideas are inevitably going to be homeruns. Of course, once again... whether you're in the money, at a break even or down in a trade, use trailing stops. It will be your best trading friend you'll probably ever have. Good Thursday to you all and I hope you and your families are having an excellent week.