"Hope you are keeping well.

"I was wondering how you would manage a small silver or platinum position after a big rush up like today? So, would you try and do your baby steps technique? If so, how do you work out where you would close half the position?

"Basically, having waited for it to move up, what's the best way of hanging onto some of the profit? Or are you just waiting for a bigger move?

"Your service is just fantastic."

David Fuller's view We are well; thank you for your comments on the service and especially for your absorbing questions.

The Baby Steps tactic is most appropriate in markets that fundamentally undervalued but ranging in base formation development. I used this tactic quite frequently, as you may recall, when volatile silver was in the $3 to $6 range and also at somewhat higher levels.


If participating in a ranging market, one has to either attempt to trade the range or be patient and wait for a sustained breakout if anticipating a medium-term trend.

The only sure way to hang onto some of the profit after a day like Thursday is to take it, particularly in a volatile market such as silver. Stops within ranges are very likely to be triggered and HFT increases that probability.

There is no sure way of knowing when a breakout from a range will occur, although the reoccurrence of dynamic days or rising lows such as we currently see with gold provide clues.

Commonality will help. For instance, gold has had the steadiest performance in recent weeks and if it were to sustain an upside breakout, traders and investors would begin to anticipate similar action in silver and the other precious metals.

You may have other insights regarding timing, based on background factors, such as the current labour unrest at Lomin South Africa and the scope for a bear squeeze in platinum. Objective intuition can be a useful guide and we all need a degree of luck.