I have now trimmed 30% of our holdings into this straight-up runaway market. I am not sure I will be happy with this decision, but vertical markets should typically be sold into. I much prefer to see the metals and miners cool off a bit, so I do not have to sell more shares. I’m not complaining, this move up has far exceeded my wildest dreams, several positions haver netted us 600-700%, even more in the LEAP options we sold! In any case, I am done trimming for now and hoping for a pullback to put the funds back to work, where I will pick some new names while adding back to those in which I sold some.

The reason I am not happy taking these big profits early, before I get a bona-fide sell signal, is that I think the miners have much further to go, same with the metals, over the course of this bull market. For one, many stocks like PAAS have just taken out all-time highs, and others like HL are about to, however my intermediate sell-signal has come close to triggering, in fact if prices had closed where they were on the Thursday of any of the last three weeks, I would have gotten the signal. Instead, the miners rose so much on the following trading day that the signal was cancelled, I was supposed to hold everything for further gains. After this occurred several times, I realize that the signal will actually trigger, and most likely sooner rather than later. I hope you are on board with a lot of shares, it has been a win for the ages already.

No doubt the miners and metals are on fire, or that they have much higher to do. I decided to trim 15%, and might double that to 30% if my signals to sell get close again. Mind you, they are just barely trying to cross over to a sell/trim, and each time before the signal is confirmed, a huge rally appears and cancels the sell idea. In any case, after repeated flirting with and exit sign, I have decided to sell the 15% just ahead of the signal, and the other 15-18% on the other side of it, since the gains have been spectacular.

Already the HUI gold miners index is nearing 600, while GDX and GDXJ have surpassed my first big targets, and by a good amount. Don’t misunderstand me, this is not an excuse to cash out, on the contrary, no matter how large the gains are, its a sign of a truly powerful bull market. I intend to use the proceeds from sales to invest again when the froth dies down, but will also use the opportunity to re-balance and invest more in certain names and less in others, than I had for this first big push in the bull market. For example, I might go heavier into silver itself via PSLV, and into some juniors and explorers, than the mid-caps that have just done what I hoped they would do.

We are at an important point in the bull, where the temptation to sell out is great, in order to book gigantic unrealized gains. Its also where those that missed the move, now see all the money being made and are thinking they know why, likewise those with too small positions feel the greed and want to push. Both sides can’t be right, but I suspect since they are both prominent right now, corrections might be mild while they will still occur. I begun to take some off the table, feeling the fear the miners might not come back down to let me buy again! LOL, that is a sign to book some profits, because while the bull has much higher to fly, that does not mean it will go straight up from here, more likely we will see late bulls get punished for awhile until the give up, and that could require several months or more of sideways or drifting lower first, if we don’t see a short but sharp crack in the markets. October is near, after all.

Stay tuned for the anticipated sells I will make, and the subsequent buys back in, with changes in position sizes and the miners I focus on for the remainder of the bull market. As always, be careful who you listen to, and verify they make the returns they claim. An advisor should not hesitate to show you investing statements to confirm their claims, too many people claim to make money in the markets while in reality they make money off subscriptions, while losing people’s money.

The GDX chart below is a weekly chart going back twenty years, just to show how definitively the miners have taken out the all-time highs. Look to the right side of the chart to see the last seven weeks close up, its a rip-snorting bull market! I also posted a monthly chart of SILJ, also trading in all time high territory. This bull is real and has legs, that is VERY strong momentum!

While miners are clearly overbought, and a correction could occur at any time, the right move has been to stay heavily long. If we get a correction, say if GDX can pull back to its previous all time highs, it is a screaming buy opportunity. However, since momentum is so strong at the moment, we not only might not get the pullback until we see higher prices first, we also might not get a deep pullback. Our portfolios are up huge at the moment with unrealized gains, several holdings are up 400-600% already, so the temptation to ring the register is great here, but my system has told me to stay long and that has paid off nicely thus far. When I get a signal to sell, I will only trim around 33%, as new all-time highs are a sure sign the miners and metals are going much higher before the bull is over. I would also look to put those funds from any sales I might do, back into the group on the pullback if it materializes. I hope you are long and strong the miners, their time has come!