Hi I am quite new here as I started in July my Stock Isa for long term investment.
I was just wondering when do I need to take profit, as at some point I was with £200 profit but left it there and I am now around only £40.
I know that he will go up again, so my question is what is the best technique and is it worth it to take the profit or leave there to grow more?
Any advice welcome.
There is no best technique. It depends on your personal investment strategy. No-one knows definitively if a stock is going to go up or down.
As Ian Cowie in the Sunday Times says: ‘ You have made no profit at all until you sell’.
It’s a great question, as usual the answer is ‘it depends’
First off - nobody knows if the market is going up or down, so it’s all a bit of a guessing game tbh.
A few months ago I bought Ishares physical silver. 2 weeks ago it was up 35%, worried about a crash I sold enough to cover my original investment, plus10% profit, and let the rest ride.
Basically I’m 57, and don’t have the time to ride out a silver crash like the last time it went all Pete Tong.
It’s now 50% up. Should I have held ? well yes is the answer now, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. If we had a Time Machine we would all be winners, but we don’t.
If I was 25, I would have let it ride.
The decision, imho, was right for me.
Your decision has to be right for you.
In my ISA though, I tend to leave it well alone, time is the key with any investment, especially in an ISA, and hopefully you’ll have plenty of it.
good luck 
Please, be aware of the differences between long-term investment and swing trading (and day trading, for sure), as the advice for each one often goes against the others.
With long-term, from what I know, you’re looking 5-10+ years in your investment, so these ups and downs that you’re talking about (over a couple of months) are just fluctuations, when you look at the big picture, and shouldn’t affect your decision-making.
Instead, you need to think back at the reasons that made you buy the stock in the first place, something made you think that this stock is a good investment and will go up in the future. This would usually be good fundamentals (profitable, good vision, good CEO… etc). If that assessment still holds, then you simply stay in. If the assessment changes, then you look to move away.
Sometimes, if a stock has gone up by a lot in a short period of time, some investors suggest selling some of your shares. That way you bag the profits while also staying in. That way if it keep going up then great you’re still in, and if it goes down, then those profits are safe.
Things change years later when you get closer to retirement age where you want to start de-risking your portfolio and slow move to safer assets (bonds, I think… I’m not too familiar with this part, tbh). My guess from your post is that you’re not at that stage, yet.
Of course, please do your due diligence and do your own research. I would suggest finding 2-3 good investors on youtube and follow them, watch everything they post (be careful, there’s lots of rubbish on youtube). This can be a good place to start. ChatGPT is also often great at explaining concepts.
Look up DCA, and look up a guy on Youtube called Tom Nash (he often talks about long-term investments, DCA and trimming a position… etc… it might be helpful).
PS. Long-term investment isn’t exactly my thing, and I’m more into swing trades. The above is just some of the knowledge I picked up along the way.
One last consideration: if you’re cutting your losses before a stock swings against you again, some trades incur FX costs and tax charges. For example, UK LSE ISA buys have a 0.5% stamp duty tax added when you buy, which I didn’t notice until I looked at my first month’s statement. That charge isn’t shown in your return, so a small profit may actually be a slight loss.