Seven questions to answer before you sell

By Roee Boosi · Updated September 2026

This is the checklist at the heart of the “Don’t Sell in a Panic” research. Print it, keep it next to your brokerage account, and walk through it the next time the market turns red. If you cannot answer all seven calmly, you are not ready to sell.

1. 1. Has my reason for owning this asset actually changed?

   A falling price is not new information about the business or the thesis. Write down why you bought it. If that reason still holds, the price drop alone is not a sell signal.

2. 2. Is this a repricing or a behavioral cascade?

   Repricing follows new fundamentals — earnings, regulation, insolvency. Cascades follow fear itself: forced liquidations, margin calls and headline feedback loops. Cascades historically reverse; repricings often don't.

3. 3. Where is the crowd relative to the experts?

   When retail sentiment collapses while accuracy-weighted analyst conviction holds, the divergence itself is the signal. Extreme crowd fear with stable expert views is the classic panic-selling trap.

4. 4. What does this drawdown look like statistically?

   Compare the drop's depth and speed with historical drawdowns of the same asset. Most sharp falls of similar shape recovered; the few that didn't had deteriorating fundamentals, not just fear.

5. 5. What is my time horizon — honestly?

   If the money is needed within months, volatility risk is real. If the horizon is years, a temporary drawdown is noise. Selling a long-term position over a short-term event mismatches the plan to the panic.

6. 6. What would I do if I didn't already own it?

   If you would buy the asset today at this price, selling it makes no sense. If you genuinely wouldn't buy it, sell — but calmly, for that reason, not because the screen is red.

7. 7. Am I deciding, or am I reacting?

   Set a cooling-off rule: no sell orders within 24 hours of a fear spike. Write the decision and the reasoning down. Most panic sells fail this simple waiting test.