I am sure you have seen 50-day this and 50-day that in articles and forums. Why is the 50-day moving average so critical? This is called support. The 50-day moving average is a line that if your stock goes slicing through it, more often than not your stock will continue downward. It shows that big players, such as mutual fund managers, are pulling out of the stock. If your stock is traveling down to that line, do not panic. Stocks often make a trip to that line and bounce back; often to reach higher than old highs.  This is because big institutions that manage money add to their posistions in the stock and force it back up. The time to panic is when your stock goes below the line on above normal volume. Volume is the amount of buying and selling.  If volume is high and the price is going through the floor, it is because people are selling tons of that stock.  Make sure to always stay disciplined and sell before you loose over 8%.