Just minutes a day to limit your losses
and protect your gains
Frequently Asked Questions
The Basics - What is ExitPoint
- What exactly does ExitPoint do?
- Will ExitPoint tell me what stocks to buy?
- What kind of investment experience do I need to benefit from ExitPoint?
- Why is a disciplined approach to stock investing so important?
- Do I have to understand financial statements to make ExitPoint work for me?
- Why can't I just calculate my stock exit points myself?
- Can I use ExitPoint with mutual funds?
Nuts and Bolts
- What should I do with my ExitPoints recommendations?
- What is a stop loss order?
- Can I use ExitPoint without placing Stop Loss Orders?
- Can ExitPoint cause me to sell a stock too soon?
- What happens if I buy more shares of a stock I already own?
- What do I do if my stock splits?
- How often should I check my stocks with ExitPoint?
- What happens if I forget to monitor my stocks with ExitPoint?
- Can I automatically sell my stocks with ExitPoint?
- Do I have to know the purchase price per share when I add a stock?
- Do I have to know the purchase date when I add a stock?
- What happens if I add a stock to my portfolio that already violated one of ExitPoint's sell alerts?
- Do I have to enter a commission when I add a stock to my portfolio or sell a stock?
- When should I customize my ExitPoints?
- Shouldn't I treat low-priced stocks differently than high-priced stocks?
- What is a target price?
- Do I need to use a target price?
- Is there a way I can confirm that my ExitPoints are being calculated correctly?
Getting Started
- What do I need to do to get started?
- Is my financial information protected from others?
- What do I do if I forget my password?
- What do I do if I want to cancel my subscription?
- Who do I contact if I have further Questions or suggestions?
Q1. What exactly does ExitPoint do?
With all the investment tools at your disposal on the Internet and elsewhere, the options are more varied . . . and the choices more confusing than ever. ExitPoint is built on the philosophy that the cardinal error most investors make happens not during the buying process but during the selling process. In fact, for most investors, the process of determining when to sell a stock is nothing short of total guesswork. By applying a sophisticated mathematical approach while maintaining a simple to use, easy to understand interface, ExitPoint removes the guesswork in determining the appropriate time to sell your winning stocks. . . as well as your losing ones. In just minutes a day, ExitPoint keeps track of your portfolio, monitors your positions, and provides you with a predetermined exit strategy for each stock in your portfolio that is targeted to the stock's current price relative to its cost, customizable to your own tolerance for risk. If your investment experience has left you thinking "I should have sold that stock when it was twenty points higher," or "my shares are only worth a fraction of what I bought them at a few months ago," try ExitPoint. In just minutes a day, ExitPoint will help you limit your losses and protect your hard-earned gains.
Q2. Will ExitPoint tell me what stocks to buy?
There are numerous ways to analyze stock purchase decisions on the Internet, not to mention numerous brokers and investors out there just waiting to give you the latest "hot tip." ExitPoint® is not a stock selection program. It is a unique and innovative portfolio management application that allows you to easily track your investments and set exit strategies for each security in your portfolio customized to your own tolerance for risk. ExitPoint® won't recommend what to buy, but it will assist you by ensuring that you won't ride stocks down and give back your gains because of inattention or emotion. Remember that even the best stocks can be bought at the wrong time . . . and therefore the wrong price.
Q3. What kind of investment experience do I need to benefit from ExitPoint?
The most experienced investors will tell you that the key to wealth-building and wealth preservation is to have a specific strategy for investing in stocks and to apply that strategy in a consistent and disciplined manner. Helping you do so is the bedrock principal behind ExitPoint. Therefore, whether you're a first-time investor or have years of experience in the stock market, ExitPoint can help you achieve your wealth-building and wealth preservation objectives by providing you with an easy to use time-saving interface that, in just minutes a day, will help you stay on top of your investments and make intelligent investment decisions about whether and when to sell your stocks. Information is power and with ExitPoint, the information you need to make intelligent decisions about your stock portfolio is at your fingertips. Easy-to-use links to popular investment sites like Yahoo also provide ExitPoint users ready access to in-depth news, stock charting and other key company information.
Q4. Why is a disciplined approach to stock investing so important?
A disciplined approach to stock portfolio management, though often ignored after the initial purchase decision, is the most critical component in successful investing. Disciplined investing creates consistency, which helps investors avoid emotional investment decisions and stay the course. With its easy to understand, easy to use interface, ExitPoint provides investors comprehensive portfolio management and selling strategies that follow such time-tested methods as those contained in William O'Neil's "How to Make Money in Stocks" and the CANSLIM approach.
Q5. Do I have to understand financial statements to make ExitPoint work for me?
While an understanding of financial information about any company you are thinking of investing in is always recommended, it is not prerequisite to use ExitPoint, which is not a stock selection program but a portfolio management and stock sell recommendation application.
Q6. Why can't I just calculate my stock exit points myself?
Of course you can . . . that is if you can remember the purchase price for each stock in your portfolio, the performance of each stock, the return (or loss) on your investment and the exit strategy you plan to follow at various price points for each stock, customized to your own risk tolerance, to avoid letting your stocks suffer ruinous losses or give back substantial or all their gains. Alternatively, for about half the cost of a discount commission on one stock trade (or about the price of a cheap lunch), there's an easier, more efficient and more reliable way -- through ExitPoint. In just a few mouse clicks, or by E-mail delivered right to your in-box, you can get the information you need to maximize your wealth building opportunities by cutting your losses and preserving your hard-earned gains.
Q7. Can I use ExitPoint with mutual funds?
Absolutely! Just enter the mutual fund symbol as you would a stock symbol using "Add a Stock". If you don''t know the mutual fund symbol, click on "Look It Up" to open up a search window. Be sure to select "Mutual Fund" under "Type" to find the desired symbol.
Q8. What should I do with my ExitPoints recommendations?
ExitPoint calculates the price point for each stock at which a sell recommendation is triggered. Each time you run ExitPoint, it will provide you with the recommended sell price (i.e., the "ExitPoint") for each stock in your portfolio. ExitPoint recommends that you place stop loss orders at the recommended sell price for each stock. (You can use the "Contact Broker" feature to place your orders). Once a stop loss order is in place with your broker, a sale will automatically be triggered if the stock price declines to the price established by your stop loss order. Every time you run ExitPoint, you will be alerted to each and every stock that has established a new ExitPoint (marked by a green flag in the "New ExitPoint" column). If you have any stocks with new ExitPoints, you should update your stop loss order for that stock by replacing it with the new ExitPoint. Bear in mind that stock ExitPoints calculated by ExitPoint's sophisticated algorithm never decline in price . Because the Stop Loss and Break Even strategies calculate ExitPoints based on a stock's fixed entry price, they will only generate a new ExitPoint if and when the stock price increases sufficiently to cause a movement from one strategy to the next successive strategy. Thus a change from the Stop Loss Strategy to the Break Even Strategy or from the Break Even Strategy to the Trailing Profit Strategy will trigger a new ExitPoint. By comparison, the Trailing Profit and Target Price strategies calculate ExitPoints based on a stock's current price, Thus, they will generate a new ExitPoint as the current price of the stock rises to ensure that you preserve most of the additional appreciation a stock may attain. In order to limit the need to enter new stop loss orders each and every time a stock in the Trailing Profit or Target Price strategy experiences a minor rise in price, the ExitPoint algorithm automatically rounds the stock's ExitPoint to the nearest 1/10th.
Q9. What is a stop loss order?
A stop loss order is an order placed with a broker to buy or sell once the stock reaches a certain price. A stop loss order to sell is designed to limit an investor's loss on a stock or to preserve the investor's gains in that stock. For example, setting a stop loss order at 10% below the price at which you bought a stock will, in most instances, limit your loss to 10%. Thus, a stock purchase at $50 per share with a stop loss order placed at 10% below the purchase price should result in a sale at $45 per share. As noted above, stop loss orders are also used to preserve stock gains by inducing a sale once a stock declines to a specified price, even if that price is above the price paid for the stock. For example, assume you purchased the same stock at $50 per share but it has now appreciated to $80 per share. A stop loss order for this stock placed at 10% below its current price of $80 per share should result in a sale if the stock price declines to $72 per share. In this instance, you will have profited by $22 per share on your investment for a gain of 44%. Because a stop loss order to sell becomes a market order when a trade in the stock occurs at or below the stop price, it is possible that your order will be executed at a a price somewhat different than the stop loss price you place with your broker depending on how quickly the stock trade can be executed, the trading volume on the stock and the spread between the bid price and the ask price on the stock. Heavily traded stocks such as IBM, Microsoft or Intel are more likely to sell closer to or at the stop loss order price than thinly traded stocks.
Q10. Can I use ExitPoint without placing Stop Loss Orders?
The advantage of placing a stop loss order is that you aren't required to constantly monitor your stock to determine whether it has triggered a sell alert by declining in price below its ExitPoint. However, ExitPoint does not require you to use stop loss orders. You may choose instead to simply place an order to sell a stock once a sell alert (red flag) has been triggered. Should you determine to use this approach, it is recommended that you run ExitPoint frequently (e.g., once-a-day) to ensure that your stock will not have declined in value significantly below its most recently calculated ExitPoint.
Q11. Can ExitPoint cause me to sell a stock too soon?
While we would all like to "buy low and sell high," it is all but impossible to time the market perfectly and always sell at the top. It is doubtful you will always 'buy low" or "sell high." The trick is to let your winners run without giving back your gains (or even worse, allowing paper gains to turn into real losses), and keep your losers from causing you to suffer ruinous loses. Sometimes this means that an ExitPoint sell alert will be triggered on a stock that may have turned negative but thereafter reverses itself and appreciates higher after you have sold it. If you think only in terms of how much you could have made on a specific stock but didn't, you are overlooking that your still profited or limited a loss to an acceptable amount, and lived to reinvest another day. However, if you think in terms of building profits and protecting gains in your total portfolio, then even if you only own a few stocks, you will have followed a disciplined and time-tested approach to wealth building and wealth preservation that will serve you well in the long run.
Q12. What happens if I buy more shares of a stock I already own?
Because ExitPoint is built on the relationship between the purchase price and current price of stocks, a purchase of additional shares should be treated as a new entry. (In other words, you should click on "Add a New Stock" and enter the additional shares just as if this was your first purchase of the stock.) Thus, it is possible that your portfolio may reflect more than one entry for a stock with different calculations of gains or losses and different ExitPoints. Because these purchases are likely to have occurred on different dates, the calculation of annualized gains or losses will also differ. In this respect, multiple purchases of a single stock are treated no differently than the treatment of separate lots of an individual stock. Using the filter feature, you can always quickly determine the aggregate value of your shares in a stock that you have purchased on more than one occasion.
Q13. What do I do if my stock splits?
A stock split is a division of a company's shares of stock into more shares. For example, a 2 for 1 stock split means a stockholder will receive one additional share of stock for each pre-split share held. A reverse stock split is a reduction of a company's shares into less shares. For example, a 1 for 2 reverse stock split means a stockholder's shares will be reduced by half. A stock split is usually considered a favorable indicator of a stock's prospects, while a reverse stock split is usually considered a negative indicator of the stock's prospects. In either case, the total dollar value of your shares immediately after the split remains the same but the per share value will change. For example, assume you own 100 shares of stock purchased at $25 per share and currently valued at $40 per share. If the stock splits 2 for 1, you will now own 200 shares of stock valued at $20 per share. Your per share cost of the same stock will now be adjusted to $12.50 per share. Note that in both instances, the total cost ($2,500) and current value ($4,000) after the split are the same as before. Should you become aware that your stock has split (or reverse split), you should record the split by clicking on the down arrow to the left of the stock symbol, and select "Split." A screen will then be displayed for you to record your split. For example, a 2 for 1 split should be recorded by entering a "2" in the first box and a "1" in the second box. After you click on "Save and Return," ExitPoint will recalculate the number of post-split shares and the adjusted price per share of the stock. If you do not enter the split, the ExitPoint algorithm will calculate your ExitPoint recommendations based on a post-split current value and a pre-split entry price, and provide you erroneous information about your stock.
Q14. How often should I check my stocks with ExitPoint?
Because ExitPoint constantly updates your stocks, you can check it and obtain current information and current recommendations as often as you would like. Given the incredible ease of use, it is tempting to do so. The success of ExitPoint is not, however, dependent upon such frequent use. For new users, we recommend that you run ExitPoint once a day, although even less frequent use will help you on your way to accomplishing your wealth building and wealth preservation objectives. You can also have regular ExitPoint portfolio summaries and recommendations forwarded automatically to your desktop or remote mobile device via E-mail.
Q15. What happens if I forget to monitor my stocks with ExitPoint?
While we encourage you to login and use ExitPoint's many features to help you oversee and manage your investments effectively and efficiently, our powerful set and forget E-Mail alert feature allows you to stay on top of your investments even when you don't login by forwarding the information you specify about your portfolios and ExitPoint recommendations to your E-Mail in-box or remote mobile device automatically.
Q16. Can I automatically sell my stocks with ExitPoint?
Not yet, although we intend for future versions of ExitPoint to provide for direct electronic trade execution through your selected broker. For now, users must execute their trades manually. However, ExitPoint's "Contact Broker" feature provides a direct link to the login screen for the most popular electronic brokerage sites.
Q17. Do I have to know the purchase price per share when I add a stock?
Because the ExitPoint algorithm performs sophisticated calculations on the basis of a stock's purchase price, that information is necessary to include when you add a stock. If you cannot find that information but you know the date you bought the stock, you can try to find the purchase price of the stock (or at least a close approximation) by searching for the stock's historical price on that particular date. There are numerous Internet portals that offer this information for most stocks free of charge. Alternatively, you can create an "artificial" purchase price such as one that equals the value of the stock on the date you add it to your portfolio. This will allow you to accurately measure the performance of the stock and employ the ExitPoint strategies from the date you started following it using ExitPoint. If you chose this alternative, you must recognize that the ExitPoint calculations of gain or loss will not reflect your actual gain or loss on the stock but rather the gain or loss as measured against the purchase price you entered.
Q18. Do I have to know the purchase date when I add a stock?
You do not need to know the purchase date when you add a stock. However, if you do not add the purchase date, ExitPoint will not be able to calculate the number of days you have held the stock or the annualized gain or loss. While this information is not necessary, it is useful to get a clearer picture of your stock's overall performance. You can always add the purchase date later on by editing the stock.
Q19. What happens if I add a stock to my portfolio that already violated one of ExitPoint's sell alerts?
This can only happen if you add a stock to your portfolio that has declined in value from your original purchase price by a percentage greater than the Stop Loss Strategy percentage assigned to that stock. For example, if you accept the Stop Loss default percentage of 10 percent on a stock you add to your portfolio but the current value of your stock has declined in value by more than 10% below your purchase price, ExitPoint will trigger a sell alert on this stock the first time you "Run ExitPoint" because the stock is showing a greater than 10% loss. Under these circumstances, you should strongly consider whether you should continue to own this stock considering its decline in value. Alternatively, you can create an "artificial" purchase price such as one that equals the value of the stock on the date you add it to your portfolio. This will allow you to accurately measure the performance of the stock and employ the ExitPoint strategies from the date you started following it using ExitPoint. If you chose this alternative, you must recognize that the ExitPoint calculations of gain or loss will not reflect your actual gain or loss on the stock but rather the gain or loss as measured against the purchase price you entered.
Q20. Do I have to enter a commission when I add a stock to my portfolio
or sell a stock?
Adding the cost of commissions on stock purchases and sales is completely optional. However, adding the cost of purchase and sale commissions provides the most accurate information calculated by ExitPoint about your total purchase costs, total sale proceeds, the gain or loss on a stock, the percentage gain or loss and the annualized gain or loss. Given the relatively low cost of stock commissions for most trades other than those involving full-service brokers, the decision not to enter commission costs on purchases and/or sales should still have a very minor effect.
Q21. When should I customize my ExitPoints?
Although there is no need to ever customize your ExitPoints, more experienced users can easily customize any or all of the ExitPoint strategies for individual stocks. Customization may be desirable for users with greater (or lesser) than average risk tolerance or to take into account the particular volatility of a specific stock. For example, a $20 stock that experiences regular price swings of 5 to 10% may be customized to provide for a greater degree of price movement before an ExitPoint sell alert is triggered. Bear in mind that under the default Stop Loss strategy, a sell alert will be triggered by a 10% decline in price of a stock. For a $20 stock, this would mean a decline in price to $18.
Q22. Shouldn't I treat low-priced stocks differently than high-priced stocks?
Consistency and discipline are perhaps the most important characteristics of successful investors. ExitPoint's default strategy settings are calibrated to provide a sound investment strategy for all stocks and can be utilized for all stocks added to your portfolio with no further modification. That being said, it is not uncommon for low-priced stocks to experience more significant relative price movement than higher priced stocks. For example, a $1 price movement on a stock purchased for $10 represents a 10% price movement on that stock. In contrast, the same $1 price movement on a stock purchased for $50 represents only a 2% price movement on that stock. Therefore, under some circumstances, you may to want to customize your ExitPoint strategy settings to account for the greater percentage price movement inherent in low-priced stocks. Please recognize, however, that the risk of incurring greater losses (or giving back gains) increases as you increase the range of price movement a stock is permitted to experience under each ExitPoint strategy.
Q23. What is a target price?
For those with specifically defined price appreciation goals for a stock they have purchased, ExitPoint provides an additional strategy setting called "Target Price" that takes into account these goals. This entirely optional feature allows users to enter a specific price they are hoping to a stock will reach. If the price of that stock is reached, ExitPoint will shift from the "Trailing Profit" strategy into the "Target Price" strategy, tightening the percentage spread below the current price at which ExitPoint will trigger a sell alert.
Q24. Do I need to use a target price?
No you do not. The use of a target price is completely optional. It is intended for those who have determined that they have reached their desired price objective in a stock to tighten the stop on that stock to allow it the opportunity to continue to appreciate but not to decline in price by more than a very limited amount. Using the ExitPoint defaults, stocks that reach their target price will trigger a sell alert should they decline by 5% below their current price. If no target price is selected, ExitPoint will trigger a sell alert for stocks that have appreciated sufficiently to be within the Trailing Profit strategy should they decline by 10% below their current price.
Q25. Is there a way I can confirm that my ExitPoints are being calculated correctly?
Yes there is. To confirm the correctness of your ExitPoints for securities currently in the Stop Loss or Break Even strategies, multiply the Entry Price (i.e., your cost per share) by 1 minus the specified percentage below the Entry Price set forth in your Stop Loss or Break Even Strategy Setting. For example, a stock in the Stop Loss strategy with an Entry Price of $40 per share and a 10% ExitPoint below the Entry Price will have an ExitPoint of $36 [$40 x (1-10%)]. To confirm the correctness of your ExitPoints for securities currently in the Trailing Profit or Target Strategies or for securities using the Trailing Stop Strategy, multiply the High Price by 1 minus the specified percentage below the High Price. For example, a stock using a 10% Trailing Stop strategy that reached a high of $50 will have an ExitPoint of $45 [$50 x (1-10%)], even if the current price of the stock has since fallen below $50. (Remember ExitPoints can rise but they can never decline). However, if you change an existing ExitPoint Strategy Setting to a different setting that causes a recalculation of your ExitPoint, your new ExitPoint is calculated based upon the Current Price of the security at the time of the change even if this is lower than the High Price. For example, if you changed your ExitPoint Strategy Setting from a 10% to a 5% Trailing Stop when the stock has fallen to $45, the new ExitPoint will be $42.75 [$45 x (1-5%)]. You can always confirm the price against which your ExitPoint is being calculated by clicking on the clock icon next to the ExitPoint price.
Q26. What do I need to do to get started?
All you need is an Internet connection and a valid credit card. Try ExitPoint® absolutely free for 30 days and decide for yourself whether it can help you better manage your investments - or keep track of the performance of those who do.. You'll have access to many one-of-a-kind features you won't find anywhere else, including our proprietary "Sell Alert" strategy settings, powerful set-and-forget email alerts, and the ability to take and preserve manual or automatically scheduled snapshots of your investments. If you find the ExitPoint® website to be as valuable as we believe you will, annual subscriptions are only $120 (a mere $10 per month), a fraction of what you can save by limiting your losses . . . and what you can make by protecting your gains!
Q27. Is my financial information protected from others?
The only one with access to your account is you. ExitPoint uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to ensure that your private information remains private and secure. We do not provide information about you to anyone, no ifs ands or buts. (See our privacy notice for more information.) We do recommend that you protect your password from others and change your password periodically as an additional security measure.
Q28. What do I do if I forget my password?
Should you forget your password, click here and answer your password reminder question and your password will be E-mailed to you.
Q29. What do I do if I want to cancel my subscription?
Subscriptions to ExitPoint® are $120 per year. Your credit card will not be billed until after the free trial period ends. To cancel during the trial period and avoid being billed, simply click on the "User Profile" link and then the "Cancel Account" button at the bottom of the User Profile web page. You must cancel before the 30th day of your free trial period to avoid being billed. Email requests to cancel a trial subscription sent to customer service near the end of a free trial may not be read and processed before your credit card is billed. Therefore, the surest and easiest way to avoid billing if you want to cancel your free trial is to follow the above instructions.
Should you wish to cancel your ExitPoint® subscription at any time after your credit card has been billed, please contact us at support@exitpoint.com and place in the subject line of your email: "Cancellation Requested." We will happily issue you a pro-rata refund for the unused portion of your subscription. Refunds may be credited back to your credit card or sent by check.
Q30. Who do I contact if I have further Questions or suggestions?
For questions, please send an email to support@exitpoint.com or complete our Online Contact Form. For suggestions or comments, please contact comments@exitpoint.com. All feedback is welcome and appreciated.
