Taking initials

"Take initials" means selling enough of your position to get back what you put in. Whatever is left costs you nothing.

How it works

You buy 0.5 SOL of a coin at a $50K market cap. It runs to $100K, so your position is now worth about 1 SOL. You sell half. You have your 0.5 SOL back, and you still hold the other half for free.

From here, if the coin goes to zero, you are flat. If it goes to $1M, your free half is worth around 5 SOL.

Why people skip it

• Greed. "It's going higher, why sell now?" Sometimes it does. Often it comes back down while you are deciding.
• Fees and slippage make small sells feel wasteful. On thin coins it is a real cost, but it is cheaper than a round trip from 2x back to zero.

Variations

• Initials at 2x is the classic.
• Scaling out: sell 25% at 2x, 25% at 4x, and so on.
• Initials plus fees: sell a little more than half so you also cover the fees you paid.

Decide before you buy

Write down your exit levels when you enter, not when the chart is moving. A plan you made calmly is better than a choice you make in a 1-second candle.