"To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual." - Oscar Wilde Investors normally maintain a natural urge to sell profitable investments. Platitudes such as "locking in profits" or "taking money off the table" reinforce this practical behavior. If one buys a stock that doubles, one's instinct is to quickly sell the stock - this behavior is reasonable, because an investor wishes to protect their winnings. This tendency, known as the "disposition effect," explains why investors sell their winners too early and hold losers too long.