When you have a support level in mind for a stock, is this set in stone on executing a sell if it hits intraday or only if it closes at or beneath that level? Case in point: SYMC [Wednesday]. Hoping for a hold of 74 but it did fall below before recovering. I did not sell when hit intraday but had in mind to, if it closed below.

SYMC is a pre-split stock that has been on a nice run heading into its split this week, combining the momentum of a pre-split with a good 50 day MVA bounce for a $10 move. It showed some action Tuesday and Wednesday that often chases us out of pre-splits after they have made a good move: closed off of the intraday high Tuesday and then gapped a bit higher Wednesday and sold down below the Tuesday closing price. After a good pre-split move that often indicates more selling ahead and we will often take profits at that point.

More specific to your question, usually we look for the stop point we have set to hold on the close. Many times we see a stock test below the 50 day MVA or other support level (e.g., price consolidations) intraday and then recover and continue on up from there. What we usually look for is whether the stock closes below the support level we want to hold, and then cannot break back over that level on the close the next session.

We try to use support levels or resistance as buy points as much as possible. For example, when a stock breaks free and clear of resistance on strong volume, that is where we want to buy it. Then we can use that broken resistance as our support level. If we buy the stock within 5% of that support level (the former resistance), setting a 7% stop loss point allows the stock to test below the support level intraday and recover without having to worry about selling or not.