OT - (Also in light of lt cap's frequent reporting of, for instance, NOK partnerships that should bear fruit down the line) - I've been puzzling for some time this issue, which I think just doesn't have a good answer: My biggest positions (and they are big, by my standards) are NOK, INFN, CIEN. They've been so beaten down from where I bought them, I have very substantial paper losses. The depth of the INFN plunge was forseen by nobody.  The thing is: If I sell part of those positions, I'll have a capital loss that will be substantial, and will cover a multitude of 'sins', should the rest of the portfolio end up with capital gains. 

On the surface, being out of a given stock in this sector for 30 days would of course yield that capital loss, and I could buy in again if I wanted to. And it seems to me that the odds would be with me: e.g., Given the extremely slack demand that we're seeing in wireless stuff like ERIC, the chances that we're going to see sudden large upward moves seems small. All of those stocks seem vulnerable to further bad news (Perhaps CIEN the least, although they are once again most day-by-days in smaller numbers retreat.)

So, this might be the best time to try to get a capital loss on the books - good news in CC's seems slim, given that working through this slow demand likely will take time.  And, when companies like NOK announce partnerships or wins in future build-outs, it doesn't seem to move the needle - suggesting perhaps that the street wants to see bottom-line results from such partnerships or business, rather than just an agreement.  Except......suppose a company like NOK surprises, even in that the quarter was not so great, but measurably better than ERIC, and beating analysts' low expectations? Or, suppose INFN has been horsewhipped way beyond the trouble they're in, and rises to what might be considered fair value (of which no one knows - I recall one analyst saying that one ought to hold it through this 'trip to the sewers' as long-term he thinks they'll be intact again.) 

But I digress. It seem to me that if one is going to try and take some capital losses, the present slump may be the best time, odds-wise, to get out and get back in without 'seller's regret'. But the whole sector is so volatile, and unpredictable, and that seems such a basic characteristic, that trying to time this sort of thing, it's like playing roulette - red and black in reality have equal chances. Unless you're playing 'Russian roulette', in which case you might want to put a bullet in your brain if INFN doubles in the meantime :-)

I'd be intersted in anyone else's take on the risk of the capital loss vs. can't time the sector issue.