You should've tried a costless collar. Buy a 10%-30% falling put using the proceeds from selling a 10%-30% rising call on a stock you already own (this is critical - as it is your collateral on this trade). Your loss is capped, and you can still participate in gains (Mark Cuban did this back when he sold Broadcast.com - see here: https://www.quora.com/How-did-Mark-Cuban-survive-the-dot-com...).
If your stocks fall, your put is triggered, you sell out at a forced 10%-30% loss, however, as you still have all the cash at that level you can just buy it back, if it falls further you can just buy it back with your cash and redo a collar. If your stocks rise 10%-30%, the call is triggered, and you must sell out at a forced 10%-30% gain, but since you still have all that cash from the rise, you can just go ahead and put on another collar at the new level. Or you can just hold onto your cash.
The collar costs you nearly nothing (simultaneously buying insurance with the proceeds from selling it on things you already own), and you can move around the price levels a lot, "collaring" your wealth to 2 surety levels - aka you will be worth a guaranteed spread between X and Y.
What you wish to do with your cash after the triggers depends on your risk preference, market dynamics, your future predictions of the world economy and the company at hand.
If your stocks fall, your put is triggered, you sell out at a forced 10%-30% loss, however, as you still have all the cash at that level you can just buy it back, if it falls further you can just buy it back with your cash and redo a collar. If your stocks rise 10%-30%, the call is triggered, and you must sell out at a forced 10%-30% gain, but since you still have all that cash from the rise, you can just go ahead and put on another collar at the new level. Or you can just hold onto your cash.
The collar costs you nearly nothing (simultaneously buying insurance with the proceeds from selling it on things you already own), and you can move around the price levels a lot, "collaring" your wealth to 2 surety levels - aka you will be worth a guaranteed spread between X and Y.
What you wish to do with your cash after the triggers depends on your risk preference, market dynamics, your future predictions of the world economy and the company at hand.