quientuves wrote:If you a have a huge portfolio and need to sell it, you better wait till everybody is willing to buy. An scenario with no reason to go down is a good place to start.
If I understand what it is you are saying, what if you are in very large highly liquid names? What if a specific portfolio is long only? What if a specific portfolio is benchmarked against an index? What if you have a 10 year time horizon? What if that huge portfolio is well diversified and draw downs are well tolerated and used to as buying opportunities?
If you manage money, you are constantly trimming and adding, but if you get too defensive too soon and the pack leaves you behind for a month or god forbid a quarter you are out of a job. Also, try reasoning with a pension consultant that you became more defensive as a, "...scenario with no reason to go down is a good place to start," as the reason for your defensive posture & underperformance. You just cost his clients some measure of performance (and made him look like an idiot) and you will find yourself with a nice email telling you to segregate the clients funds, stop trading and wait for instructions as to where the clients funds should be sent.
large players move for a variety of reasons, not just the ones that motivate you.