Friction Costs vs Capital Gains - Have the rules changed?

[medic]

Hi all,

I'm a complete Noob to stock trading.

Bought my first stock, $50K of BCS at $5.30 3 weeks ago planning on a 1 year buy and hold strategy hoping for a 10-20% return.
It's now $16.48 giving 270% in 3 weeks.

All the advice I've read says buy and hold gives better returns due to less frictional costs and lower capital gains tax after a year.

How can I calculate the merits of selling quickly or holding for a year? I was looking for 10-20% return per year so seeing such a large change has made me wonder if the rules have changed and I should sell to lock in the profit?

Thanks,

Mark.

[rffrydr]

What I'm doing with BAC is selling August strangles after this run and be willing to double-up my position at a thirty percent lower price--or earn much of that as my "dividend." Not gonna get that from the bank anytime soon..
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