profit taking

American

noun

Stock Exchange.

the selling of securities that have risen in price above costs; selling in order to realize a profit.

profit taking British

noun

selling commodities, securities, etc, at a profit after a rise in market values or before an expected fall in values

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of profit taking

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Net income for the quarter more than doubled year-on-year to $42.96 billion, causing a share price bump that was quickly erased by apparent investor profit taking.

From Barron's

That partly explains the “swift transition from aggressive buying to organized profit taking,” she said.

From MarketWatch

“Meanwhile, strong NOK performance recently has resulted in foreign profit taking in shorter maturities though overall the market has appeared rather balanced,” the chief Norway strategist says.

From The Wall Street Journal

"Once profit taking started, it just snowballed."

From BBC

“This raises the risk of profit taking or mean reversion in both gold and silver over the near term,” he says.

From MarketWatch

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023