Moving up in limits, when do you know it's time?

I usually follow a 25 min buy in rule, if i've had a great day at the tables I'll move up a limit with one min buy in to see if my luck stays good at a higher buy in. I don't think my style changes much, more likely it's the style of the players at the table I've moved too. You still need to figure out who's making what moves. I wouldn't say I'm crushing the limit I play at but it is in my comfort zone for bankroll(sustainable losses) and for my level of being able to read a situation. I won't permanantly move up until I have enough BR to sustain a large amount of bad beats.

I have had some great runs at the micro NL then I move up and get crushed, Maybe I'll heed the advice on here and just hang on to my money. I don't know what it it exactly, does this mean I'm only a good player at certain levels? Or should I just stay at the level i'm at? Change games at the level I'm at? All I know is I play 2-4 cent nl no problem, I move up to 25-50 cent and get smoked!

I have tried as well at the higher stakes and got beat up pretty good. I am trying to analyze my mistakes with hand histories from both limits and just end up getting confused because the situations with the cards seem to be the same but the outcomes are not to high in my favour. Any tips would be appreciated.

I think first of all you have to have a "comfort zone" with regards to what you're willing to , and can afford to play with/lose. Once you decide what that is and what type of game you're going to play with it on the rest is up to your play,and/or style of play. If you're crushing at 10-20 cent NL and are a consistant winner at that limit you probably should move up,IF you're br can sustain the bad runs as well, IE the above mentioned minimum buy in rule. If you do move up and take a considerable loss, don't chase your losses, this will only make you a weaker, more desperate, less focused player and good opponents will pick up on this very fast and destroy your br. What I do instead is move back down and try to analyze what mistakes I made, IE falling in love with KK when there is an ace on board and I have 2 opponents betting into it, and try to resolve to rectify those weaknesses the next time I venture out into the "forbidden" zone.

I have learned from this post guys thanks. I was always playing above my limits and not understanding why I was constantly having to deposit over and over and over. I'm going to start with $50 now and play just 10-20 cent limit poker and maybe some $1 sng's as well. I realize that with less than 10 buy ins at 50-1 cent limit poker I was constantly unable to sustain a bankroll with a bad run or mistakes I made/make. Maybe now with this new forum and some good cards my luck will change.

I'm the same as milood. I always take to the table 10% of my bankroll ($50) and have steadied out making a small profit at 10-20 tables and $5 sitngo & $5 freezout MTT. If i move up, then i'm losing, so to avoid the temptation, I usualy cashout half at $100 and buy a few beers.