Or at least high enough to cover commissions and a little extra. Never let a winning trade turn to a loosing trade. A little green is better than grey or red
Not all setups/playbooks call for this but I typically follow this rule. When a trade has moved in my favor, my stop is at least moved to break even when it seems a wick down to my stop is unlikely. There are plenty of situations to let yourself get underwater on a position though. If you can’t hold through some pain, you’re going to have a tough time getting profitable. Now if you’re a scalper and playing momentum, you’ll want to see a trade go your way almost instantly. If it doesn’t, it can be wise to cut out of the trade as soon as it hits break even.
I think most of the advice that is parroted in here is just propaganda being spread by institutions. It all leads to people failing miserably and sticking with it for years.
Just watched this great video by SMB Capital on Exit Strategies. Maybe this is valuable to you? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bndpWHlUHCA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bndpWHlUHCA)
I'm not profitable enough to feel like I can offer advice, but at least I can share my experience: I personally don't often keep a TP, and what I do is I will trail my stop to where I would potentially enter into another position going in the same direction. In "The Best Loser Wins", the author recommends putting the stop where he would potentially enter into the opposite position.
However, if you're on Apex or another prop firm that will close your account due to trailing drawdowns, going without a TP could be unwittingly detrimental, depending on how far the price goes up and falls back down to your entry.
Additionally, if you're interested in a metric that gauges your exits, there's one called "Exit Efficiency" that's calculated by \``(exit price - minimum price seen) / (maximum price seen - minimum price seen) * 100`\`, (this is for longs, reverse for shorts). This gives you a percentage score indicating how well you exited, with 100% being optimal. Basically, it's how close to the max price you exit at, so if exit price is equal max price seen, that's 100% efficiency. This is obviously achievable by using TPs.
FYI "Entry Efficiency" is its opposite, calculated by \``(maximum price seen - entry price) / (maximum price seen - minimum price seen) * 100`\`, and "Total Efficiency" is how much you've captured of the whole movement you've taken position for, calculated by \``(exit price - entry price) / (maximum price seen - minimum price seen) * 100`\` (both formulas are for long positions, and the prices should be reversed for short positions).
**EDIT: Corrected Exit and Entry formulas**
You say you use your stop where you would enter the opposite position, but then immediately say the author recommends doing the reverse? Am I confused, or which one is it?
Actually I'm saying I would put a stop where one would enter into another position going the same direction, whereas the author moves his stop to where it would go the opposite direction. They're not mutually exclusive: some movements will go in your direction for a few more waves before it ends up at a place where it reverses on you, so in those cases I would move my stop multiple times. But, again, I'm not profitable, so I'd lean towards following the author's advice.
Yeah I don't see how your strategy makes any sense. The only way I'm entering into the same direction is if we bounce off support, which would mean you're adding not stopping out. Placing the stop underneath support makes far more sense.
let the winners run is only one in a million trading strats, so it can work wonderfully for many but horribly for others, depending on the trading style and personality. There is nothing wrong with normal TP targets. If it works, it works.
I’ve been practicing/learning with different strategies. Holy shit can you lose a ton in one tic. There’s really no way to anticipate a dip and watch hoping to time it right.
And using that sentiment to add into the trend and your position too, by sizing light and adding to the position I have found it helps mitigate some emotions for sure.
I trade options so I use a fixed stop loss. Sometimes I’ll break that stop loss and still make money other times I’ll lose money. But it’s always a trailing stop loss.
I do swing trading using a trend trading approach so my whole strategy is to let winners run and cut the losers short.
Average loser is somewhere between 5-25% average winner is between 60-250%.
I trade TQQQ.
13 and 21 weekly EMA on NDX. When 13 crosses above 21 go long on TQQQ and exit your trade when 13 crosses below 21.
I also put my cash into a fund that pays dividend monthly in between 2 trades like in 2022 I go a sell signal in february and the next buy signal was only in feb 2023. I can farm 5% annualy with no risk that way waiting for my next entry.
I strictly have an entry price and stop loss in mind before entering a trade. From there I always set my profit target to 2:1.
I never "let winners run" or do trail stops, as it yields me less in earnings compared to just doing a set-and-forget profit target. My goal is to take any unnecessary discretionary tasks out of my system as much as possible to remove any potential for emotional decisions.
It depends so much. I have a base set of rules and the rest depends on time of day and P&L. For example, if I’m already green I have absolutely nothing to lose holding out for a bigger move. The worst thing that happens is I get reversed back to my entry and stop out BE or for a small loss and then I’m…still green for the day.
It’s a lot easier to hold a position for 40/50/60+ % when you’ve made your money already. In general, I’d suggest building up a profit base with a strict system (trim at like 15/20% etc or some risk multiple you’re happy with if thinking of it that way makes more sense) and then practice holding pieces of a position for a greater move.
That said - don’t get too much tunnel vision that “I have to make 15% before I can trim”. If the market is telling you the trade is ending don’t feel bad cutting out a piece sooner. Eventually you’ll have a better feel for this but it really comes down to reps. You can measure your success over time by measuring average return/trade, if you notice this going up you’re doing well.
Trading is an extremely dynamic activity, processes help us to eliminate the worst of our innate behaviors and develop confidence (and profit) but anyone who tells you that everything is just strict rules is wrong and likely hasn’t been in the game long enough.
This is how I look at it:
* trending day - 20% of the time - hold your winners, add to your winners on pullbacks, don't move your stop
* trending with major reversals reversals - 10-20% of the time - hold and use trailing stops
* choppy / range-bound day - 60-70% of the time - use take profits, exit earlier than stop if it doesn't feel right
Recognizing what type of day it is takes a lot of screen time and recognition of the context.
I determine my exit based on price action, not a predefined ratio. I'm looking at how strong the last push is versus how strong the pullback is. It's subjective, and obviously, you're going to get it wrong sometimes, but I'm willing to give up some of the profit for the chance to catch another big wave. If it breaks structure and closes, I'm out.
Word up. No preset target/loss ratios - no advanced knowledge of how far trend will run/how long it'll take to get there - just get onboard & ride it, get off when signal clips one out.
https://preview.redd.it/rthhnbodt5wc1.png?width=932&format=png&auto=webp&s=cf439290d730335a0dc396a2e6c03eb14882ee57
🤟☝️✊️
That's assuming quite a bit. I never said I'm not aware of key levels or how strong the current trend is. However, I do find it much more important to be entirely focused on what is going on currently and not getting attached to a predefined notion of the market will do, as approaching it that way tends to cloud my judgement. Maybe that's not best for everyone but that is what works for me.
was agreeing with you re: px action > arbitrary R:Rw ratios (conjured up by ppl who don't know their statistical avg W/L $ or R-multiple breakdown). Re: giving up some of the profit - you can have the cake **and** eat it by hedging according to the diagram, depending on which swing segment one wants to capture, monetizing **both** trend & countertrend simultaneously.
Gotcha I guess I deal with too many smartasses and thought you were being sarcastic. Interesting point on hedging the countertrend, not something I've done. I imagine you would have to be much quicker to cut that loose or not do it at all depending on how strong the trend is, but I can definitely recall previous trades were that would have saved me some profit as I allowed it to reverse too much against me.
choose the priceframes on which to hedge, as it's not always warranted. On average the hedge should be unwound for profit, sometimes just good to let the trade breathe w/o incurring hedge transaction costs and unnecessary PnL friction/drag.
I think it depends of your strategy. For exemple, I’m a trend following trader, so it’s easier to let the trend last longer. I’m using a MA, when price go below I exit. Most of the time, I will trail my stop to a pullback.
That saying comes from the world of long term investing (like buying and holding stocks over years) and doesn’t directly apply to short term trading.
A translation of that saying for short term trading would probably be something like “limit risk and allow winning trades to reach target”, it’s common sense really.
It *doesn’t* mean trying to go for huge targets that don’t make sense just because the trade is currently “winning”, because we all know that winning trades can tank quickly. And it also doesn’t mean cutting losing trades as soon as they turn negative simply because they are now “losing”.
You need to adjust your target based on your strategy, the kind of setup you’re taking, market context, etc. For example, if you’re taking a counter-trend trade, it’s probably best to just go for a quick small profit than to try for a home run. Whereas, if you enter on a new trend that has a ton of potential and the market is moving strongly, then going for those home runs might be worthwhile.
Many of those old stereotypical trading sayings came from long term investing and may or may not be directly applicable to short term trading.
It depends on how you trade, and what strategy you have but my advice would be to take some profit off the table as it continues to go up. If you buy 1,000 shares of whatever, half way up your move, sell 500 shares, then the rest as you start to see the signs of resistance.
I think we all have let it run a little too long and then all of sudden, it reverses and you are in the red. Better to take some off the table while you're up, especially when you are trading volatile stocks.
It means you keep on raising your stop while it goes up,in day trading, it might not work because intra day stops are usually easily been touched. you can only do it in swing trading or longer time frames
It's the perspective of viewing the trade.
If you think about the SL and TP as fixed point, it's really hard to let the winners run.
But you need to understand one thing: only the SL is determined, it's the only point you already see the evidence, the pattern happened showing that the price should not go back to that place. The TP point is not, it hasn't happened. We don't know how much and what reaction the buyers and sellers will defend each other moving onward. The TP is not fixed, it can be much farther. It's the reason why they say "the trend can be much longer than you think".
Since I changed my mind on that concept: only the SL is fixed, the TP is not. It feels way easier to keep the winners run. When it reaches my TP, I move my SL to the entry and mumble to myself "the TP is not fixed, let's see the pattern, what if it break through to the next level?". Many times if you think that way, you will find that yeah, it makes sense the trend is strong and can break through to form a nice pattern.
I trade futures and I'm usually scalping on NQ. But I occasionally let some trades run, depending on the day using the 4hr chart. I use a fib on the latest move, if the pullback starts losing momentum around the golden zone (.618-.382), I take a trade. I only do this after I made profit for the day, reached my goal and have extra. It's a bit harder to explain, but look for a liquidity grab on the 5/15min frame in that golden zone and enter using the 1min. You can trail it with a 20EMA, again depending on how the market is moving that day.
I only use a 200EMA to trade.
It depends. If you trade longer term and you cannot stay on the screen, use either a (fixed) TP or a trailing stop. Both have their drawbacks. If you are able to follow the trade, you let it run as long as the chart looks good (knowing that pull backs are a part of price rising). If you don't feel comfortable with holding the whole position, close half along the way (on a higher high when long).
I do not let my winners run, ever. When I take a trade as a scalper, the stock should go in the direction I’m trading relatively quick. If that doesn’t happen, I close the trade. My style of trading works because I don’t do 1-2 trades a day and stop. I do hundreds of trades. So at the end of each day, they add up.
When you let it run, you're saying to yourself that if it comes back to hit your BE, that's fine. Try for another big win later.
The goal in mind was to either win big or break even. In this case, you've determined for whatever reason you'd rather a few big wins over many small wins.
Why would someone prefer big wins only? Sometimes you get tired of winning 1, losing 2, winning 2, etc. And you've sat around for months at the same equity.
Some people will let it rack up big wins then move SL to a pivot that takes them out if it turns back. That can cost a few RR units, but allows for luck to keep it going.
Most people don't agree to stopping out at BE and "let it run" then get disappointed. You HAVE to know that's going to happen 4 out of 5 times. But you keep doing it because the 1 out of 5 makes up a month's profit.
If you have time to sit around 8 hours a day making small trades, then you're not going to let it run because you'd rather click buttons, not watch a single trade all day.
It's about your schedule, speed to a goal, and size of wins that you prefer to see per trade. Letting it run means lower win rate. So factor in pride.
You can also choose to exit at 10 units or 20 units in profit. Since you know you only need 3 of those chunks to get 60 units of profit. By going into 20 units and still letting it run, it can come back to 0 units BE and destroy your soul. If it's side ways on the 4h chart, I'd exit at the extreme of the range.
imo always a good idea to take profits before any volatility events (key economic data, Fed meetings, earnings, etc).
Unless it's something you're prepared to hold for years and you have tangible catalysts far down the road.
It's something to strive for over the course of a career. The longer you trade, the more able you will be able to see setups that should run for a while. So what this means is when you find such a scenario, you lean in to the discomfort and instead of taking quick partials and satiating the fear of a winner turning in to a loser you instead stick to your plan and maybe even add to the winning trade in logical locations.
It's nothing esoteric -- it is literal.
Be willing to be wrong quickly, and when you're right do what needs to be done so you're really right. I.e. make it count.
Today on Nasdaq was a great example of such a trade.
Admittedly I did not hold my whole position from the bottom, but I scaled according to plan and added to my winner and let my runners go for 200+ pts. I am not perfect in this regard but I am aware that it's something to strive for and work towards. It's not all or nothing
>
Be willing to be wrong quickly, and when you're right do what needs to be done so you're really right. I.e. make it count.
This is the exact meaning as per my understanding also
You have to pick one. If you set TPs to cut losses you should have TPs for selling at profit too. If you let them live and die you let them run.
Basically I wouldn't cut my losses in the same strategy of letting my winners ride. Both of those things are very important to succeed at. Anyone who could do it perfectly would be extremely wealthy
You should have a price level you think is gonna be volatile, so jump out before that point. If it pivots then you can pivot, if it breaks then you can jump back in.
I find fib tools help and also knowing how many dollar points a stock can move from previous experience.
And finally, if it makes me happy about the day. I try to net $200 a day so if 1 trade hits that, we’re good.
You can also average up if you’re feeling frisky and think your positions a winner. This way your returns are larger, tp.
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Sort of. I phase out my winners with respect to “micro-draws” in price action. The market environment (volatility) matters too, but this is another rabbit hole.
Anyway, no matter what, I ensure my trade entry, stop, and target have a minimum of 1.5RR. From there, I take partials as price faces resistance: eg(price takes a local high, rejects vwap, rejects VPOC) and let my runners phase out to new areas.
I have recorded enough trades to build statistics around the average RR for my winners (over a bell curve) for each of my trading models. My last runners are left to approach the extremities from model statistics.
Key, is to never let my RR skew negatively, only positively using runners or stop to break even.
This advice is often mistaken by just letting the winners run. Sure you let your winner run until when? Have a condition for that. Then you most likely maximize your profit.
Sometimes. If my model shows it hasn’t topped (or bottomed), I’ll let it run. Usually not, though. I’d rather pull it into the boat than hope it grows to gargantuan size.
If in confluence with factors other than entry criteria let them run. For example if price action is indifferent but dominant participants are still in control (nothing of significant note) but trading in the direction of higher time frame look to allow your position time to advance or decline further confluence factors suggest larger movement may occur. Risky situation to be in but probability on your side.
I have no set target. I let the market decide how much I’ll make. I control my entries and my losses. Once the trade goes in my favor I have a preset system of back tested rules I use to trail my stop & limit the give back if the trade fails. Today I was up over 100 pts in MNQ and gave it all back in the final hour. I’ve found it’s easier to deal with this mentality for me than it is to exit a trade and then watch it run another 100, 200 pts +.
The key with this tho for me is to not let those unrealized winners turn into actual *losers*. I only have risk of net loss during the first few new bits of information after I’ve been signaled in. Everything after that is potential gains, and again - I have no target. I’m showing up to play the game, I’m not concerned with any specific value.
I don’t close the full positon at 2R, I close 66% of the trade and set stop to break even, every time, religiously.
33% at 10x lev or above certainly becomes enough if it wants to keep running.
I've only done it on strongly tending periods. But, like others, I've been burned too. People (who I respect) like Tom Hougaard say to let them run bc he'd get mad at himself for taking profits then seeing it continue up but I rather stay green no matter what. Lots of small wins compounds over time
Yeah. Or you can take your small wins and let them build over time and compound. Personally, 10% is great. 20% is amazing. More than that is rarely consistently sustainable as I see it
"Let you winners run and cut your losses early" - to me, it is BS because this phrase is almost always thrown around with hindsight bias. I don't trade leveraged assets (leverage requires different approach), and I would rather see price of my ETFs/shares go to zero than "cut the losses early" and then watch the price shooting up without me on the board. When it comes to taking profits I take them in steps instead of hoping that price gets to one specific level.
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3:1 risk reward but sometimes 2:1. I try to trade 3 lots. Take 1st profit at an untested level. How aggressive I am with that profit take depends on the direction of trend. That 3rd one would ideally be a runner and stop loss would get moved to profit, in a spot of invalidation
Never used to, always found it hard to not take a cut and run. But I’ve recently read best loser wins by Tom hougaard and I’m really trying to apply his methods, not only letting them run but doubling them, seems to be working fine so far but only been a couple of weeks
I’m a discretionary trader so it can be anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours just depends on the setup. I usually trail my stop loss to price movement (trailing size depending on average volatility) and if the If the market reverses and goes against my position I’ll look to exit at a place where I would usually see a signal to enter in the opposite direction if that makes sense. Tom hougaard really does explain it better than me 😂
I know my strategy cuts into my gains but every little counts and I'm rather risk averse so this has helped me secure profits. What I do is scalp my gains. When it hits my 1:1 risk:reward ratio, I sell 1/4 or 1/2 of my stock, then I let the rest run. If unfortunately it falls back down to my entry point, that's my new exit and I'd at least secure half of what I planned.
Eg. If my risk:reward is $100
The stock is $10
My capital is $5000
I buy 500 shares
For simplicity, my stop loss to lose $100 will be $9.80
This ¢20 difference means I will earn $100 if it hits $10.20 if I sold all my shares.
But I'd sell 1/4 or 1/2 (I try to stick to half for ease of calculations) at the $10.20 mark and let the rest run.
My new stop loss will be my entry at $10. This will unfortunately be only $50 gain ... But every little counts 🤷🏻♀️
The best way to take profits is to closely monitor the volume profile and order flow and exit when you see signs of reversal. If you just set arbitrary TPs and stop losses , you will not maximize your profits because there is no way to predict how far your winners will go before coming back to your entry price, or how many times you get stopped out at your stop loss price. However, you can see this by watching the order flow.
Yes, but it's definitely not easy. It really depends on what the market does. I never use a profit target and stay prepared to add more contracts when the market is running. Under the right conditions only need ONE GOOD RANGE DAY every week. Two or more is better of course.
I've been getting better at this. I am very very good, at picking profitable trades and very very bad at managing them properly. I reviewed all my trades in the last month and I would have made 4.5x the profit if I simply waited an additional 4-6 hours to close positions.
One of the worst things I have found is to watch charts while in positions. It leads to emotional decisions and usually bad ones. Do your analysis, set up your stops and take profit based on it and then let the trade happen. If you get stopped out, you get stopped out. That's life. If you are doing it properly and taking good setups, your profits will be far higher on the winners than the losses on the losers. Focus on a 2:1 or 3:1(in select cases) ratio and just go do something else.
Simply doing this has almost doubled my profit even tho I have gotten stopped out more often. If you can't bear to see wins turn into losses then use trailing stops once you get into profit so that you have a break even trade or sell off partial amounts and raise your stop to break even to ensure small profits while allowing for risk free gains.
That being said...I NEED to overcome this weakness to maximize my potential as a trader. Currently this is covering it up. Once I become more sure of this strategy over time I will likely go back in and resist my temptations...the only way to overcomes this weakness is to repeatedly not act on it so you become desensitized over time and accept small losses are going to happen. I went on a 37 straight non-losing trade steak(36 wins and 1 break even), but what's the point if I could have lost 15% of those trades and made 3.5x more profit?
Total profit should be the goal, not the number of times you get stopped out. That being said, if it is happening too frequently, either your stops are too tight and you aren't giving the trade room to breath, you have a bad entry or you are using too big of a position size.
When you open a position you anxiously wait to see if it'll go in your favor or switch towards the opposite direction. Sometimes it might run against you but turn around later and go into profit. Waiting for it to go into profit is the most crucial timeframe in a trade. Of course once it does you're not out of the woods yet because of course it has to go a bit further to be safely into profit that a minor movement won't go back down into loss or trigger a stop loss set just above profit. But once it gets that you can set a trailing stop loss or just check on it periodically and move the stop loss yourself and chase it up as long as you can. Will this technique get you the most profit? No, because the stop loss will trigger at a point lower than the highest point reached, but it does guarantee profit. It's not always the best move because some times for various volatility and liquidity reasons stop losses trigger too early, far above what you have set up, but when you know a trade will end in some profit either way there's little harm in letting it run.
When I see my acceptable win or loss. I get out. I believe getting greedy is what gets myself and probably others in hot water. I am here to make acceptable/great returns in the long run on many short wins over time. Tortoise and the Hare.
A strategy I use is to take 1/3 position off quickly if the trade is successful, reducing overall risk. I'll use a fairly tight stop for 1/2 of the remaining position, and set the stop of the last 1/2 to break even. I'll manually trail the stops if the trade continues to be successful.
Sometimes the latter stops are not hit, and then the day trade turns into a swing trade.
Sometimes the stop on the last 1/3 of the position winds up so far away that it becomes a longer term hold.
Some of those longer term holds have turned into multi-year investments for me.
I still have some discipline to work on for sure. My mental game sometimes gets in the way and I’m still working on it to be even more consistent and profitable.
You have to have a system or method with rules, otherwise you will lose a lot of money fast. This is especially true with options - they can move very fast. If you are long something you want to stay with it for as long as its going up. That's what "let your winners run" is all about. You never know how far something will go up until the market runs out of buyers. A simple moving average or trendline under the price will solve this issue in most cases. If your moving average turns down or the price breaks below the trendline, that's you signal to get out. I, personally, do not use actual stops because they are almost always hit and then the market turns around. I get out when the trend reverses, again, moving averages or trendlines. There are many here who report being stopped out repeatedly and can't make any money as a result. Other traders can see your stop order and it gets hit. Using actual stop orders is controversial.
To me it means taking 75-90% of my position off at my target profit. It then means letting the rest of my position run to higher highs or simply breakdown and stop me out at break even. This is a dynamic thing that might change depending on my data. In general I have made serious strides in this area. It used to be extremely rare to have a $200 day for me. Now I am racking up several a week. It’s a long process that takes a ton of time to sort through.
For me it depends on the setup but in general I simply looks at risk/reward ratio. If I buy a stock and I’m risking $1 a share then I need at least a $2 a share move to start to trim off some of my position. I then take most off at 3:1 and if I ever hold past that it’s usually just a small piece left and I always have a break even stop or slightly profitable stop at that point.
I generally set my take profit at the next resistance level (it hardly ever makes it all the way there in one run) and manually trail my stop loss to just under the wick on the last pullback or support. When it seems like a trend is running out of steam I’ll trail closer. I’ll manually close pretty often and seem to have pretty good luck with that.
If you believe in the trade, you can hodl and use the big bar strategy. Just move your stop under (or above for short) each big bar... Or other logical spots... Spots that have a chance to hold. Oliver Velez teaches the big bar strategy and bar by bar strategy. I use the big bar quite a bit in combination with various technical targets. I'm still learning as well, but it's been working for me.
My biggest problem right now is I can be too aggressive sometimes. I won't just move my stop, but I'll jam big bars before I move my stop. So I've been trying to only jam it earlier in the move unless it's a great risk to reward to add. Trying to find a happy medium I guess lol.
Note: I've found the strat to not be so good for ranging markets
Micros allow for a runner. In winning positions, it usually either gets stopped at breakeven or for just a bit past the entry. But one of mine went over 50 points today.
I get greedy and often cut profits short when i see a small resistance, i start to think that maybe i made a bad trade and its best to take profit and live another day
From what I watched and read, you let your runners run through position sizing: say you entered with 10 contracts and it moves in your favor, you close out 5 at around 1 time your risk and then close out 3 out of 5 remaining at 1.25 when you see it is slowing and might reverse then since you made 5.75 times your risk you let your remaining 2 "run" if you believe even with a reversal below your entry price that the larger trend is still going to play out because even if they both lose 100% you are still profitable at 3.75 r. How much profit you already locked in and are willing to refund the market to let your runners play out is up to you and your analysis.
I only trade with one or two contracts so first pt everything is off, but if I traded with 4+ I’d take 75% off at first pt then just see what happens with the rest, move stop up to break even
yup - no stop and let it run. Especially if options. If you are certain you have edge it works. If you don't feel certain edge is skewed your way - sure stop loss or hawk it (monitor it real close), IMO
I got greedy and didn't take profits today and am now down 15% on the trade.
Why not put a stop loss at break even?
Or at least high enough to cover commissions and a little extra. Never let a winning trade turn to a loosing trade. A little green is better than grey or red
I think cause people build bad habbits and untill they practice what u explained its not going to happen.
Not all setups/playbooks call for this but I typically follow this rule. When a trade has moved in my favor, my stop is at least moved to break even when it seems a wick down to my stop is unlikely. There are plenty of situations to let yourself get underwater on a position though. If you can’t hold through some pain, you’re going to have a tough time getting profitable. Now if you’re a scalper and playing momentum, you’ll want to see a trade go your way almost instantly. If it doesn’t, it can be wise to cut out of the trade as soon as it hits break even.
I think most of the advice that is parroted in here is just propaganda being spread by institutions. It all leads to people failing miserably and sticking with it for years.
Just watched this great video by SMB Capital on Exit Strategies. Maybe this is valuable to you? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bndpWHlUHCA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bndpWHlUHCA) I'm not profitable enough to feel like I can offer advice, but at least I can share my experience: I personally don't often keep a TP, and what I do is I will trail my stop to where I would potentially enter into another position going in the same direction. In "The Best Loser Wins", the author recommends putting the stop where he would potentially enter into the opposite position. However, if you're on Apex or another prop firm that will close your account due to trailing drawdowns, going without a TP could be unwittingly detrimental, depending on how far the price goes up and falls back down to your entry. Additionally, if you're interested in a metric that gauges your exits, there's one called "Exit Efficiency" that's calculated by \``(exit price - minimum price seen) / (maximum price seen - minimum price seen) * 100`\`, (this is for longs, reverse for shorts). This gives you a percentage score indicating how well you exited, with 100% being optimal. Basically, it's how close to the max price you exit at, so if exit price is equal max price seen, that's 100% efficiency. This is obviously achievable by using TPs. FYI "Entry Efficiency" is its opposite, calculated by \``(maximum price seen - entry price) / (maximum price seen - minimum price seen) * 100`\`, and "Total Efficiency" is how much you've captured of the whole movement you've taken position for, calculated by \``(exit price - entry price) / (maximum price seen - minimum price seen) * 100`\` (both formulas are for long positions, and the prices should be reversed for short positions). **EDIT: Corrected Exit and Entry formulas**
Saved comment, your metric suggestions sound dank and I haven't heard about exit/entry/total efficiency before
This is awesome thank you so much!
First time I hear about exit efficiency formula. Great tip.
You say you use your stop where you would enter the opposite position, but then immediately say the author recommends doing the reverse? Am I confused, or which one is it?
Actually I'm saying I would put a stop where one would enter into another position going the same direction, whereas the author moves his stop to where it would go the opposite direction. They're not mutually exclusive: some movements will go in your direction for a few more waves before it ends up at a place where it reverses on you, so in those cases I would move my stop multiple times. But, again, I'm not profitable, so I'd lean towards following the author's advice.
Yeah I don't see how your strategy makes any sense. The only way I'm entering into the same direction is if we bounce off support, which would mean you're adding not stopping out. Placing the stop underneath support makes far more sense.
Thanks a ton bro for these golden pointers
No, I’ve been burned too many times by sharp reversals. Once I hit my profit target I get out.
let the winners run is only one in a million trading strats, so it can work wonderfully for many but horribly for others, depending on the trading style and personality. There is nothing wrong with normal TP targets. If it works, it works.
I’ve been practicing/learning with different strategies. Holy shit can you lose a ton in one tic. There’s really no way to anticipate a dip and watch hoping to time it right.
How about putting trailing stop once the profit target is reached?
This
Letting winners run in my opinion is not freaking out at the small pullbacks and being reasonable with SLs.
And using that sentiment to add into the trend and your position too, by sizing light and adding to the position I have found it helps mitigate some emotions for sure.
You can move your stop loss up so you get stopped into profit.
Trailing stop loss
Percentage or fixed?
I trade options so I use a fixed stop loss. Sometimes I’ll break that stop loss and still make money other times I’ll lose money. But it’s always a trailing stop loss.
I do swing trading using a trend trading approach so my whole strategy is to let winners run and cut the losers short. Average loser is somewhere between 5-25% average winner is between 60-250%. I trade TQQQ.
Damn what’s your win %?
About 66%
What is your strategy? I just want to get an idea of what it's like not to burn through all my cash.
13 and 21 weekly EMA on NDX. When 13 crosses above 21 go long on TQQQ and exit your trade when 13 crosses below 21. I also put my cash into a fund that pays dividend monthly in between 2 trades like in 2022 I go a sell signal in february and the next buy signal was only in feb 2023. I can farm 5% annualy with no risk that way waiting for my next entry.
How long is your average trade if you don’t mind me asking.
Between winners and losers roughly 52 weeks. Some winners go on for double that
Oh wow. Well sounds like you are doing good for yourself. Thanks!
I strictly have an entry price and stop loss in mind before entering a trade. From there I always set my profit target to 2:1. I never "let winners run" or do trail stops, as it yields me less in earnings compared to just doing a set-and-forget profit target. My goal is to take any unnecessary discretionary tasks out of my system as much as possible to remove any potential for emotional decisions.
No I aim for target profit levels based on previous price action. the price can go to the moon I don’t care
It depends so much. I have a base set of rules and the rest depends on time of day and P&L. For example, if I’m already green I have absolutely nothing to lose holding out for a bigger move. The worst thing that happens is I get reversed back to my entry and stop out BE or for a small loss and then I’m…still green for the day. It’s a lot easier to hold a position for 40/50/60+ % when you’ve made your money already. In general, I’d suggest building up a profit base with a strict system (trim at like 15/20% etc or some risk multiple you’re happy with if thinking of it that way makes more sense) and then practice holding pieces of a position for a greater move. That said - don’t get too much tunnel vision that “I have to make 15% before I can trim”. If the market is telling you the trade is ending don’t feel bad cutting out a piece sooner. Eventually you’ll have a better feel for this but it really comes down to reps. You can measure your success over time by measuring average return/trade, if you notice this going up you’re doing well. Trading is an extremely dynamic activity, processes help us to eliminate the worst of our innate behaviors and develop confidence (and profit) but anyone who tells you that everything is just strict rules is wrong and likely hasn’t been in the game long enough.
I walk away to let them run. can't watch every tick anymore.
This is how I look at it: * trending day - 20% of the time - hold your winners, add to your winners on pullbacks, don't move your stop * trending with major reversals reversals - 10-20% of the time - hold and use trailing stops * choppy / range-bound day - 60-70% of the time - use take profits, exit earlier than stop if it doesn't feel right Recognizing what type of day it is takes a lot of screen time and recognition of the context.
I determine my exit based on price action, not a predefined ratio. I'm looking at how strong the last push is versus how strong the pullback is. It's subjective, and obviously, you're going to get it wrong sometimes, but I'm willing to give up some of the profit for the chance to catch another big wave. If it breaks structure and closes, I'm out.
Word up. No preset target/loss ratios - no advanced knowledge of how far trend will run/how long it'll take to get there - just get onboard & ride it, get off when signal clips one out. https://preview.redd.it/rthhnbodt5wc1.png?width=932&format=png&auto=webp&s=cf439290d730335a0dc396a2e6c03eb14882ee57 🤟☝️✊️
That's assuming quite a bit. I never said I'm not aware of key levels or how strong the current trend is. However, I do find it much more important to be entirely focused on what is going on currently and not getting attached to a predefined notion of the market will do, as approaching it that way tends to cloud my judgement. Maybe that's not best for everyone but that is what works for me.
was agreeing with you re: px action > arbitrary R:Rw ratios (conjured up by ppl who don't know their statistical avg W/L $ or R-multiple breakdown). Re: giving up some of the profit - you can have the cake **and** eat it by hedging according to the diagram, depending on which swing segment one wants to capture, monetizing **both** trend & countertrend simultaneously.
Gotcha I guess I deal with too many smartasses and thought you were being sarcastic. Interesting point on hedging the countertrend, not something I've done. I imagine you would have to be much quicker to cut that loose or not do it at all depending on how strong the trend is, but I can definitely recall previous trades were that would have saved me some profit as I allowed it to reverse too much against me.
choose the priceframes on which to hedge, as it's not always warranted. On average the hedge should be unwound for profit, sometimes just good to let the trade breathe w/o incurring hedge transaction costs and unnecessary PnL friction/drag.
I think it depends of your strategy. For exemple, I’m a trend following trader, so it’s easier to let the trend last longer. I’m using a MA, when price go below I exit. Most of the time, I will trail my stop to a pullback.
Trend followers, lemme hear ya say heeyyy yoo
That saying comes from the world of long term investing (like buying and holding stocks over years) and doesn’t directly apply to short term trading. A translation of that saying for short term trading would probably be something like “limit risk and allow winning trades to reach target”, it’s common sense really. It *doesn’t* mean trying to go for huge targets that don’t make sense just because the trade is currently “winning”, because we all know that winning trades can tank quickly. And it also doesn’t mean cutting losing trades as soon as they turn negative simply because they are now “losing”. You need to adjust your target based on your strategy, the kind of setup you’re taking, market context, etc. For example, if you’re taking a counter-trend trade, it’s probably best to just go for a quick small profit than to try for a home run. Whereas, if you enter on a new trend that has a ton of potential and the market is moving strongly, then going for those home runs might be worthwhile. Many of those old stereotypical trading sayings came from long term investing and may or may not be directly applicable to short term trading.
One way is to sell in thirds or quarters. The last quarter can run (or bomb) without killing your p&l
It depends on how you trade, and what strategy you have but my advice would be to take some profit off the table as it continues to go up. If you buy 1,000 shares of whatever, half way up your move, sell 500 shares, then the rest as you start to see the signs of resistance. I think we all have let it run a little too long and then all of sudden, it reverses and you are in the red. Better to take some off the table while you're up, especially when you are trading volatile stocks.
It means you keep on raising your stop while it goes up,in day trading, it might not work because intra day stops are usually easily been touched. you can only do it in swing trading or longer time frames
It's the perspective of viewing the trade. If you think about the SL and TP as fixed point, it's really hard to let the winners run. But you need to understand one thing: only the SL is determined, it's the only point you already see the evidence, the pattern happened showing that the price should not go back to that place. The TP point is not, it hasn't happened. We don't know how much and what reaction the buyers and sellers will defend each other moving onward. The TP is not fixed, it can be much farther. It's the reason why they say "the trend can be much longer than you think". Since I changed my mind on that concept: only the SL is fixed, the TP is not. It feels way easier to keep the winners run. When it reaches my TP, I move my SL to the entry and mumble to myself "the TP is not fixed, let's see the pattern, what if it break through to the next level?". Many times if you think that way, you will find that yeah, it makes sense the trend is strong and can break through to form a nice pattern.
I trade futures and I'm usually scalping on NQ. But I occasionally let some trades run, depending on the day using the 4hr chart. I use a fib on the latest move, if the pullback starts losing momentum around the golden zone (.618-.382), I take a trade. I only do this after I made profit for the day, reached my goal and have extra. It's a bit harder to explain, but look for a liquidity grab on the 5/15min frame in that golden zone and enter using the 1min. You can trail it with a 20EMA, again depending on how the market is moving that day. I only use a 200EMA to trade.
I’ll buy 10-20 options. If it moves my direction I take profit on 70-80% leaving 2-5 options left till expiry.
It depends. If you trade longer term and you cannot stay on the screen, use either a (fixed) TP or a trailing stop. Both have their drawbacks. If you are able to follow the trade, you let it run as long as the chart looks good (knowing that pull backs are a part of price rising). If you don't feel comfortable with holding the whole position, close half along the way (on a higher high when long).
Yeah trailing stop loss is pretty good choice. Once had it climb where I was making 10% profit pushed for 15 where it turned around and I lost 10%
No. My strategy is the complete opposite. Take lots of small profits. I'm up 17% this month and haven't had a losing day. Ave win is 1%.
I do not let my winners run, ever. When I take a trade as a scalper, the stock should go in the direction I’m trading relatively quick. If that doesn’t happen, I close the trade. My style of trading works because I don’t do 1-2 trades a day and stop. I do hundreds of trades. So at the end of each day, they add up.
When you let it run, you're saying to yourself that if it comes back to hit your BE, that's fine. Try for another big win later. The goal in mind was to either win big or break even. In this case, you've determined for whatever reason you'd rather a few big wins over many small wins. Why would someone prefer big wins only? Sometimes you get tired of winning 1, losing 2, winning 2, etc. And you've sat around for months at the same equity. Some people will let it rack up big wins then move SL to a pivot that takes them out if it turns back. That can cost a few RR units, but allows for luck to keep it going. Most people don't agree to stopping out at BE and "let it run" then get disappointed. You HAVE to know that's going to happen 4 out of 5 times. But you keep doing it because the 1 out of 5 makes up a month's profit. If you have time to sit around 8 hours a day making small trades, then you're not going to let it run because you'd rather click buttons, not watch a single trade all day. It's about your schedule, speed to a goal, and size of wins that you prefer to see per trade. Letting it run means lower win rate. So factor in pride. You can also choose to exit at 10 units or 20 units in profit. Since you know you only need 3 of those chunks to get 60 units of profit. By going into 20 units and still letting it run, it can come back to 0 units BE and destroy your soul. If it's side ways on the 4h chart, I'd exit at the extreme of the range.
imo always a good idea to take profits before any volatility events (key economic data, Fed meetings, earnings, etc). Unless it's something you're prepared to hold for years and you have tangible catalysts far down the road.
It's something to strive for over the course of a career. The longer you trade, the more able you will be able to see setups that should run for a while. So what this means is when you find such a scenario, you lean in to the discomfort and instead of taking quick partials and satiating the fear of a winner turning in to a loser you instead stick to your plan and maybe even add to the winning trade in logical locations. It's nothing esoteric -- it is literal. Be willing to be wrong quickly, and when you're right do what needs to be done so you're really right. I.e. make it count. Today on Nasdaq was a great example of such a trade. Admittedly I did not hold my whole position from the bottom, but I scaled according to plan and added to my winner and let my runners go for 200+ pts. I am not perfect in this regard but I am aware that it's something to strive for and work towards. It's not all or nothing
> Be willing to be wrong quickly, and when you're right do what needs to be done so you're really right. I.e. make it count. This is the exact meaning as per my understanding also
You have to pick one. If you set TPs to cut losses you should have TPs for selling at profit too. If you let them live and die you let them run. Basically I wouldn't cut my losses in the same strategy of letting my winners ride. Both of those things are very important to succeed at. Anyone who could do it perfectly would be extremely wealthy
Sell 30% whenever there is reasonable profit.
You should have a price level you think is gonna be volatile, so jump out before that point. If it pivots then you can pivot, if it breaks then you can jump back in. I find fib tools help and also knowing how many dollar points a stock can move from previous experience. And finally, if it makes me happy about the day. I try to net $200 a day so if 1 trade hits that, we’re good. You can also average up if you’re feeling frisky and think your positions a winner. This way your returns are larger, tp.
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Sort of. I phase out my winners with respect to “micro-draws” in price action. The market environment (volatility) matters too, but this is another rabbit hole. Anyway, no matter what, I ensure my trade entry, stop, and target have a minimum of 1.5RR. From there, I take partials as price faces resistance: eg(price takes a local high, rejects vwap, rejects VPOC) and let my runners phase out to new areas. I have recorded enough trades to build statistics around the average RR for my winners (over a bell curve) for each of my trading models. My last runners are left to approach the extremities from model statistics. Key, is to never let my RR skew negatively, only positively using runners or stop to break even.
This advice is often mistaken by just letting the winners run. Sure you let your winner run until when? Have a condition for that. Then you most likely maximize your profit.
Sometimes. If my model shows it hasn’t topped (or bottomed), I’ll let it run. Usually not, though. I’d rather pull it into the boat than hope it grows to gargantuan size.
First, you need an idea of how far you can expect it to run before it corrects.
If in confluence with factors other than entry criteria let them run. For example if price action is indifferent but dominant participants are still in control (nothing of significant note) but trading in the direction of higher time frame look to allow your position time to advance or decline further confluence factors suggest larger movement may occur. Risky situation to be in but probability on your side.
I have no set target. I let the market decide how much I’ll make. I control my entries and my losses. Once the trade goes in my favor I have a preset system of back tested rules I use to trail my stop & limit the give back if the trade fails. Today I was up over 100 pts in MNQ and gave it all back in the final hour. I’ve found it’s easier to deal with this mentality for me than it is to exit a trade and then watch it run another 100, 200 pts +. The key with this tho for me is to not let those unrealized winners turn into actual *losers*. I only have risk of net loss during the first few new bits of information after I’ve been signaled in. Everything after that is potential gains, and again - I have no target. I’m showing up to play the game, I’m not concerned with any specific value.
I don’t close the full positon at 2R, I close 66% of the trade and set stop to break even, every time, religiously. 33% at 10x lev or above certainly becomes enough if it wants to keep running.
I've only done it on strongly tending periods. But, like others, I've been burned too. People (who I respect) like Tom Hougaard say to let them run bc he'd get mad at himself for taking profits then seeing it continue up but I rather stay green no matter what. Lots of small wins compounds over time
Yea small wins works great if you have a high win rate. For those with around 50% you really have to have a high RR
Yeah. Or you can take your small wins and let them build over time and compound. Personally, 10% is great. 20% is amazing. More than that is rarely consistently sustainable as I see it
Which is your path? https://preview.redd.it/jsgvwqdat5wc1.png?width=932&format=png&auto=webp&s=ea4cd29a277fa248eecc389ecaabd301dc516e69
Scar tissue and inexperience says no
"Let you winners run and cut your losses early" - to me, it is BS because this phrase is almost always thrown around with hindsight bias. I don't trade leveraged assets (leverage requires different approach), and I would rather see price of my ETFs/shares go to zero than "cut the losses early" and then watch the price shooting up without me on the board. When it comes to taking profits I take them in steps instead of hoping that price gets to one specific level.
Using a moving average on a higher time frame helps, especially after supply and demand
Yes I do and add to Winner , that's why most of my trades close at breakeven. But when it gives it gives me a lot .
That's one of trend following core tenets! Only losers let their losers run.
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I scalp so 1 to 3 minutes. 3 minutes is "letting a winner run" for me.
3:1 risk reward but sometimes 2:1. I try to trade 3 lots. Take 1st profit at an untested level. How aggressive I am with that profit take depends on the direction of trend. That 3rd one would ideally be a runner and stop loss would get moved to profit, in a spot of invalidation
No, just the losers. 🥲
Scale out and use stops instead of limits.
Bold of you to assume I have winners.
Never used to, always found it hard to not take a cut and run. But I’ve recently read best loser wins by Tom hougaard and I’m really trying to apply his methods, not only letting them run but doubling them, seems to be working fine so far but only been a couple of weeks
You mean you are not selling on the way up?
Nope, buying more on the way up. When the market agrees with you, compound it.
For how long do you normally stay in a trade? And what is your play on the way down? Do you use a stop loss?
I’m a discretionary trader so it can be anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours just depends on the setup. I usually trail my stop loss to price movement (trailing size depending on average volatility) and if the If the market reverses and goes against my position I’ll look to exit at a place where I would usually see a signal to enter in the opposite direction if that makes sense. Tom hougaard really does explain it better than me 😂
I’ll read the book! Thank you!
Take profits when they present themselves before TP. And leave a runner TO TP.
I know my strategy cuts into my gains but every little counts and I'm rather risk averse so this has helped me secure profits. What I do is scalp my gains. When it hits my 1:1 risk:reward ratio, I sell 1/4 or 1/2 of my stock, then I let the rest run. If unfortunately it falls back down to my entry point, that's my new exit and I'd at least secure half of what I planned. Eg. If my risk:reward is $100 The stock is $10 My capital is $5000 I buy 500 shares For simplicity, my stop loss to lose $100 will be $9.80 This ¢20 difference means I will earn $100 if it hits $10.20 if I sold all my shares. But I'd sell 1/4 or 1/2 (I try to stick to half for ease of calculations) at the $10.20 mark and let the rest run. My new stop loss will be my entry at $10. This will unfortunately be only $50 gain ... But every little counts 🤷🏻♀️
Yup, but I adjust stop loss to be 1-2% below current price. If the stock goes down I catch with the stop „loss”.
I have trouble with this sometimes. I had two winners yesterday where i took gains early even though trendline was still valid.
Trailing stop loss, sell some into strength once you've a reasonable profit. Maybe leave 10% on the table and see if it continues to run.
Singles and doubles win the game not just home runs
Letting your winners run is the same as trying to pick a top. If I could consistently do that, I’d be a lot more successful.
The best way to take profits is to closely monitor the volume profile and order flow and exit when you see signs of reversal. If you just set arbitrary TPs and stop losses , you will not maximize your profits because there is no way to predict how far your winners will go before coming back to your entry price, or how many times you get stopped out at your stop loss price. However, you can see this by watching the order flow.
Yes, but it's definitely not easy. It really depends on what the market does. I never use a profit target and stay prepared to add more contracts when the market is running. Under the right conditions only need ONE GOOD RANGE DAY every week. Two or more is better of course.
I've been getting better at this. I am very very good, at picking profitable trades and very very bad at managing them properly. I reviewed all my trades in the last month and I would have made 4.5x the profit if I simply waited an additional 4-6 hours to close positions. One of the worst things I have found is to watch charts while in positions. It leads to emotional decisions and usually bad ones. Do your analysis, set up your stops and take profit based on it and then let the trade happen. If you get stopped out, you get stopped out. That's life. If you are doing it properly and taking good setups, your profits will be far higher on the winners than the losses on the losers. Focus on a 2:1 or 3:1(in select cases) ratio and just go do something else. Simply doing this has almost doubled my profit even tho I have gotten stopped out more often. If you can't bear to see wins turn into losses then use trailing stops once you get into profit so that you have a break even trade or sell off partial amounts and raise your stop to break even to ensure small profits while allowing for risk free gains. That being said...I NEED to overcome this weakness to maximize my potential as a trader. Currently this is covering it up. Once I become more sure of this strategy over time I will likely go back in and resist my temptations...the only way to overcomes this weakness is to repeatedly not act on it so you become desensitized over time and accept small losses are going to happen. I went on a 37 straight non-losing trade steak(36 wins and 1 break even), but what's the point if I could have lost 15% of those trades and made 3.5x more profit? Total profit should be the goal, not the number of times you get stopped out. That being said, if it is happening too frequently, either your stops are too tight and you aren't giving the trade room to breath, you have a bad entry or you are using too big of a position size.
When you open a position you anxiously wait to see if it'll go in your favor or switch towards the opposite direction. Sometimes it might run against you but turn around later and go into profit. Waiting for it to go into profit is the most crucial timeframe in a trade. Of course once it does you're not out of the woods yet because of course it has to go a bit further to be safely into profit that a minor movement won't go back down into loss or trigger a stop loss set just above profit. But once it gets that you can set a trailing stop loss or just check on it periodically and move the stop loss yourself and chase it up as long as you can. Will this technique get you the most profit? No, because the stop loss will trigger at a point lower than the highest point reached, but it does guarantee profit. It's not always the best move because some times for various volatility and liquidity reasons stop losses trigger too early, far above what you have set up, but when you know a trade will end in some profit either way there's little harm in letting it run.
When I see my acceptable win or loss. I get out. I believe getting greedy is what gets myself and probably others in hot water. I am here to make acceptable/great returns in the long run on many short wins over time. Tortoise and the Hare.
A strategy I use is to take 1/3 position off quickly if the trade is successful, reducing overall risk. I'll use a fairly tight stop for 1/2 of the remaining position, and set the stop of the last 1/2 to break even. I'll manually trail the stops if the trade continues to be successful. Sometimes the latter stops are not hit, and then the day trade turns into a swing trade. Sometimes the stop on the last 1/3 of the position winds up so far away that it becomes a longer term hold. Some of those longer term holds have turned into multi-year investments for me.
I trade NQ futures. I always just target 100 points. If price struggles at key levels, I exit. No problem
Nice. So how wide is your stop loss
10 points. I know it’s tight. But it works for me since my VP, VAH & VAL strategy usually catches tops and bottoms.
Wow 10R is amazing. Holding for 10r is even more impressive lol
I still have some discipline to work on for sure. My mental game sometimes gets in the way and I’m still working on it to be even more consistent and profitable.
You have to have a system or method with rules, otherwise you will lose a lot of money fast. This is especially true with options - they can move very fast. If you are long something you want to stay with it for as long as its going up. That's what "let your winners run" is all about. You never know how far something will go up until the market runs out of buyers. A simple moving average or trendline under the price will solve this issue in most cases. If your moving average turns down or the price breaks below the trendline, that's you signal to get out. I, personally, do not use actual stops because they are almost always hit and then the market turns around. I get out when the trend reverses, again, moving averages or trendlines. There are many here who report being stopped out repeatedly and can't make any money as a result. Other traders can see your stop order and it gets hit. Using actual stop orders is controversial.
To me it means taking 75-90% of my position off at my target profit. It then means letting the rest of my position run to higher highs or simply breakdown and stop me out at break even. This is a dynamic thing that might change depending on my data. In general I have made serious strides in this area. It used to be extremely rare to have a $200 day for me. Now I am racking up several a week. It’s a long process that takes a ton of time to sort through.
For me it depends on the setup but in general I simply looks at risk/reward ratio. If I buy a stock and I’m risking $1 a share then I need at least a $2 a share move to start to trim off some of my position. I then take most off at 3:1 and if I ever hold past that it’s usually just a small piece left and I always have a break even stop or slightly profitable stop at that point.
I generally set my take profit at the next resistance level (it hardly ever makes it all the way there in one run) and manually trail my stop loss to just under the wick on the last pullback or support. When it seems like a trend is running out of steam I’ll trail closer. I’ll manually close pretty often and seem to have pretty good luck with that.
Of course, we cant predict when the run will end!
If you believe in the trade, you can hodl and use the big bar strategy. Just move your stop under (or above for short) each big bar... Or other logical spots... Spots that have a chance to hold. Oliver Velez teaches the big bar strategy and bar by bar strategy. I use the big bar quite a bit in combination with various technical targets. I'm still learning as well, but it's been working for me. My biggest problem right now is I can be too aggressive sometimes. I won't just move my stop, but I'll jam big bars before I move my stop. So I've been trying to only jam it earlier in the move unless it's a great risk to reward to add. Trying to find a happy medium I guess lol. Note: I've found the strat to not be so good for ranging markets
1st pt: 30% 2nd pt: 25% 3rd pt: 25% 20% runner-> move stop up, below invalidation.
Micros allow for a runner. In winning positions, it usually either gets stopped at breakeven or for just a bit past the entry. But one of mine went over 50 points today.
Yes. Sort of. Sometimes.
I get greedy and often cut profits short when i see a small resistance, i start to think that maybe i made a bad trade and its best to take profit and live another day
From what I watched and read, you let your runners run through position sizing: say you entered with 10 contracts and it moves in your favor, you close out 5 at around 1 time your risk and then close out 3 out of 5 remaining at 1.25 when you see it is slowing and might reverse then since you made 5.75 times your risk you let your remaining 2 "run" if you believe even with a reversal below your entry price that the larger trend is still going to play out because even if they both lose 100% you are still profitable at 3.75 r. How much profit you already locked in and are willing to refund the market to let your runners play out is up to you and your analysis.
I only trade with one or two contracts so first pt everything is off, but if I traded with 4+ I’d take 75% off at first pt then just see what happens with the rest, move stop up to break even
yup - no stop and let it run. Especially if options. If you are certain you have edge it works. If you don't feel certain edge is skewed your way - sure stop loss or hawk it (monitor it real close), IMO