I suck at exiting positions

[wimo]

I seem to be getting into the right trades.

But I do suck at getting out at the right time. It's either way to early, or too late...i.e. the trade reverses on me and wipes out all profits.

I am a fan of trailing stop. But even trailing stops seem to cash me out way too early.

What do you guys & girls do to squeeze enough out any particular position? (i.e. make your profits run)

 

[ItsAlex]

If you have a trade journal, you can do some backtesting and see what you can do to improve results. For example, what would have happened if:

• Enter with reduced size and add when the trade turns a profit. (enter 50% of full position add 25% and 25% - 3 clips to full size)
• Take partial profits instead of closing profitable positions and leave the trailing stops to do the work. Take 50% off the table when you feel closing a winning position. If it keeps going, great, you make more money. If it turns back and hits the stop, you have covered some or all of the cost.
• Increase trailing stop distance

Every trader/strategy is different, if you are getting into good trades, you might just need some finetuning, and that's unique to you.

Good luck

 

[Guest Karma]

I hear you, I have a similar problem I have decided to trade with lower amount on the spread and so far it seems to be better. Also I must confess it makes me feel more confident as like if you want to put a pound a point I now put 0.25 per point come in with another 0.25 and then 0.5. I found it better in one sense especially because it allows you vary your stops and limits. Gonna try a trading journal. Think its a great idea

[wimo]

Cheers Alex 👍I'll definitely be trying some of your suggestions

[Guest Andre]

8 hours ago, wimo said:

Cheers Alex 👍I'll definitely be trying some of your suggestions

Good and safe practice is to automatically place trailing stops when you open a trade.
TS (trailing stop) points depends on time frame and amount you trade. The longer time frame the bigger the TS points away. All markets have different TS points because the move in different ways/volumes.

A good indicator to which point the market is going to move is it's history.
Look back at the support and resistance levels of the market you trade in. Mark those with indicator lines that will indicate to you the previous support and resistance levels. This goes for any time frame you trade on.
Place indicator lines on support/resistance levels on Daily, 4H, 1H, 10min time frames.

Look through the history of the FX/Indices/etc you trade and see how many points the market moves in a certain time frame. Example: TS points for DowJones would be more than for Nasdaq.
The time of day you enter/exit the trade is also important. Note how the market moves at certain times. Example: when the NYSE/LSE/DAX opens or closes. Important times - 90min, 60min, 30min and 15min before any stock market opens or closes.  Those are normally the times the market makes it's biggest moves.
 

[JJP]

On 26/06/2020 at 15:23, wimo said:

I seem to be getting into the right trades.

But I do suck at getting out at the right time. It's either way to early, or too late...i.e. the trade reverses on me and wipes out all profits.

I am a fan of trailing stop. But even trailing stops seem to cash me out way too early.

What do you guys & girls do to squeeze enough out any particular position? (i.e. make your profits run)

 

I'm a scalper, and so it is important to get out early in both a win and a loss situation. Especially when markets are as bouncy as they are at the moment. I take half profit at Target 1 and move SL to breakeven. My expectancy is that a winning trade will average 2.4*R, so I normally fully close the trade at 2*R. If I am going to leave it running in the hope for more, then I move the SL up to 3 pips under the 3rd bar back from the current price. My strategy gives me at least two entry opportunities every day, so I don't mind getting stopped out in profit.