Do higher minimum stops prevent trading

[u0362565]

Hi all, I used very tight stop losses which means for example like today the min stop requirement moved from the standard 4 to 12 points. This basically prevents me trading while this is in place. It's a frustration but is it a bad thing? Perhaps I should take the view that the market is too volatile and just wait it out. Some would think though that this is the right time to be trading. 

[Caseynotes]

41 minutes ago, u0362565 said:

Some would think though that this is the right time to be trading. 

just need to look at the long wicks top and bottom during high vol to see small players being squeezed out, better to wait for calm.

[u0362565]

58 minutes ago, Caseynotes said:

just need to look at the long wicks top and bottom during high vol to see small players being squeezed out, better to wait for calm.

Thanks, I'd like to use a wider stop to be honest but just can't make the numbers add up. Just not got the capital to play with.

[THT]

They would stop me from trading - the market HAS to conform to my parameters not the other way around as I need the edge, altering parameters and stops removes part of your edge

On many of my trades it takes 2 attempts to enter a position, due to having a tight stop - but I have a R profit value return that caters for that

 

[u0362565]

41 minutes ago, THT said:

They would stop me from trading - the market HAS to conform to my parameters not the other way around as I need the edge, altering parameters and stops removes part of your edge

On many of my trades it takes 2 attempts to enter a position, due to having a tight stop - but I have a R profit value return that caters for that

 

That sounds like a good mentality to have I'll remember that. Of course it also possible to look at other markets but I'm concentrating on one right now, perhaps results would be similar on others but would want to test first to have some stats.

[paul683565]

hi all I have found tight stops prevent a potentially profitable trade , for example / I decide to enter a long trade at £5/point,  I enter the trade on the one hour time frame ,  place a stop loss on the 4 hour time frame then place a take profit sell stop on the daily time frame once I have done my analysis and figured out where price may top out that day , I do not take more than a £500 loss on any trade , if I have stop loss too tight lets say £150 general market volitivity and noise may stop me out before the trade goes in my direction , views and opinions on this would ne most welcome

[u0362565]

For me your stop is large, I use close to the minimum for the market. But I think same applies. I think basically I like tight stops because you can't lose too much but when you win hopefully you win big relative to that. I've been using a 4:1 reward/risk ratio for example.  When I started out I thought the likelihood of pulling this off given how close the stop was to entry was unlikely but actually it does happen fairly often. The issue I have is that I average a win every 4 trades so essentially make nothing in the end but that's just my mean, I have a massive standard deviation that I need to get way down i.e. increase win rate if possible before this is useful. So for me I think I need better timing signals to enter and I enter too readily without really using indicators to help me.

To be honest though what I've found which might be obvious to most is that if the market trends for a period of time it's much easier to make money. When it isn't it's very difficult, the problem is you often don't know when it's not trending to a large enough degree until you're in it and then you need to know to take some time and return later. Like sailing with a strong wind and then all of a sudden it's doldrums.

[dmedin]

I would have thought the main thing preventing trading is the fact that the vast majority of retail traders lose money.