What size account to start with?

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NOTHING taken paul --- perhaps i can explain better.

if we imagine a short entry presents itself on the H1 chart, towards the end of the evening (these, and the H4 charts are how i trade while i sleep -- i just enter a trade and leave it with my set tp points)

but anyway, weve seen what appears to be a great short trade, but 2 sisters of stunning proportions and looks barge into your home (we shall assume youre single for the moment) and DISTRACT you completely from your trading !

ok, youre not single, but your wife had to go to Quatamala to help her older sister develop a banana plantation, leaving you alone and lonely for a few years !

so a few hours later, perhaps a tad tired, they leave and you notice the trade YOU HAVENT TAKEN YET !

OMG says you, and peering at the chart you see theres still 35 pips to go before support, so you ENTER, even though its a few hours "late" for the "optimum" point !

assuming youve followed my instructions and are using the s+r overlays and your fibs, and taking into consideration the price action that has gone before, you SET YOUR TP and seek the comfort of your own bed, now solitary !

waking in the morning, a rested and new man, you take a look at your SHORT position and low and behold, you HIT THE TP right at the reversal point !!

CONGRATULATIONS BIG GUY --- youre a hell of a good trader !!!!

AND IT DIDNT MATTER WHERE YOU ENTERED !!!

SEE WHAT I MEAN !

mp

Is it really so hard to understand that the entries and exits are of equal importance? A tick gained/lost on entry is equal in value to a tick gained/lost on exit. That's the bottom line. Why create some kind of artificial divide?

jj

Now i see!

Good trading, Mp!

PS. Those sisters were fantastic! ...they even knew how to trade! They're booked in for next week.

mp - while I agree exits are important, that's a pretty false analogy - you're pretty much arguing that being slightly inaccurate in your entry is not as bad as completely messing up your exit. Obviously this is true, but I think the point Paul was making was slightly different.

You say it didn't matter where you entered, but in actual fact, you were just a bit late getting in on a valid entry. Similarly, it wouldn't be too bad to mess up an exit, provided you weren't too far off.

I think entries and exits are both important, and without taking both into account, you can't properly determine risk/reward, and therefore your edge.

It's the entry that is definative. A stop defines face value risk and a negative exit/reward. Where does that leave the positive exit?

Stops are an exit, is it important that they are kept from being hit? The aim of a good entry is to avoid the stop....no?

So you need to hit the positive exit, but where is it? And more importantly, is it realistic in terms of your entry price, yes, your entry price, not your mathamatical ratio you've made up as 2:1 or 3:1 R:R. ( Christ! what about the 'No Stop' lot)

So the whole trade is hinged around the bloody entry!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, heres how this humble trader partakes of this great game ----

what youre telling me is THEORY, and what im talking about is REALITY --

OFTEN, we miss the beginning of a trade, for anyone of uncountable reasons, BUT IF WE ARE IN THE TRADE, then the EXIT is the ONLY thing of IMPORTANCE TO US !

If we enter at the ABSOLUTE PERFECT POINT, then the EXIT is STILL OF MAXIMUM IMPORTANCE TO US.

given that in BOTH these situations, the EXIT is always considered impt and that the ENTRANCE CAN BE CORRECT OR NOT "CORRECT", it is obvious, by definition, that the EXIT is more important, since it serves both types of entries !

ANY method of trading which uses stops or voodoo to exit is simply intensely foolish to me, and to that end i once set up a $250 demo for a group i was teaching --- the purpose being to show what one could earn with that small an equity stake.

While i was proud of the increases made, what one member pointed out was that EACH AND EVERY EXIT i made was EXACTLY at the point the currency reversed and moved away from its prior trend. To use a stop, which could give away ANY number of earned pips is sacrilage to me --- to use an ma cross, which always gives away profit, is sacrilage to me --- to do anything that DOES NOT NAIL THE EXACT PRICE is sacrilage to me !

BECAUSE I AM A TRADER, and years it is to have earned that title, and if i cant tell where a price is going, in any timeframe, then i do not deserve the title !

I DO NOT use STOPLOSSES, WHICH I DO NOT ADVISE NEWBS TO TRY, so i never get "stopped" out of a trade and consider that my profit point ---- I place my tp and often simply go to sleep, waking in the morning with my profit !

what youre telling me is you DONT KNOW HOW to figure the PERFECT tp point and therefore CANT DO IT, so you count on a stop loss (which can lose you an awful lot on the exit point) to get you out of a trade !

THAT IS SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME AND THE ONES WHO TRADE WITH ME !

enjoy and learn well

mp

What is the 'begining' of a trade, that you may miss, for all sorts of reasons....taking the dog out, taxing the car, unblocking the sink,...all this going on at the begining of a trade?

Have you ever missed a trade whilst mowing the lawn? (that's not metaphor, by the way, i don't mean to be rude)

Are all your orders, manual market?

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Ive prob had em all, but not yet the Nuclear explosion --- THAT would get my attention !

treat each "arrow" as the "optimum" or "perfect" entry point !

all my orders are manual, with a lot at market, but not the exits --- those are almost always "limit orders", although i may exit a trade manually for some reason, but NEVER where i wouldnt place a limit order (i often place a limit order, especially after 5pm edt here in the states, WELL BELOW my actual tp point --- if the mm is gonna "headfake" me, then i can return the favor --- unfortunately i have to exit manually or lose the exit !)

mp