Trading tactics

Does anyone have any tips on moving stops.
I have been trading 1hrTF the past few days the tactic I have employed is to move my stops to Break even at about 1:1 R:R
I have had 8 bets
4 have been successful gaining 186 pips
4 have hit BE
Of those that have hit BE only one would have hit my stop and the other 3 turned and went the way of my bet all moving between 50 and 100 pts

It is part of my plan to move the stops to BE quite early in the trade. So in some ways I am trading my plan.
BUT is it a good plan?

Anyone have any thoughts?

why not re-enter a new order once your stop is taken out ? no need to miss the complete move that you'd correctly anticipated just 'cos of noise

I think its a matter of trial and error and whatever works best for you. Some people don't like moving stops to break even, instead having an initial stop loss and target and leaving both orders until one is hit. Some people use automatic trailing stops provided by their broker and some trail the stops manually above the last swing high or below the last swing low. Capital preservation is one of the most important aspects of trading so moving stops to break even can be great, but not if its stopping you out of trades that would have become profitable. It all depends on what works best with your strategy and only you can establish that. All the best,

Sam.

rathcoole_exile said:

why not re-enter a new order once your stop is taken out ? no need to miss the complete move that you'd correctly anticipated just 'cos of noise

Click to expand...

Kinda wanted to do that a few times - like USD/JPY it hit my BE but I still felt like it was going to fall (which it did). And oil it hit my stop (gaining 30 pips) but I still felt it was going to drop well below $59 ahead of inventory figures. And guess what? It did just that.

megamuel said:

I think its a matter of trial and error and whatever works best for you. Some people don't like moving stops to break even, instead having an initial stop loss and target and leaving both orders until one is hit. Some people use automatic trailing stops provided by their broker and some trail the stops manually above the last swing high or below the last swing low. Capital preservation is one of the most important aspects of trading so moving stops to break even can be great, but not if its stopping you out of trades that would have become profitable. It all depends on what works best with your strategy and only you can establish that. All the best,

Sam.

Click to expand...

It seems like an unfathomable equation.
You move your stop to BE it hits it and then moves the way you thought it would. You don't move your stop it hit it and moves the way you thought it would.

I am noticing different markets behave in different ways (probably at different times of the year). I suppose experience will help. My current plan seems to be working. Maybe I need a little more patience. Maybe just need to try little things over time.

It's all good fun anyway

Take 50% off at R:R 1:1 for a few weeks that way even if it hits your original stop it's free.

Or

Keep going as you are if it's working for you. This industry is full of lots of coulda woulda shoulda.

there is no right answer just what you're happy with. Personally i like avoiding losses so if i'm in a trade and it reverses quite a bit i think i'm probably wrong and won't let it run inot loss if possible.

foredog said:

Take 50% off at R:R 1:1 for a few weeks that way even if it hits your original stop it's free.

Or

Keep going as you are if it's working for you. This industry is full of lots of coulda woulda shoulda.

there is no right answer just what you're happy with. Personally i like avoiding losses so if i'm in a trade and it reverses quite a bit i think i'm probably wrong and won't let it run inot loss if possible.

Click to expand...

It feels really good when a trade goes to 1:1 risk reward and then I put my BE. But saying that it has been frustrating to see the it retrace almost exactly to my BE before shooting off again.
I'm gonna stick with it though - It feels good to put in that BE stop feels like a free bet

If you're new to trading then it's good to get that stop to BE for two reasons

A It keeps your account from shrinking if not at least growing.

B Pshycologically, if a lot of those profits go back into losses it will make it hard for you.

The way I trade is that move my stop to BE after a certain amount of TIME.

I feel that you have to allow your trade to 'breathe' a bit. So if the market moves to 1:1 risk reward very quickly and then retraces immediately due to noise .. if you've already moved to BE, you're stopped out.

If you instead keep your original stop, and only move to BE when you think your target should have been reached within a certain amount of time, then you'll probably get that feeling "well it's a free trade now, and I won't be so annoyed to be stopped out at BE, because I've waited this long and now I'm at the mercy of the market"....

I hope that makes some sense. As Foredog says, there's no right way of doing it, but that's how I do it.

Good luck

Paulie