Can't seem to Let the Winners run

[Bint_Crusher]

AARRGH... I trade the NQ exclusivly... I can get god setups and entries... I just seem to be so trigger happy to take a 5 point ofr 7 point gain..and then watch it turn to what would have been so much more. Today, just two trades alone I pulled 10 points, had I trailed them up it would have been over 36 points.

anyone have any advice

Set yer trade , enter yer trade, set yer stop. set yer targets, then go down the BAR. Mines a pint of Real Ale.

Monitor your trade from a Blackberry if necessary but if it is not going your way just leave it and buy an anasthetic pint.

 

[munchiedude]

i had a similar issue, this thread might help.

 

[the hare]

Set yer trade , enter yer trade, set yer stop. set yer targets, then go down the BAR. Mines a pint of Real Ale.

Too right. The problem is most dont really know when to enter, or how to set appropriate stops and targets.

If they choose to do so from a position of ignorance, they end up unwittingly influencing the outcome of their trades in ways that are not at all condusive to learning what needs to be learnt

This trading malarky is a right laugh really

 

[Shakone]

Too right. The problem is most dont really know when to enter, or how to set appropriate stops and targets.

If they choose to do so from a position of ignorance, they end up unwittingly influencing the outcome of their trades in ways that are not at all condusive to learning what needs to be learnt

This trading malarky is a right laugh really

As I understood it, you don't care much for entries and are happy with random entries.

As for appropriate stops and targets. I know what an appropriate stop is for me, but it's all based on what is happening, it's not fixed. I have criteria for exiting trades in profit, but it's not a target you can hit, it's a target that's only created after the trade is well under way and has shown me where the target should be. Do you have fixed targets before you enter a trade?

 

[the hare]

Do you have fixed targets before you enter a trade?

Its all a bit complicated as I trade multiple instances of one basic system, but with different parameter sets. Broadly speaking, I have fixed stops (they are dynamic, but the method of determining them is fixed)

I dont have fixed targets. 90% of the time I tend to use time based exits, but I will override these very occassionally based on price action. I really struggle to make fixed targets work from a mechanical perspective (I know how to do it I think, but its just too much work)

I traded a discretionary system based on support and resistance for quite a few years, so I do have some view on what might potentially happen, but these days I'm far happier trading a mechnical set of rules.

 

[VendorExterminator]

 

[BeginnerJoe]

Exactly opposite to the OP, I always run my winners into the ground. No matter how big the profits are, I am never satisfied until the profits disappear into a puff of smoke. How do I fix that ?

 

[forker]

By removing greed

 

[tomorton]

Hi BeginnerJoe - it could be Greed (to make more money) or Fear (of not making enough).

Either way, the time to plan your exit is before you enter, not after you have an unrealised profit. Every trade should identify the entry price but also the two exits - stop and target. if you can't see both exits when you see the entry, it's really not a trade, it's an exercise in hope that good position management might make you a bob or two and that money management will protect you from real damage.

Plan to get out at price X if the market does what you expected. X would be the level that is reached by the majority of your trades of this kind. there is no point holding out for a level that is only reached by 20% of your trades if half of the trades that would have been profitable in the 80% parcel end up going back to break-even. If you don't know how far your trades normally travel, you don't know enough about them to trade yet - you can't know what the market will do but you must know what you will do.

 

[Bint_Crusher]

Tomerton you are far too sensible for this forum. Not on old chap, lets have a bit more on the insults side.

 

[tomorton]

I am no good at the insults. My idea of a ripping put-down comes from http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/

 

[Red-Devil]

Cut losses quick let profits run, Ignore you emotions

 

[BeginnerJoe]

Cut losses quick let profits run, Ignore you emotions

This doesn't work. I already let my profits run until they hit the ground in a ball of flame. Don't you have better suggestions ?

 

[Bint_Crusher]

Exactly opposite to the OP, I always run my winners into the ground. No matter how big the profits are, I am never satisfied until the profits disappear into a puff of smoke. How do I fix that ?

Just kill yourself, job done.

 

[the hare]

Don't you have better suggestions ?

I do, but I'm not telling you

 

[BeginnerJoe]

Just kill yourself, job done.

Oh, ok. You are too psychologically dull for me to bother.

I do, but I'm not telling you

Suit yourself. Given time I can work it out myself. I am working along the lines of letting the price action dictate the exit point rather than a fixed pip count. I already use it for entry, along with my proprietary buying/selling level indicator.

 

[piggybridges]

As I understood it, you don't care much for entries and are happy with random entries.

Random entry?!
lol, I thought I was the only one mad enough to try that!

Spent a few months trying to trade from charts so far.

Gonna trade like 'the hare' and flip coins after that and see how i get on! If it works for him....
its only money afterall.

 

[the hare]

Gonna trade like 'the hare' and flip coins after that and see how i get on! If it works for him....

Its not as simple as flipping a coin, although with enough experience you could probably pull it off.

 

[Bint_Crusher]

Cut losses quick let profits run, Ignore you emotions

BJ, What Fred says is exactly right. To add to that have a pre determined target, if necessary have a rule about it meeting that target within a specified time, Say enter after the US open and must have hit target before lunchtime in NY.
Only muppets trade in hope that things will go alright eventually as you do.And that is about 80% of traders.:clover::clover::clover::clover::clover::clover::clover:

 

[munchiedude]

BJ, What Fred says is exactly right. To add to that have a pre determined target, if necessary have a rule about it meeting that target within a specified time, Say enter after the US open and must have hit target before lunchtime in NY.
Only muppets trade in hope that things will go alright eventually as you do.And that is about 80% of traders.:clover::clover::clover::clover::clover::clover::clover:

dude, why does all ur posts end with such drama ad emoticon?!?! are you high or somefing?