My Newbie System, Any advice?

[TerryPenny]

Hi, I've only been trading sinds October - About 9 months.

This is my system so far:
1. I use 2% of my account to determine the max value of my stop loss.
2. Calculate Stop loss for 1 Share.
2 Divide the max stop loss by stop loss for 1 share.

So 2 % of 10.000 is 200
1 Share is 50
Stop loss is 10%, so 5 each
Shares to buy = 200 / 5 = 40

I made a spreadsheet for that in open office, it also calculates other things like trailing stop, possible profits or loss, %raise needed to cover expenses, win/lose ratio...

3. I sell half at 20% profit, This covers my remaining 10% stop loss and expenses.
The percentage varies on what the stock does, for example if it's at + 22 % I place a stop for half at 20, if it raises more I move my stop.
If It's at 16% up and It's a bad day I'll sell half anyway. Then I fiddle with the remaining stop loss until I'm safe.

4. If the stock drops, but I think it's because my entry was badly timed, I buy half again (1 time only), but I treat it as a separate trade, with his own stop.
The intent here is not to average down.
5 I only buy stocks that are going up over a long time. price is close to EMA 20 and 50 and above 200.
6 Once They go up more than 20% I start moving my stop up.

That's it, no leverage, calls or puts. (otherwise I have to pay Tax to the Gov. Belgian rules...)
I try to follow these rules but sometimes.... I mess up

Result : Invested 5000 Euro, 6 months later added 5000, , Changed to dollar to trade Nasdaq
Lost 10% to Euro - dollar exchange price falling
Lost 15% because of "Tariffs" market drop
594 $ went to Broker fees and exchange tax
Still up 11 % so 11.097 euro, can't see it directly in dollars without having my platform changed to dollar.
67 % of trades profit, average win = 18%, average loss 14%
Drawback : 1200 euro during Tariff scare? no idea. Is it considered a drawback if you keep the shares?

Best trades : Robinhood markets, POET, Tesla, NNE (nasdaq)
Lessons learned: Don't lower your stop. Don't drink while trading.

I'd like to hear what long time traders think of this, just lucky?
I'm rather happy with the results, I learned some valuable things without losing money, And I beat the intrest I would have had in the bank.

 

[brettb]

I also started in October. If you're trading larger cap stocks then do some backtesting. You might be surprised how using stop losses does not increase returns. I don't use them and I sold nothing in April's panic.

The other thing I do is set fixed percentage profit points. That allows me to automate selling with limit sell orders. I used my backtester to calculate the best %. It turns out 5-10% is the best for almost all stocks because of the much higher CAGR. For example yesterday I bought a stock and it went up 2.4%. I sold because that's just such a massive CAGR and better than waiting another month for it to reach 5% or for it to crash and lose me 20%.

 

[TerryPenny]

I also started in October. If you're trading larger cap stocks then do some backtesting. You might be surprised how using stop losses does not increase returns. I don't use them and I sold nothing in April's panic.

The other thing I do is set fixed percentage profit points. That allows me to automate selling with limit sell orders. I used my backtester to calculate the best %. It turns out 5-10% is the best for almost all stocks because of the much higher CAGR. For example yesterday I bought a stock and it went up 2.4%. I sold because that's just such a massive CAGR and better than waiting another month for it to reach 5% or for it to crash and lose me 20%.

Thanks, I also didn't sell everything in April, in fact , I added some Poet stock. I suppose it depends, a stop when Nasdaq is rising is useful I think. However, I dont' get how you sell at 2.4% or 5 and still make profit. I need 3% up to break even with Lynx. Perhaps it's because I'm buying low positions of 1000$?.
I suppose a stop also depends on how much the stock moves in a day. However, moving my stop down only worked once so far (POET) but on my paper account I'm not that strict and it has about equal gains. How do you do backtests? I cant afford subscriptions right now, so I do them manually (somewhat) I'm at 13% now, but I renewed my assessment of profit, because unrealized profits are not real. So realistically, if I was stopped at all positions my profit would be 5%. I've changed my system so I only risk half my profit. My goal is to beat the intrest I would get from my savings account and inflation. So everything above is a nice bonus.
I also find it difficult when to sell, Palantir and Nvidia are up about 10%. Part of me wants to sell, other part wants to keep because I sold Robinhood at 55 and it went to 100. POET went to 7 and I sold at 5.5

 

[AriaS]

I also started in October. If you're trading larger cap stocks then do some backtesting. You might be surprised how using stop losses does not increase returns. I don't use them and I sold nothing in April's panic.

The other thing I do is set fixed percentage profit points. That allows me to automate selling with limit sell orders. I used my backtester to calculate the best %. It turns out 5-10% is the best for almost all stocks because of the much higher CAGR. For example yesterday I bought a stock and it went up 2.4%. I sold because that's just such a massive CAGR and better than waiting another month for it to reach 5% or for it to crash and lose me 20%.

So nice to see a person with common sense and logical thinking 🙂 Without backtesting there is no profitable trading.

 

[roytoy]

Hi, I've only been trading sinds October - About 9 months.

This is my system so far:
1. I use 2% of my account to determine the max value of my stop loss.
2. Calculate Stop loss for 1 Share.
2 Divide the max stop loss by stop loss for 1 share.

So 2 % of 10.000 is 200
1 Share is 50
Stop loss is 10%, so 5 each
Shares to buy = 200 / 5 = 40

I made a spreadsheet for that in open office, it also calculates other things like trailing stop, possible profits or loss, %raise needed to cover expenses, win/lose ratio...

3. I sell half at 20% profit, This covers my remaining 10% stop loss and expenses.
The percentage varies on what the stock does, for example if it's at + 22 % I place a stop for half at 20, if it raises more I move my stop.
If It's at 16% up and It's a bad day I'll sell half anyway. Then I fiddle with the remaining stop loss until I'm safe.

4. If the stock drops, but I think it's because my entry was badly timed, I buy half again (1 time only), but I treat it as a separate trade, with his own stop.
The intent here is not to average down.
5 I only buy stocks that are going up over a long time. price is close to EMA 20 and 50 and above 200.
6 Once They go up more than 20% I start moving my stop up.

That's it, no leverage, calls or puts. (otherwise I have to pay Tax to the Gov. Belgian rules...)
I try to follow these rules but sometimes.... I mess up

Result : Invested 5000 Euro, 6 months later added 5000, , Changed to dollar to trade Nasdaq
Lost 10% to Euro - dollar exchange price falling
Lost 15% because of "Tariffs" market drop
594 $ went to Broker fees and exchange tax
Still up 11 % so 11.097 euro, can't see it directly in dollars without having my platform changed to dollar.
67 % of trades profit, average win = 18%, average loss 14%
Drawback : 1200 euro during Tariff scare? no idea. Is it considered a drawback if you keep the shares?

Best trades : Robinhood markets, POET, Tesla, NNE (nasdaq)
Lessons learned: Don't lower your stop. Don't drink while trading.

I'd like to hear what long time traders think of this, just lucky?
I'm rather happy with the results, I learned some valuable things without losing money, And I beat the intrest I would have had in the bank. I’ve found VettedPropFirms https://vettedpropfirms.com really valuable for exploring different proprietary trading firms. It offers clear comparisons of funding options, profit splits, and evaluation rules, helping traders make informed choices. The platform saves time, highlights trustworthy firms, and gives confidence when selecting the right fit for your trading strategy and goals.

Hi! Your system is impressively structured for only 9 months of trading. Using a fixed 2% risk per trade and calculating position size carefully shows strong discipline, which many beginners overlook. Selling half at profit to cover stop loss and expenses is a smart risk-management tactic, and your method of adjusting stops as the stock rises shows good adaptability. Buying only upward-trending stocks near EMA 20/50 above 200 is a sensible trend-following strategy. Your results—67% profitable trades with decent win/loss averages—are solid, not just luck. Staying consistent and learning from drawdowns will improve your edge over time.