..."I hit my profit target" is a phrase you read a lot; but how does this rest with the wisdom of "let your profits run"? I think these 2 ideas are somewhat contradictory. How often do people use the excuse of hitting a profit target as a way to justify reacting to the fear of losing and therefor getting out too soon?
shadowninja
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I think you've missed the point of the notion of "letting your profits run". Newbies will set a stop of eg 20 pips and take 5 pips. Having a target of 20 pips or 40 pips with a 20 pip stop means that they let the profits run to the target rather than grabbing a couple of pips here and there because it's in profit. Having the willpower to see 7 pips and not take profit after sitting in a 15 pip loss for a while or having had 2 previous losses of 20 pips is what the issue is. That's how I understand it.
new_trader
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For me it is how I manage my STOP. Whenever I enter a trade I generally have a good idea of how many points I expect to make from the trade. If I have judged correctly I move my STOP to that point to lock in the profits and then let any further profits develop naturally. That is to say, the market will either retrace and take out my STOP and if it doesn't I will trail my STOP as the market continues to move in my favour. I should say that sometimes, after a loss or two, I snatch a profit as soon as it is available.This is the most difficult aspect of trading. Having courage and faith in your judgement!
Yes, I would agree with you! I use P&F chrting to gauge an idea of how far a price might move and if the price is made then I move my stops up. If things begin to go against me I get out with either a small profit or a small loss. That's the idea anyway.
B
Black Swan
when daytrading I view 30 pips gain (over approx. a one hour - half an hour time frame) as a good return. Anything above this is the cherry on top. I'll then start to look for usual signs of weakness and exit. When you're trading a quid a pip 30 pips is nothing (in terms of money), but even when you only move up to 3 quid a pip on a 30-40 pip movement that's approx. 100 quid profit. Do that ten times a day (with perhaps 3 losses at 30pips) and the world's your lobster Rodders. 
