Trading With No Stops

I know this sounds crazy coz it is possible to loose everything but this is how I traded on my demo account and I have continued the practice on my live account.

The way I trade is to jump in when my indicators are pointing towards a short sharp move in price but the market sometimes goes in the opposite direction first.

Without the stop I am able to ride through this to the profit.

Anyone else do this or not think I crazy.

It depends on the profit vs. loss because when a sharp move occurs, and it goes against you, it will destroy you. but, you can always have a real wide stop. but determine what the profit/risk is before and the winning percentage and from those you could have a wide stop. The thing about it is that it is good to have a stop, just because if the trade goes against you, and you don’t cut it, you’ll end up losing in the long run. However, you know your system better than anyone right. What I like to do is look at past data, and see what happens whenever the signal occurs(what happens when it fails, what happens when it is a profit.), from there you can set a stop or just when the market does not do what it normally does, you cut the trade. anyways basically when trading you want to have a failsafe way not to lose everything on the trade, so a stop is good, but if you can cut the trade in your own (very hard for most people), do it. The thing is, is the system is not 100% right, it doesn’t happen every time, so you just need some way to get out when things go wrong. Anyways hope you get more responses.

I prefer to not have a Take Profit order so you can ride the trend to the end instead limiting yourself. I always have to use a stop even if it’s 50-100 pips which is better than nothing which is what my account would be without one :mad: . It also depends on the pair your trading and if your at your desk all the time. If you trading the GBP/JPY which can move 300pips in a day than I would use a wide stop than none at all. If your watching it all day than you can use a mental stop as long as you know what your willing to risk.

Topgun

I trade without hard stops. It’s not for everyone, so if you’re uncomfortable trading without them then you should stick to using them.

You should also definitely start off using stops rather than not. You can then more on to experimenting without stops when you have all the other essentials of trading worked out.

I have pretty explicit rules and guidelines on when to get out of trades that aren’t working out, so I don’t just hang in there blindly, waiting forever for price to move back into the black.

Trading without stops is fine and dandy if you’re always at your computer whenever you have an open position. If not, though, it’s nuts. I can’t be at my desk at all times, so I have to use stop losses. And because Oanda doesn’t use trailing stops, I also need to use take profits as well.

Actually what I said is not 100% true coz my broker generates an automatic stop just under a margin call. But I guess it is down to your style of trading as my trades generally last less than an hour and if I have not recieved an order executed notice by then I will make a desicion weather to stick with it or not.

But does anyone else do this or had bad experience from this, with all the talk of stop hunting I hear about this would be an easy way of beating them no?

Though Im trading live now I still don’t know much, what is take profit?

I think take profits is setting your exit target so your positions will close when the price reach the target you’ve set :slight_smile:

I think stop loss is crucial… :smiley: if you are always infront of the computer and looking at the chart and your positions… and you only scalping… you won’t need stop loss… :slight_smile: but for day trader… i think stop loss is really needed :smiley:

To answer your first question and to add to what shadow said. Stop are always good, even they are wider than normal. Even if you are at your computer if perchance your internet goes down and you don’t have your broker’s number handy or unfamiliar with calling up your broker to arrange stops (it’s a very unique process), you could end up losing a lot of money. There was a thread in another forum about this exact situation.

Your second question, take profit. It’s the exact opposite of a stop loss. You can place a stop loss to get you automatically out if the price goes against you too much. You can also take profit or place a limit such that you will automatically get out with a profit at your specfied price. Hope this helps.

Mike

I have my trading platform (Oanda) automatically put in a 30 pip ST(Stop Loss) & a 60 pip TP(Take Profit) on every order I place. Once the trade is executed, whether a market or limit order than I adjust the Stop to be at a strategic location like at the last swing high or low where I know it will most likely not be hit that day. If I see the price getting close to my TP than I usuallly move it further away and watch the price action. If it blows by it than I trail my stop loss at that location, otherwise if it reverses than I close the position out.

Topgun

That is such a good idea, so simple cant believe I didnt think of it myself.

Thanks.:slight_smile:

I gusse as I have just started and dont have much in my account my “no stop” technique is ok, once I have sumin to loose Ill probably try and protect it more.