How long do you leave your orders opened?

Hello, Im a newbie on Forex. And now, Im testing scalping strategy, so I open and close a lot of orders during a day. But I have a question to traders with more “long-term” strategies. How long do you usually keep your orders opened? Some days, weeks, months?

You’ve answered your own question, above.

It’s such an ambiguous question that the answers will vary depending on the trader.

I cancel orders that no longer meet my TA criteria, but that’s obvious.

Occasionally I find I have an order open for several days which would still open a good position from the TA point of view but price is simply not moving with any energy in the direction to trigger my order. I usually cancel delete these after 2 days at most - if the price doesn’t have the energy to trigger my order it is unlikely to have the energy to make a strong move in my direction after the order is triggered.

And what about swaps? Does it sighnificantly affect the profit it order is opened for some weeks for example?

I used to keep orders open for weeks on end, but I no longer do that. I have reached the conclusion I do better when I open and close positions within 48 hours.

I really don’t go with fixed theory at all, I strongly believe that we got to do things according to how situation demands, if we try to decide upfront then we are likely to face difficulties, so that is why never try to decide it early. It is absolutely must and vital that we keep trades open if there is genuine reason and similarly close it early if we have logic behind it. If we are not doing these things then we are not really trading.

Till it hits SL :slight_smile: Simple as that.

Or take profit? :slight_smile:

What about timeframes? In what timeframes do you usually trade? What is best for scalping? I trade on M5

When I feel now i can make some profit i close my orders immediately.

if you are trading on mini lots (10k) positions reasonable take profit should be between 20-60 bucks/per trade.
if you are using standard lot(100k) positions should be between 200-500 per trade

You are welcome here! By the way, I don’t have any particular trading target or goal; my trading strategy is very simple just dig out good entry points and use that opportunity according to my trading plan! Yes, I am a long time Forex trader and don’t like to open multiple trade positions time but I use standard trading lot size to make enough money, this is my strategy of long time trading!

That’s a good point. In a well-thought out trading plan the SL is placed there for a reason, there’s no point in closing the position before that.

But if you trade medium term, are you watching charts constantly? every moment ??

my longest deal lasted for 4 days. I asked here for help some time ago and people wrote what to do, but I cant stand so long deals psychologically. when they are closed it makes me feel safer. but I’m practicing now on demo too

Well, I don’t count trading session here! Basically, I always open my trade positions according to my market observation, I set my SL and TP levels in order to my analysis result! I believe my own trading skill, that’s way I always wait for the result after opening my trade positions, whatever SL or TP it is, I don’t care!

I’m the same. When the deals are opened for long time I feel a little bit confused, as if I will suffer big looses. But, all the same, I prefer long term trading, so I want to master more than one day orders…

I feel the same way. Keeping positions open for a long time makes me feel nervous - and the longer they stay open, the more nervous I become.

I do not remained open my orders for a long time . Try to close within the same day . Some times I remain it opened for 1 day . I do not wait for many days to get my targets. As a short term trader I have to close my positions when I am not monitoring it.

The point is that sometimes you have to be patient to achieve success. Price trends on short timeframes may look confusing but the challenge is to believe you are right and keep a trade till it hits SL or TP. Simple as that.

It depends on the situation, the deal might hang around for 1 day, or maybe for a month, depends on the strategy. But in general I personally set the stops and don’t have to check into the terminal every hour, I know I’ve minimised my risks.