Clarifications regarding stop losses and target profits

Hello to all. After going through multiple youtube videos, and extensive reading on babypips, I wanted to confirm that I got the different SLs and TPs right.
1 - For a buy market order, sell limit will be the TP, and Sell stop will be the SL. (vice versa for the sell market order)
2 - For a buy limit order, sell limit will be the TP, and sell stop will be the SL (vice versa for the sell limit order)
3 - For a buy stop order, sell limit will be the TP, and sell stop will be the SL (vice versa for the sell stop order)
Am I right ? Thank you very much, and sorry if this seems trivial.

Set stop losses to limit potential losses and protect capital, placing them below support levels for long trades and above resistance levels for short trades. Target profits should be set at levels where price has previously encountered resistance for long trades and support for short trades, aiming for a favorable risk-reward ratio. Adjust stop losses and target profits based on market conditions and price movements.

1 Like

This is not trivial at all. Understanding this is core to successful trading unless you always buy and sell at market. I am waiting for a brave member to answer your question. M.Joey did not answer you. He just made a statement that did not answer your question.

3 Likes

True, but it’s one of the house bots (evident from many of its other “posts”).

Still it’s “new content” and that apparently helps the forum somehow (or so they believe). :roll_eyes: :grimacing:

2 Likes

Hi, there are users on this forum who did not like my answers, to put it mildly, one of them almost made me leave this forum with his insults about me. If these “users” are so experienced and have “tremendous” trading knowledge, where are they now? Regards Greg

1 Like

Not sure who you mean, Greg, but it does appear from the feedback section that quite a lot of members (including some clearly experienced ones) have left the forum because of exactly the kind of issues that @Mondeoman and @JohnOptimist mention above?

2 Likes

Hmm, I had identified some “bots” last year, but had forgotten about them in the meantime. Besides often being useless, it is more annoying that they could be confusing or even misleading to newcomers. That cannot be good for membership morale.

3 Likes

Ehh I think you are overcomplicating things here slightly. There are many order types that aren’t exactly useful to the general retail trader unless you have very specific things you want to do with your system.

As far as you are concerned as a beginner, you need to understand LIMIT vs MARKET orders.

MARKET order fills immediately. You click “buy” and you get into that position on the ASK price. You click “sell” you get into that position on the BID. If you don’t know what bid and ask is, it is the difference in spread, i.e. how low the lowest seller wants to go vs how high the highest buyer wants to go. If they match, there is a trade. So when you click “buy” for e.g. you get matched with the lowest seller.

Limit orders fill at the price (or better) you specified. So if you think about it, you can only put a limit buy order LOWER than the current price, so that once it comes down to your price, then it fills at your price. If it never hits your price, you don’t get filled. What happens if it comes down really fast and go past your price? You get filled at a better (lower) price for your buy limit order.
Why can’t you place a limit buy order ABOVE your current price? You can, but the price is already better, so it would get filled at the ASK, just like a market order.

So what is a STOP ORDER? It is an order that turns into a market order if price hits. So why use a stop order instead of a limit order? Because a market order ensures it gets filled. If you use a limit order, you might not get filled if price goes too fast against you.

So back to your question, what do you do when you are in a position? Your TP would be a limit order, your stop loss would be a stop order. This would ensure that if price hits your TP fast and goes past it, you get filled at the original TP price or a better TP price (good for you!), however if price hits your SL and goes past it fast, you are guaranteed to get filled, so that if it keeps going against you, you are out of the position. You might be filled at a worse price (i.e. lose more money than your initial stop loss), but you are better off in case price goes against you for an extended distance.

Whether it is a buy or sell order, it’s just the opposite side of your trade… i.e. if you are long in a position, you are selling limit TP, selling stop SL. If you are short in a position, you are buying limit TP, buying stop SL.

4 Likes

Thank you so much. I really like how you explained why you can’t have a buy limit above the current price.

you know it is not the answer? or maybe you don’t :wink:

with greetings for brave member’s on this forum :slight_smile:

Ps: I hope this post will not be deleting for Inappropriate behaviour/Flaming. :crossed_fingers: