How Do YOU Enter A Trade?

Trading Discussion Risk Management Practices
1

I’ve spoken with a few traders on this subject but I’d like to see how many of you go about entering a trade.

For myself, I trade swings (1-4 day moves) for the most part off of the daily and 2-4 hour charts. I’ve used a method whereby I’ll analyze a probable turning point and will place a buy stop above a strong bull bar (candle), one that finishes near it’s high and the reverse for selling/short resistance. That way, I’m entering on momentum and increasing the chance that I’m right. I also don’t like for the market to pull back too much against me. You could also say that I like quick conformation. However, to do this, you enter further away from a danger point (swing high or low), making it sort of like paying an insurance premium to increase the likelihood of being right.

There are others who simply buy or sell in an area of supply/demand or support/resistance and wait it out to see if they’re right. IE: Selling really close to the top of a resistance level and placing a stop at a swing high. This method sounds good and highly profitable if you’re right especially since you’d increase your risk reward. These guys don’t enter blindly at these points, of course. They’d usually wait until there’s a sign of strength at the bottom or a sign of weakness at the top and get in as close as they can to the bottom or top with a market order or maybe on a lower timeframe. I would think that the downside to this method is that you may have to wait a while before know whether or not you’re right.

Because my first method is sort of costly and that setup doesn’t occur often, I’m thinking of switching to the latter method. I’ve been highly accurate in forecasting market turns but there are times when I miss the opportunity of cashing in on it because my preferred setup didn’t occur. I’ve found that in many cases, it would have been much better to just find a potential point of support/resistance, place the bet + the stop in that area and walk away.

What method(s) do you use?

2

Most of the entries i decide is based on the pivot point for the respective currency pair. And observing its close above or below the pivot points in combination with the fundamental analysis i take up the trade.

3

Dont worry about what others do. It will only ruin your account. Personally i enter a trade by using the buy/sell button.

4

With most (not all) of the trading methods I use, I’m looking only for a perceived high probability of a 15-pip move in “my direction”. When an appropriate bar-pattern materialises, according to my price action and support/resistance parameters, I enter three lots, typically at market, with an initial stop-loss which averages 15 pips, and a take-profit order to close two of those lots at +8 pips to avoid losses, and then I either close the last lot at +15 pips or let it run (adjusting its stop-loss manually in accordance with the position of the most recently formed swing-high/low).

With one method, I open trades at a set time of day by buy/sell-stop order with targets of either 21 or 18 pips and an [I]automated, trailing[/I] stop of the same size.

With another (rarer) method, I enter a single lot, usually at market, with an initial stop-loss above/below the most recent swing-high/low, trailing the stop-loss manually, and let the trade run for about as long as I reasonably can.

All the entry methods mentioned above are free from indicators, and aimed primarily at controlling risk, rather than at maximising profit.

8

I usually prefer using MA or BB for getting into any trade and of course we need to make sure there is no big news releasing to trouble us.