Broad question. There are, possibly, as many answers as traders, possibly. Use stops. Set where? Wait 'till you feel the pain?
When you “know” where the market is going, does that influence the decision to override your stop.
Do you leave the loss running and try to hedge it with another trade?
What have you learned. What parameters do you use? But! What do you really do? 
This is a broad Q’s but one I feel is more important then the entry. As I am still tweaking my exits, I usually have a target for my exit before I enter the trade. Though some of them could of ran more, I take a more safer option. There are many ways… 1:1, targets, fibs, trend line, moving averag, gut feeling and the list can go on.
This is an area were if you have found something that works for you, then there is no right or wrong way, it’s just right for you. Half the battle till you get more experience is your psychology and tolerence, as they are not loosers till you exit.
if youre in a correct trade, you can pick your timeframe and use its support or resistance areas (others use the fibs, but the fibs are no longer as important as they were as the new traders who have entered the forex arena are from the equity markets (which one can understand) and they use support and resistance as opposed to fibs) Put both on your chart and you will see that only “accidently” does a fib fall on a support or resistance are and tp’s are being taken at s+r !
through the use of advanced charting programs and computer examination of trend and momentum, very reliable exit points can be figured and one should NEVER ignore the bollinger bands — price breaks a band to upside, and it will pull back and if it happens around resistance, there’s your tp.
others who tend to “swing” trade use trailing stops to get them out of a trade, which after a decent run is probably as good as any, although you will usually find the price continues its movement.
the “perfect” exit depends on HOW you trade — do you “swing”, “scalp”, hold long term positions ? HOW you trade will also determine HOW you exit and you will learn what is good for you over time.
BUT a very very good hint is to combine your fibs with barrys support and resistance ---- this gives you a pretty danged good place to start. I also push the Linear Regression Channel, which shows the historical highs and lows together with the currencies main TREND — knowing and seeing this information gives one a good idea of where to exit with no pain !
enjoy and trade well
mp
[I][B]Within the great hall at Elfinore stands a wondrous coffer, precisely four cubits square and securely latched against the outside world. Inside that repository, shut away from impertinent eyes, abides many an intriquing trading secret garnered from around the world and over the ages !
As a child, i used to watch from the darkness as the secrets were debated and annotated by the elders. No one there held a single thought of my presence – BUT I KNOW WHERE THEY HID THE KEY !!
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[B]You absolutely should never to this. [/B]
Work the math on this. No matter what happens with price, this will not improve your position. In fact, it will cost you extra.
I decide stop loss before anything else and never move it. If I’m stopped out I was wrong and I take the hit. Resetting the stop loss because you don’t want your stop to get hit while you hope it comes back is emotional trading and will slowly wipe out your account.
When a trade is positive I get out a couple of different ways. Either price hits my pre set TP, or it hits my SL at break even or it hits my SL after I’ve set it more and more progressively postitive.
I never simply hit close, because you will get some sort of slippage or requote as price moves. I’d rather lock in a profit witha postitive SL or TP point.
…and what do you look for to get back into the market. Markets have sudden surprises and systems and strategies fail. The result can be a big setback, or possibly an insipid loss of capital. What tells you to step aside of trading and reconnoiter? And what gets you back in?
Seems you don’t really know even your own system. Or, maybe, you’ve got yourself a truncated system.
Try backtesting, buddy.
I know, some will say that backtesting is unreliable and bla bla bla. But they usually confusing themselves with automatic backtesting which usually for robot trading or EA. Or they don’t really know what to look for in manual backtesting.
Yes, you cannot take backtesting result like it was etched on the rock. But here’s what you should get from it:
You will need rigid self-control even more during live trading. Ask others who already made some considerable success in this field.
With good backtesting result, you will recognize this movement AND CAN USE IT TO SET YOUR STOP LOSS POINT.
So you see, if manual backtesting can answer your question and even more, why don’t you give it a try?
There’s no simple answer to this because it depends on your method. More specifically for me:
I step aside when I don’t want to trade the current pairs conditions. I usually like a trending pair with a high ATR, because it’s easy to trade. Pairs only move in so many ways. Trending, ranging, cosolodation and breakouts. Determine the way the pair is moving and use an appropriate strategy to fit the type of move the pair is in.
P.S. manual systems fail when they are only designed around one or two of the above mentioned market condition, or a trader falls in love with one type of market condition and tries to apply it to all the others.
1:1 Risk reward.
Its slightly high on the reward part as I add my spread in.
so hard to answer a broad general question.
MANY are the “losing” trades that are NOT really losing trades, simply trades one entered at a point where the price is going thru a retrace ---- the “problem” is what kind of retrace are we looking at, a simple 15 - 23 % retrace(normally called a DIP) BEFORE the price continues back in the direction of your trade ? Or are we looking at a mid day, 50 - 84% retrace that wont head back UP again until midnight EST ? Or some silly combination somewhere in the middle ?
I PERSONALLY will take a counter trade to my original trade, sometimes to hold margin (i take a LARGER LOT size, so that I not only protect margin, but decrease it as the trade develops — “winning” position overrides loser and you gain equity") although usually i simply taking ANOTHER trade that may have developed in the MIDDLE of my other trade, which some would call a LOSING trade ! Its NOT a loser if you know where its going, where the market is heading and where your original tp point was (and still is)
NOW, the reason so many dont like this process is simple — MOST new traders cannot IDENTIFY and set a solid tp point on a trade and walk away from it, doing another, while things dont look good — FEAR sets in, although the price is simply retracing and FEAR and a too TIGHT sl will then dump you out of what was a good trade !
NONE of this is to be attempted by those who havent a clue as to where they are in a price’s movement, and one should NEVER go long when a price is at the TOP of its LRC (price channel) or go short when the price is at its bottom.
the process WORKS and returns very very good profits, BUT one must KNOW and UNDERSTAND the market, its intraday reversals and its TREND.
NO trade is a “loser” if youre trading WITH the major trend, and i STRONGLY advise all newbs (and most others, for that matter) to trade with the trend as much as they can — do so and you can wave goodbye to your “losers” forever, as long as you maintain proper money management, dont overtrade and actually KNOW what the trend is.
People make forex out to be some random, jittery and unreadable trading vehicle, but as said by so many pro’s and good traders, “forex is the most trending market there is” so you can count on that trend, as long as you understand where it ends !
enjoy and trade well
mp
[I][B]Within the great hall at Elfinore stands a wondrous coffer, precisely four cubits square and securely latched against the outside world. Inside that repository, shut away from impertinent eyes, abides many an intriquing trading secret garnered from around the world and over the ages !
As a child, i used to watch from the darkness as the secrets were debated and annotated by the elders. No one there held a single thought of my presence – BUT I KNOW WHERE THEY HID THE KEY !!
[/B][/I]