Just interested in finding out what you guys would class as good pippage for either a day, a week or per trade.
very curious.
I will only be putting 1 percent of my account per trade max.
but i will be compounding profits.
would you say 80 pips a day is too ambitious.
No thats not to ambitious as long as you dont expect. Shoot for it sure. But realize market symmetry as you might not get that and you surely will not on every trade. All trades are different so what you get on this trade you will not get on your next.
It all depends on your trade duration.
On a 1min chart scalper type trading then 80 pips is very ambitious per trade, but on a weekly chart if you only thought there would be 80 pips in a trade that could last several months you wouldnât bother.
Iâm not a fan of setting pip/profit targets.
They tend to cause people to enter bad trades to try and make the target. Have a good, profitable, system and take all the trades it offers.
Some days you may get 8, some days -80, and some days 800!
I think a better way is to set target over a long run, say, 3 months, half a year or even a year.
yes, small period of time always will let you ignore the risks, sometimes, one risk might be fatal.
For me its how ever many pips my system says I can shoot for. I have rules that govern both entry and exits so based on the analysis and what the chart is showing me at that given time is what i shoot for. I am most comfortable taking smaller trades between 30-50 pips for the most âgaurenteedâ/âcherry pickedâ pips to be had. Usually at somepoint after that I may let the rest ride for the bigger move but a majority of my trades end up being in that range. If my rules govern that I actually get larger targets like 80-100+ then I am always either scaling out or moving my stop to breakeven or trailing it up to lock in some profit. You really have to take what you see. Setting a goal per trade is a mistake, weekly goals i find are helpful for performace analysis and review. Anything above that for my records are just averages or analysing months or more of my own performance for more long term growth and improvements.
At least 1.6 pips per trade,
Pip targets are silly as are dollar/euro/pound amounts 
Iâm fully automated but I canât help the odd discretionary flirt when I find myself watching the markets and my system on my iPhone.
Took my broker for 133 pips on 13 June with 14 1 lot (standard) trades.
If I try that tomorrow I might give it all back but I usually leave it to the trading system.
If you chase pips or dollars the market will hand your ass to you if you over trade or make a dumb entry based on greed.
Donât expect, take what youâre given, walk away and try again another day.
It really all depends on how much risk your willing to take. Are you willing to wait and see if price will move another 30 pips when your already 20 or 30 in profit? How about this. Instead of setting a specific goal work on capital conservation. For example I have two trades open with a 30 pip stop. If those two trade were to hit the stop the damage would be -2%.
How can we combat this you say? Lock in profits by exiting one of those trades at +20 or 30 pips, move the remaining stop up to break even and let price show you when to exit. Maybe a retracement occurs and your stop gets hit on the other hand maybe price moves another 60 pips and youâve bagged 120 pips for the day. Either way you have no risk because the stop is at BE and youâve already locked in +1%.
This makes perfect sense to me though others may not agree. Either way at the end of the day itâs all about risk management, capital conservation, and of course placing/exiting the right trades at the right time.
ICT has some great advise on pip goals and much more check it out.
All The Best,
Johnny2pips
I think some traders failed for not taking profit. We should take profit when we are already in profitable trades before it is too late to do so.
Trying to make a 30 pips a day is like trying to put tame the dragon that canât be tamed.
The market is non-linear by nature and doesnât have move in accordance with your trading method/system to give you 30 pips per day. Some days it might give you 100 pips other days it will give you no pips.
Your goal as a trader is not to make pips. Itâs not to trade the EUR/USD. Your only goal as a forex trader should be to:
Only trade when your trading system / method says that there is a trade to take that is so obvious you will bash yourself over the head with a shovel if you donât trade it. Only trade when your method appears.
[B]If you trade with a profit target in mind this is what your trading will look like:[/B]
You might be trading from the bottom line that you need to make 40 pips per day. You have organized a set time to trade each day for 2 hours to do exactly that. You even figured the best time to trade is when the European and American market overlaps. You made a plan to use 2:1 profit to loss ratio and that you will be ordering your trades with a 20 pip profit target and 10 pip stop.
When the European and American market overlaps you start trading. You order your first trade knowing that if you win your first 2 trades that it will be an easy trading day, however it was a loss. You are now down 10 pips. You figured that you could probably settle for 30 pips for today so all you need is still 2 profitable trades (-10 + 20 + 20 = 30). You order your second trade for the day and it was a profit. You are now up 10 pips. In relief you order your third trade for the day hoping that itâs a profit and you can turn your computer off for the day however in shock itâs a loss. You are now down -10 pips. You are 1 hour through your trading session and you have 1 hour left. You quickly find another trade and itâs another loss. You are down -30 pips. You now feel a little worried that time is running out and you need 3 profitable trades to make it to your 30 pips profit for the day. You starting to scan the market in anger, trying to look for a trade since the 2nd hour is almost up. You find one and you order the trade with your fingers crossed hoping to god that itâs a profitable trade and itâs a loss and your down -50 pips. Now thatâs a far cry from the + 30 pips you were hoping for.
You go turn your computer off in frustration since the 2 hours is up. You canât believe what just happened. You followed your plan exactly but it didnât work today. That night you canât sleep since you are thinking about how much money you lost and you canât stop thinking about the charts.
The next day you return to your computer with your fingers crossed hoping that it will be a good trading day. The European and US markets overlap and you begin to scan the market for a trade. You finally find one and you make your first trade and it ends up being a profit. Fffeewww you say in relief that was much better than yesterday. You scan the market cautiously and find another trade and 15 minutes later itâs another profit. You have now hit your 40 pips for the day. But wait Iâm on fire why stop now, I still havenât made back my loss from yesterday. Now your bottom line is not to only make 40 pips today but also to make back your loss from the previous day. You order the next trade and it ends up being a loss. You think to yourself. âWow that was stupid.â You scan the market again and nothing appears until the last 30 minutes and you order the trade and itâs a loss. Youâre now down to 0 pips for the day.
[B]The secret to trading is to get your intentions right![/B]
If your intentions are wrong donât even bother. The only intention you should have is that a seemingly, comprehensible, easy to understand, obvious trade has presented itself. There is no other reason to trade!
That means trade your method an only when your method appears. Some weeks might only trade 2 times other weeks you will have so many trades to make you have trouble picking.
Personally, I think that you (OP) are approaching this issue entirely incorrectly. The market has fluctuations, stable periods, choppy periods, different Pairs give different returns at different times - for instance, USD/CHF gave us a magnificent trend for parts of last year, this year is very different to trade, EUR/CHF was a lovely Pair to trade a while back, but is currently (since the SNB intervention) pretty awful to trade for most strategies, EUR/USD is much spikier at the moment than it was this time last year although we are still in recession, every Pair has its story - so to aim for any sort of specific, regular return is missing the fundamental point of what constitutes a consistent, profitable approach to trading, imho.
My best ever trading week netted me over 1000 pips. My worst week gave me nothing - indeed, a loss. Both of those weeks fit with my strategy and were, within the overall context of my trading year, successful weeks. But even those headline numbers are useless to you in establishing a benchmark. Why? Because a pip means different things to different traders. You donât know whether I risk ÂŁ1 per pip or ÂŁ1000 per pip. You donât know whether my overall risk per trade equates to 1% of my trading account balance or 20% of my balance. More importantly, you have no way of knowing whether I am a good trader who makes good money year in, year out, or whether I fluked (or lied about!) the 1000+ pips in a week, and actually make a regular thumping loss. You donât even know whether I trade live at all.
So my headline answer would be that noone here should be aiming for a set amount of pips or money each day, as over time the market simply wonât play ball with that approach. If you really must set a target, then I would consider that target in percentage terms, and would not think of that in even weekly terms. An average monthly percentage return is something that can merit a conversation, but personally I think that a quarterly or even annual target is far more relevant. The market gives what it gives, and that varies wildly, so the approach we take has to mirror that flexibility or we just wonât suit the market and will lose. Trying to bend the market to fit a theoretical profit target is the last thing that any successful trader will be thinking of doing. Grab big profits when they are available, limit your losses when they are not.
If you are consistently profitable over each quarter then you might be getting somewhere. If you can average more than a 5% return per month over a full year then youâre in the game in terms of viewing this as a career. Start stringing those years together and you can be a pro if you want to be.
You obviously donât know me, and can ignore all of this as nonsense. But if you take one thing from me, take this: if you want to view this as a career and make a lot of money over the long term, please never sit down at the computer on any given day with a specific pip target in mind. Find a good strategy, execute the setups it gives you mechanically, and you will make money. Good money. And at that point you wonât care if you make your cash on the first day of the month, the last day of the month, or in a few lucrative lumps scattered throughout the year.
ST
I agree with the spirit of this post, but would never advise using words like guaranteed - no such thing in currency trading so would not use that term, even as shorthand, as it gives the wrong impression.
Agree with this, and the bits I cut (didnât want my post to be [I]too [/I]long!).
I see where you are coming from, but would caution against taking profit too early. There is a sweet spot in between; many traders fail to profit from a good strategy as they lack the courage/faith/confidence/training/cojones/whatever to leave open trades open. This is a subtle, complex area that takes in all sorts of subissues such as scaling, trailing Stops, partial profit taking and a few others, but as with most things there is a balance to be had here - profits have to run, just to a sensible point. Too many newer/intermediate traders go through a period of cutting winning trades too early while believing that they are hitting the right moment. Experience later tells them that they were actually getting out too early.
Thatâs wise words of wisdom right there.
Apologies for being presumptuous enough to critique othersâ posts, but I often think that the thing most lacking on this site is context - there is lots of advice, much of it nonsense, and no way for newer traders to distinguish. So even if OP chooses to lump me in with the nonsense, at least by pointing out those I agree with I am enabling my advice to be judged in some form of context, which is much more useful, I hope, than a range of standalone opinions.
There are a lot of opinionated traders peddling bad advice on this site, recently. I donât post as much as I used to, largely for that reason and the attitude that too often comes with it, but when I do post I try to give people a feel for me and a context for my advice so at least they can disagree with me from a position of understanding. I apologize unreservedly if my appraoch appears superior, condescending or presumptuous, that is not my intention at all. Iâm just a little forum-jaded lol.
ST
daniel fx âŚthat was a good post.
i have been exactly there.
yes maybe i should not think about pips or profit âŚand just trade when it makes senseâŚ
pips and profit do put you into an emotional state and yesâŚthat can cloud your judgement.
anywayâŚ
remember âblue oyster likes anacott steel.â
simon templar âŚyour the saint and thatâs all that matters really.
i like everything you said.
No worries. Glad to help.
Just trade when your method appears thatâs it. Be patient and be comfortable with not being in a trade. Not being in the market is a position in the market. Your just sitting on the side lines waiting for your method to appear. Then when it does, you ambush it and make the trade.
Lol thank you - and your openness to ideas suggests that you are starting out with the right mindset.
17 June 10pm - 18 June 9am
152 Discretionary Pips / iPhone / EURUSD 1std lots + GOLD 0.5 cts
Lost sleep for the day but at least Iâm out with profits booked. Watched another 60 pips show up in my direction and sat on my hands.
The market is still there tomorrow. Take what your given, and come back tomorrow.
Tomorrow could be a bomb, if so, iâll take the hit and show up the following day.
No targets for tomorrow.
Totally agree with ST,
Itâs not about the pips, but about your ROI, markets have a varying average daily range, so trying to pull out 80 pips each and every day is more or less financial suicide. All I would add is to work in the ATR (Average True Range) into your pip targets, it may seem rather ambiguous setting a TP of 100 pips with the ATR reading is under 100pips.
And remember: lunch is for wimps.
Indeed, whether there is âroomâ for a trade to play out for the R:R (or however one measures these things) as one would wish is a key part of my check for whether a setup meets my criteria. I trade a number of Pairs, so it is something I have to look out for in particular.
I think in general too many newer traders get too bogged down in pips, win rate, R:R. These things are important, but they are not the be all and end all, they are simply components of the wider plan. Trading is about taking one amount of money and then investing a lot of time in turning it into a considerably larger amount of money. Regardless of how one goes about that, itâs still a money game and should be thought of as such, imho.
wow, I mad 5 pips on my demo for the first time today