How to take profit?

I’ll create an entry order - with obviously an entry price and a stop loss (trailing usually around 30 pips) but no take profit.

Once the trade is entered Ill keep an eye on it - once Im 20+ to 25+ pips up then Ill move my stop to the entry point - any more then Ill set my SL to -15 pips ie nice n tight on a trailing basis.

Is this the best way to achieve the maximum profit per trade? I havent a lot of time and dont use technicals?

Ive also thought of creating 2 orders - and taking profit on one and letting the other role with a tight stop?

Any quick wins or basis improvements I can make would be welcome.

The problem with a trailing stop, well at least as far as im aware on the MT4 platform. Is that if your connection dies the trailing stop dies also. So if your at your computer then its no problem. But if your leaving your trade with set and forget its very dangerous i think. I like the idea of trailing stops so I dont need to keep locking in my next SL every “x” amount of pips. But you cannot rely on Trailing stops alone. What if your connection dies and your not there, then price hits the take profit perfect level and turns around. You might be in a trade you never even saw profits with because the trailing stop died and you placed no take profit level…

Like I said, if your a day trader and staying on the computer its no problem. Unless obvcourse you connection drops, the ISP is down and you have no backup. hehe

What i’ve said probably doesn’t apply to you because you said you will keep an eye on the trade. But then whats the point of a trailing stop if your there. Could do it manually when you decide is best. Decide on your take profit level and move your stop every 15 -20 pips. At least then if the connection dropped your take profit is there. I don’t know im jsut a newb I could be talking crap lol

After saying all this. I guess you could just put a trailing stop and “also” a take profit level so the trailing stop will follow you up to the take profit.

Im a day trader using FXCM station - so even if my pc or connection dies my trailing SL remains in tact.

Sean

If you are a day trader, not using technicals are you trading based on news/data?

And how do you day trade if you don’t have a lot of time?

I use signals - I’ve been applying myself to various signals and seeing which ones suit my style and schedule - I think the best way maybe to set the SL (trail to reduce losses) and TP at the start and then let them ride for 4 hours - if they do not enter then cancel - if they enter the market then let them run - I played around with the SL on one today and it cost me 30+ pips due to stopping out too soon. Also - setting up and forgetting them suits me.

Just wondered if you knew how I could brush up my act and take more profits?

Im thinking - leaving SL trailing and TP in tact is better (over the long run) than moving SL to entry point once say 30 pips have been made then tightening up SL to 15/20 pips - in that larger profits will outweigh losses on first option and make more net profit than overall smaller profits on 2nd option - what to do what to do…

If you’re using “signals” don’t they also include exit rules?

They do show TP and SL - but there is latitude so I am trying various ways to manage them once they enter into a trade - just wondered what you thought was best?

Without understanding the basis for the signals I couldn’t say. My basic rule is that I want my exit strategy to be a function of the reasoning for the trade.

Hello, I think that if you do not have much time and do not base your actions on a type of analysis that you did, you have to give the Forex the same importance of a game… investing very little money.
By the way, I think that’s a good thing for you to use a trailing stop in order to reduce risks, but you have to take a look at your losses, you should also set a low initial stop loss. I advise you not to go down in the risk-return ratio below 1:1.
Bye bye and good luck :wink: