I started practicing on 4 H TF and need help managing my trades. Within the 4 hour the smaller time frames are going in and out of profit and I don’t know whether to stay in the trade or get out.Should I just stay in the trade and watch my stop being hit, or ? Where should be the best place for stops?
If any experienced trader would give me some tips I would appreciate it.
Thanks
When you first decide you want to place a trade, you need to first look at where to put your stop. Thats the number one thing most traders make a mistake doing… its all about when to admit your wrong, and being GOOD at losing. Yes, good at losing …
Then your targets should be at least twice as far away as your stop is … so if your stop is 25 pips, you should be aiming for at least 50 pips …
But all this is going to depend on what strategy you use…
This sounds to me like you have two bigger issues at hand. First, you have not analyzed the charts properly using your startegy (you do have a strategy right?), and second you are second guessing yourself.
Of course if you do not have a strategy, then what advice will work?
You are practicing and this is demo, so practice in the demo like it is for real, so that you can take good habits with you when you go live.
Once you have analyzed the situation, and setup your trade, stick to your strategy. If that means a SL is going to get hit then it gets hit. After the trade has completed, analyze either what went wrong or what went right. Then if necessary modify or adjust your strategy accordingly. This is in part what your trade journal is for.
What good will come if while you develop as a trader you are always second guessing yourself? Second guessing creates emotional instability while trading.
Read post #1 of this thread Same old story. Unfortunatley Shr1k did what you are doing now.
Then, armed with your trade journal and your strategy, develop the skills to actively manage your trades.
Don’t know if this is what you wanted to hear, but this is what i got out of your post.
Of course i may be off my rocker here, but this it what i believe. If i am off my rocker, i am certain i will be told so. 
An overall good placement of stops is normally below or above the last swing low or high respectively. But then again you risk should be define by your system an your MM strategy.
Absolutely follow your plan. If your plan does not have clear stop and tp points you will always be trying to hit tops and bottoms. Unlikely to say the least. Their are a ton of simple strategies around find one and stick to it. Only then will you gain the confidence to let a loss happen with out the reaction that lead to my situation.
I think its a better to deal with it same as smaller TF, say on 15 min your TP is 20 and sl is 10 pip, same ratio should apply for the 4hr TF so youd have 200 pip tp and 100 pip SL. thats how I do it all the time. the only different is that the trade will take more time before it hit your TP/SL
a good sl for me has allways been swing high/ low
Good luck
Jado
Thank you all for your responses.I have some more questions.
So even-though the 1 h TF for instance is approaching support/resistance I should remain in the 4 h trade? Is that because 4 h trade has more room before reaching s/r and will probably brake the 1 H s/r?
What other TF I should analyze before I place my trade ? Does daily and weekly play any role?
Is it the best to enter a new trade at the opening of the 4 F candle , or is it ok to enter at any time?
I read somewhere that entering from shorter time frame is good, but when would that be? What shorter time frame? Is that to enter at swing high/low of shorter TF as a limit order on 4 H?
Are certain pairs more likely to reverse the trend and which ones follow the trend better?
I noticed that ER/US candles seems to want to go against the trend…very tricky.
Sorry for so many questions but I wanted to learn right from the beginning
Thanks again.
i would have to respectufully disagree with you on that one, although it is great to be able to get into trades with a risk : reward ratio of at least 2:1 this is not always practical nor does it tend to be most profitable, your stops and take profits should be defined not by a ratio but by analysis of your chart
simply saying my take profit will be 50 because my stop is 25 does not suffice as good reasoning, you have to be flexible and be able to adapt to the market to truly be successful and no mechanical strategy is going to allow you to do that
if you decide to keep a risk : reward ratio of at least 1:2 and are adament against altering this then you have to ensure you are only entering trades where you have a strong analytical reason for your stop being where it is and your take profit being where that is, a reason for one and not a reason for the other besides it fitting your R:R will have a huge impact on your results
for example looking at the USD/JPY you believe 90.35 to be a strong resistance level and you enter short at at 89.55, you put your stop 85 points away so you mechanically decide to set your take profit at 170 points without looking for potential support areas. you now have a take profit at 87.85 an area which hasnt been broken since 21st of january and is just past the strong historical and psychological support at 88.05
a trade such as the above will have a lower success rate due to not properly planning your take profit, where by slightly adjusting the take profit to fit in accordance with support level could greatly increase your profitability
lee 
I agree completely.
You need to plan your SL and TP by studying your charts, and [B][I]then [/I][/B] check to see if it has a favorable R:R ratio.
If it does, trade it! If not, then pass on it. There’s always another trade around the corner.
If you try to “trade off a calculator,” (a great quote from ThePhoenix) you’ll end up losing.
thanks phil 
that pretty much sums up my rather long winded explanation ( i was trying to sound smart lol )
lee