I guys, i am a scalp trader, but i want to get in to the medium to long term trading as well. I got this bad habbit of taking profit too early, even though i set myself a target , i jst manually close it in the end. Since i scalpe, so i trade in a reasonably large position than normal, but with a small stop.
Any suggestion of how to let the profit run abit and stop early. I know it is about decipline, planning , obey ur rules and all that, but jst hard to execute.
Cheers
Place the trade, set your SL and TP, then shut down your computer and go see a movie.
The life of a FOREX trader!
I used to have the same problem - well i still do…
The one thing im trying to tackle it, is once my trade is around 15/20 pips up, ill close a portion of my trade, move my SL to break even. From there its a free trade and you don’t really have to worry what happens as you’ve already secured some profit…
Then, as Yunny said, SL and TP in place, close my chart and do something to occupy your time…
I had this problem as well. It still comes back sometimes but i have developed enough discipline to even sleep while having my positions on for long term trading. I tried the avoidance thing, just like yunny and a lot of others do but it was always in the back of my mind. And now with iphone apps you can check it all the time and get alerts anywhere, so that really wasn’t getting me away from the market nor a piece of mind. Really it came down to self confidence. For me its the same confidence I have when I am scalping and price prints my TP I don’t get filled and now we are back to unchanged or holding a long term position trade I have had on for over 3 months.
It comes down to fear, and confidence. Why are you uneasy about this position and still holding it? There is a difference between managing a trade for technical reasons and “managing” a trade with technical excuses but really for a psychological need. So lets start with the fear, the real pivot of this whole episode. Why are you afraid? Is it the loss of paper profits? The possibility of getting stopped out? Your already in a position, what other opportunities are you going to miss by not being there? This internal questioning maybe will reveal an actual technical reason, making that divide is critical. Like one of the reasons you got into a trade has become invalidated or may be invalidated in the near future. If so act on it logically and according to your system. Fear can actually have a purpose it can allow us to tap into our intuition and unconscious pattern recognition. But you must diagnose the root of the fear, if it is based on some situation you have seen in the past that may provide new technical evidence that your trade may be invalidated or if its a psychological desire that may be to escape, anxiousness, uncertainty, etc.
If it is the psychological desire, fear or other emotion. Then we have to process it differently. What am i afraid will happen while i am away from my computer, unable to act instantaneously to the market? maybe its loss of paper profits? Possibility of getting stopped out? Missing opportunity? For me I always fall back to my system and reason with myself. I know that the loss of paper profits or getting stopped out would still occur if i was there watching it, the market moves as it will. Either the trade will work out or it wont, the probability of success is not determinant upon my eyes on the monitor screen. Missing an opportunity? I am already in a position and if i was looking to scale in or adjust the trade it would already be prepared according to my system. Usually I just run out of reasons why I could be worried, and let it ride. Also i started recording how long my swing trades took, they resolved on average over 7 hours. Now not only do i have to wait, but i have to wait a long time in front of that computer. It just was not feasible.
I don’t really know if this makes sense to anyone else, but this is my mental process for dealing with that anxiety. really in any part of my trading be it holding a position, seeing price tick nearer and nearer to my stop, its a process that allows me to address both the technical issues and the psychological issues and come out with a logical conclusion. But also an action plan if there is a valid technical reason to modify the trade according to my systems rules.
I really like your post, MeiHua.
Books like Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas really help. One source of anxiety I discovered is maintaining my “average” ROI. As soon as the profit of your trade exceeds this average, the temptation to close early increases. Nothing like watching a winning trade turn into a loser. But you have to accept that this will happen and you cannot win all trades.
Also, try to minimise your own expectations or those from other people. I keep a trading blog and have a few followers and have noticed an increase in subconscious pressure to “perform” and come across as a hot-shot trading guru with 100% wins and 0% losses. The more people see you as a trader, the higher their expectations will become. I’m not sure if there’s a way around this other than sticking to your trading plan, and perhaps keeping your trader identity to yourself.
Practice. That’s what made the difference for me.
Practice having a clear SL and TP in your head before you trade. (i see you do that)
If you learn to meditate, you Can actually meditate while you are looking at the screen. This will allow your mind to think clearly without the fear of trades turning bad or greed of wanting more.
Meditation has helped me slowly turn my focus on rules, %, and price instead of p/l, fear, and greed.
So, be aware of yourself and decide what is causing you to get out of trades too early.
For me: fear of trade going against me - don’t want to have drawdown, especially after I’m winning - don’t want to start a losing streak - don’t want to be wrong.
For me to fix to fix it, I practiced having an attitude of serenity. I could control what I traded, and once I placed the order, it is out of my control. I practiced not worrying about the money, and focusing on just trading well. And I practiced accepting losses, and the fact that I will have them.
Since most of my trades have stops according to patterns and important levels, if it goes very far in my direction, then I can move my stop closer due to the changing formations. And if it turns tail, I won’t have a full loss.
Its a habit that is hard to avoid! but there are a couple of things you could do like what the guys said, after gaining a couple of pips, move your SL to break even or to a profit figure and let it lose, try convincing your self reather that enter a never ending cycle of doubt and debate. its hard but part of it is practice till you get used to it 
I used to scalp a lot, but I shifted to 4h and 1d time frames, I let my trades go for days or weeks even. and its a lot less stressfull and pretty much happy with the results 
Start in daily charts first and the scale it down. Smaller time frames are not easy. With MM brokers is harder to scalp but with STP and ECN brokers is not posible to open an account with less than 1000 USD.