When do you exit a trade?

I’m quite new to Forex, but I’ve been learning and studying like a college student cramming for an exam. I feel I have the beginnings of a dependable system to know when to enter a trade(using technical analysis). The one thing I seem to be having trouble with is knowing when to get out.

I’ve been trading primarily using 5 minute charts along with 30min and 1h charts for establishing the prevailing trend. When all my indicators line up I enter the trade and thus far my system has been profitable.

However, I’m not sure if this is a bad habit to get into or not but I’ve been using 1 minute charts to track my trade. Sometimes the spikes will make me nervous, both the upward and downward. If I see a favorable spike I’ve been exiting for the profit but if I see a bad move I tend to get the “you better cut your losses” thought on my brain and just can’t shake it.

I like to establish support and resistance levels on the 5m, 30m, and 1h charts and use those to determine an area of entrance and exit. But the ups and downs of the 1m charts are irresistable to me! I guess my question is, should I stop using the 1 min charts to watch the action and stick to the charts that convince me I’m making a good trade? Sometimes I find myself exiting trades on spikes rather than paying attention to my calculated exit points(resistance/support levels).

Thanks for any input!

BB

I don’t set a profit target or anything, I simply use a trailing stop and automatically get stopped out of a trade.

based n your trading method, i would says u use support and resistance lvl.

When u are long on a currency pair, put your limit stop (profit) near the resistance lvl and your stop (loss) somehoe below a bit of support lvl.

Anyway, trailing stops is the best way to exit a trade if u cant control your emtion.
Gd luck!

I would offer two pieces of advice. First, unless you are trading the 1 minute charts specifically, I wouldn’t look at them. They will, as you’ve already seen, just serve to raise your level of anxiety.

Second, there are two primary ways to think about exiting a trade. First is at a predetermined target. If you use that approach, then make sure you stick to it and don’t try to second guess things because you think the market will keep going in your favor. The other approach is to exit when the conditions that triggered your entry no longer exist. For example, if you trend trade you would jump in when you identify a good trend, but then you’d want to get out when you saw the trend come to an end.

Have you tried out chandelier exits? Chuck Le Beau has lots of great research on exits.

If you can track down information on the Phantom of the Pits you might find that useful too.

I exit on a take profit or stop loss trigger.

[QUOTE=blueboy;5545]I’m quite new to Forex, but I’ve been learning and studying like a college student cramming for an exam. I feel I have the beginnings of a dependable system to know when to enter a trade(using technical analysis). The one thing I seem to be having trouble with is knowing when to get out.

I’ve been trading primarily using 5 minute charts along with 30min and 1h charts for establishing the prevailing trend. When all my indicators line up I enter the trade and thus far my system has been profitableI like to establish support and resistance levels on the 5m, 30m, and 1h charts and use those to determine an area of entrance and exit. But the ups and downs of the 1m charts are irresistable to me! I guess my question is, should I stop using the 1 min charts to watch the action and stick to the charts that convince me I’m making a good trade? Sometimes I find myself exiting trades on spikes rather than paying attention to my calculated exit points(resistance/support levels).

Thanks for any input!

What’s your favorite informative how to guide on trading forex? My favorites are Day Trading the Currency Markets and Technical Analysis for Dummies.
Are you keeping a log? Keeping up with fundamental news? Drawing trendlines? Using stops every trade? Do you understand some basic candlestick reversal patterns?
All the time frames are important at one time or another.
Determining if the pair is range bound or trending?
Sorry about the inquisition- sort of
If you are making money, then its better than being right all the time.