Saturday, October 16, 2010

Moving Stop Loss

I came up with an entry plan.
I came up with a stop loss.
I came up with a target price.

My entry was matched.
My target price was hit at the end of the day.

I lost money.

Why??
I was too kiasu that I moved my SL to a tighter margin too early, a SL that's lower than the initial plan, but not a level that will make me break even.

Lesson learnt? Don't move your SL unless it's to break even level (protect profit), or to put a trailing stop. What good it has to change a SL from 50pips to 30pips? If I could afford 50pips, why reduce? If I think 50pips was a reasonable margin, why change?

It reads, fear.

~~

5 comments:

  1. Ripple

    i had the same dilemma early this month, that is the time while i try to trade in smaller timeframe, sticking myself to the screen.

    i do not compromise my SL, instead, when mkt moves in favour like 20 pips, i move SL to entry.

    may be i was dis-hearted with too many losses past weeks... :p however, it is good to know that both of us have come to aware that we need to review our trades, and make a decision whether our trading plans works best for us, that the SL and TG suitable for us, for the market, and find ourselves in our trades.

    The best is coming, i hope you grab the best market opportunity! :)

    -Ayumi-

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  2. you should read me last post - how do we over come this problem?

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  3. Jeff again (aka Denarii)

    http://trader-denarii.blogspot.com/

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  4. Hi Ayumi, yes indeed. The fear of losses played a big part here... Come to think of it, why reduce my SL so early if i already set an initial SL? Did my risk tolerance change in that short time?

    :) yea, do wait for the better opportunity!
    All the best.

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  5. Also, thanks Jeff for your recommendation. Wow you're a tick chart trader!

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