HELP ! Exiting my trades to early

[TraderABC]

Originally Posted by RobinHood

Hi there fellow traders!

I write this post with great dismay and almost disgust in my lack of ability to see trades through to the end. I have my entries down cold and all the risk/rewards calcs done in a realistic manner before each trade.

My stop losses are placed as each trade is entered and I have no problems with discipline with regards to sticking to them and not adjusting them when things turn bad.

My problem is getting out of a trade with to few pips in comparison to the intended lute. I would recon that 80% of my winning trades usually exceed my modest targets and I have to watch them do this while already on the sidelines with just a pip or two in my pocket. This honestly makes me depressed even sometimes.

The problem this creates is naturally an imbalance in my risk/reward ratios. Although practically and realistically they are sound, due to my inability to see trades through to the end, is totally messing up my money management and disgracing my trade system.

I accept this for what it is namely a psychological problem/barrier that needs to be beaten dead with a stick ASAP. Please, if there is any experienced traders out there, who has some sound advice of techniques I could try/practice to correct this last major hurdle in my trading career, I would be for ever in your debt.

I also accept that beggars may not be choosers, but please, no Mark Douglas, I guess the idea behind the book is sound and he is a swell fellow, but I find the overdose of analogies to distracting to absorb the quality of advice and guidance the book offers, sorry Mark.

I go through a routine in the mornings before I trade to clear my mind of all the nagging little voices in I, calm the nerves and get focused. If only I could do something to stop the fear I experience when in a winning trade, the fear to give back something that is almost nothing, yet it seems so real and so much.

Please help !

Kind regards and happy trading to you all.

I bet that this is one of the central problems, when to exit. I get pissed off too. I hate taking 1 pip profit when I entered a 100 pip movement. I understand that I was too fearful and set protective SL to lock profits too quickly. I guess you should exit when signal for entry is no longer there, exit not when trailing stop or TakeProfit is hit, but when the currency shows that it is about to turn around....

[bearprofits]

TraderABC,

Is the glass half empty, or half full?

I’m a pattern trader, I enter with a preset entry and exit, if I enter and the market goes a ways in my direction only to reverse and take off, proving my analysis wrong, I’m happy to leave the market at Breakeven or better yet make money, any money.

When we move stops to breakeven in a rational, well thought out game plan, and the market stops us out, that's just part of it. If we are continually stopped out, only to see the market take back off again on it’s original course without us….. Maybe our plan needs adjustment.

If we move our stops, because of emotions, the market will surely bite us. The emotions we feel (at a particular moment in a trade) are the same as all the other traders that entered the market at that time. The market takes off in reverse, oh no!!, wait it will come back!! The market goes in my direction for a bit , then starts to fade back towards my entry price, oh no!!, must exit to avoid a loss. I’m up 10, 20,30 whatever pips……. Oh no !!, Better take my profit before the market turns, only to see it continue as we first thought.

Someone must lose , everyone can’t win in the markets. When the market makes a move it will try to shake off as many traders as possible, so other, BIGGER traders, exploit these patterns of fear and greed. The same applies to moving pro stops. If the majority of players in a trade have a 30 pip trailing stop, you can bet the house, 30 pips in the move, price will reverse for 30 pips and take everyone out.

When we run with the herd, sooner or later we get run over a cliff.

In short, our plan is based on our view of the market, our aim should be to make it unique. Stops are placed to prove us wrong, stops are moved to protect profit as the market allows, not out of emotion. And you are right we should continually analyze the market for changing conditions, however we need to be unbiased when changing our positions.

Just a poor Bear’s thoughts,

[mrgreen]

Originally Posted by RobinHood

I accept this for what it is namely a psychological problem/barrier that needs to be beaten dead with a stick ASAP. Please, if there is any experienced traders out there, who has some sound advice of techniques I could try/practice to correct this last major hurdle in my trading career, I would be for ever in your debt.

I think that it is said best in Edwin LeFevre ROASO
"The speculator's chief enemies are always boring from
within. It is inseparable from human nature to hope and to fear.
In speculation when the market goes against you -- you hope that
every day will be the last day and you lose more than you should
had you not listened to hope -- to the same ally that is so
potent a success-bringer to empire builders and pioneers, big
and little. And when the market goes your way you become fearful
that the next day will take away your profit, and you get out
too soon. Fear keeps you from making as much money as you ought
to. The successful trader has to fight these two deep-seated
instincts. He has to reverse what you might call his natural
impulses. Instead of hoping he must fear; instead of fearing he
must hope. He must fear that his loss may develop into a much
bigger loss, and hope that his profit may become a big profit."

Going, as you say, full time is definitly more pressure. I re-read a book every 3 months or so. "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Toelle. It reminds me to stay present. One filters each moment in his mind based on what he knows (experience). But if what you know is fundamentally flawed then your 'filter' will give you flawed results. Staying 'present' has helped me and it may be an answer for you.
I wish you luck.

[WTB]

A very good trader told me a while ago that a trader's job is not to try to exploit every swing's maximum move from bottom to top, but rather to squeeze out a proft somewhere in between.

Don't be obsessed by trying to maximize every single trade to its fullest. That's not what a long runner is to do. A long runner (remember trading is a marathon and not a sprint) is to spot the oportunity, enter the trade, grab the pips, exit, quickly reload the gun, and sit tight till the next oportunity. As long as your risk/reward is feasible, and your win/loss ratio is enough to offset such risk/reward, you're in the good track.

If, in the other hand, your problem is more leaning on the discipline side, then you might want to try either:

1) Set trailing stops and let the market take you out of your position whenever it's meant to happen.
2) Enter a position, set your SL and your Target according to your technicals, and switch off the trading station in order to avoid fear/greed to kick in. This is what I personally do.

[KaliKali]

Robinhood,

Re: free 10 min data

I'm sure there are many free ones out there, but I can't help but recommend ProRealTime charts, their simply awesome. They have any time frame you want via xtick and xminute options. Also their charts compare in abilities to e-signal and tradestation for a fraction of the price. I pay 75.00 or so a month for Indexes and Currencies (forex) plus 18.00 for futures. (usd). At least try the 7-day free demo and see what you've been missing.

Forex charts are.....well, Forex charts. compared to the wider world of trading, us poor currency speculators are trading in the dark ages with the charts available to most of us via our brokers.

KaliKali

[faure]

I think bearprofits said it best - get your trade to where you need it and walk away. It's amazing how your perspective changes when your only looking at the market every 30min instead of watching it for hours non-stop. That and scaling your trades.

[jaykay]

RobinHood, I'd recommend:

1. Set limit as well as stops, not only the latter. Set them in your trading app, not only mentally
2. Use a not so fast time frame as your main, 30 min for instance. Larger/slower time frames on average means larger moves, and thus allows for larger profit targets, the opposite then for smaller/faster time frames.

Point 1 of course requires a strategy that will give you your target amount often enough. To see to this, do a discretionary but honest back test.

Wait until the signal is clear (there is always tomorrow should a clear signal not appear today), place order/stop/limit, and mentally walk away from it, i e accept the outcome. If your strategy is good + properly executed, your winners will outweigh your losers by far.

But if you have all this in place, and your only very problem is that you exit too soon, the very brief answer is - place limit order, and don't hamper with it outside the rules of your strategy.

Btw, 10 pips a day can make you sickeningly loaded with money in a very short time. A question of how one perceives time and wealth of course, but I think most people would agree. I e, don't rush.

/jaykay