Quote from Sponger:
I think people are concerned about the trailing stop loss actually getting you out at a good level and not blowing through it so bad that you lose far more than you intended on those 30 contracts. But that's the risk of using stop loss orders of ANY kind.
Regardless of the debate, congratulations on your trading Neet![]()
Quote from Sponger:
I actually agree with scaling in to winning positions.
Wait a minute, it just occurred to me that I missed something someone said earlier, and reread your posts.
Are you adding more contracts like this:
A) sell 1, sell 2, sell 4, sell 6, etc
Or are you adding like this:
B) sell 1, sell 1, sell 1 etc
If its A, then I now understand some other posters comments about getting hurt when things go awry.
All of the scaling theory I have studied states that for money management purposes, you must add in a reverse pyramid to get to your max position size. Like this:
Sell 10, sell 8, sell 6, sell 4, sell 2.
That way, when the trade reverses on you, you are losing on the smallest add, and still winning on the large majority of adds. Just something to think about.
I'm trying to trade exactly the same way you are - watching price, support and resistance, trendlines, and patterns. Its not easy - I think it takes a lot of sreen time to get to be successful this way. But its pretty pure and to the point.
Quote from Sponger:
Gotcha Neet
Ok, during the course of a trade, you may choose to scale out or go all out depending on the price action of the trend.
Some questions for you:
1) If you are riding the trend, and have started to pyramid, what is your price action rule that would act as the trigger to start scaling out and exiting the first few contracts?
2) Again, riding the trend, what is the price action that triggers you to hold the entire 30 contracts until you go all out?
How do you distinguish when you should scale out vs. going all out?
Sponger
Quote from traderNik:
Two points for the OP. The first is that this is a great way to trade if you have iron discipline. Second is - I get the impression that 30 cars (that's what you ended up carrying?) represents a bit more than the optimal position size given your total equity. I have a feeling that you understand risk management quite well, and are aware of this issue. I'm not sure if I would try this (scaling up so that a small move in the instrument represents an inordinately large move in your total equity) in the grains or in a single stock, which are more likely to be halted for huge news.
You said you had 'secured' profit on 23 cars at the end, but I assume you mean you had an unrealized profit and the position was still fully on? I guess I'm a bit of a worrier but a profit is never secured for me until the position is closed. Correct me if I misunderstood this.