How do YOU trade: Limit-in OR Stop-in??

[Rashid_G.]

For trades fading key levels which do you use, considering a fixed Time-Frame? Likely a fuzzy poll but I would like to hear from those that ARE successful and/or have back-tested enough to arrive at useful conclusions. I trade Index Futures-- day swing, 10m chart looking for around 50% daily ATR.

Limit-in.
Pros:
Reduces execution jitters.. set and forget.
Improves risk/reward as targets easier to reach.
Cons:
Erratic markets could eat you alive.
Properly locating key levels sometimes a dark art.. and even then..

Stop-in on Reverse Confirmation.
Pros:
"Perceived" Comfort.. which may not mean good trading.
Cons:
Requires more monitoring and quick hands (or parked orders) once bars close
Erratic markets could eat you alive..i.e. Outside bars
Risk/reward degrades especially with large reverse bars.. actually excluding trades.

Overall I have always been the confirmation type but lately I am finding limit-in in a known and well studied market is quite effective in that B/E is reached quickly and stops are often smaller. *BUT* not comfortable.

Please feel free to comment.

Thanks.

 

[Iron.Maiden]

I separate signal from entry.

ie Signal can tell me go long, and retrace gets me long, and such retrace would be entered via limit.

 

[Rashid_G.]

Therefore you are using a lower TF for that limit entry?..

 

[districttrader]

It depends. I've got setups that use limit entries and setups that use stop entries. I've got setups that have the flexibility to use either/or depending on the situation. Don't think of it as one being "better" than the other, think of it as being a trade-off between lower win rates / smaller stops and higher win rates / larger stops.

 

[speedo]

Typically, stop entries but in this current volatility, I'm having to put in limit orders post-signal due to the S/R stops being too far away. Sometime it gets filled and sometimes not but the environment is offering more signals so it is what it is. I considered putting back my lowest TF for entries but the reason I took it off was because I had to do more second entries. With two TF's, my losses are a tick and a fraction higher but the W/L is better....a trade off I can live with.