How to Let Your Winning Trades Run: Got ideas?

[VPhantom]

Like @bone I like to set bracket orders (OCO stop-loss and limit target) to avoid micro-managing. If stop-loss and profit targets look much too tight after the fact, then to me it just means that the trade was planned on too short a timeframe.

That said, if we're talking about the psychological issue of "letting winners run" then the answer isn't technical, it has to be psychological as well. I would exit just half of my position at my comfortable point and then force myself to passively watch the other half as a learning experience. (Still with a wider bracket of orders in place because I never trust that I'll be available, or have Internet access when I'll need to.)

 

[Andrea Wylan]

I'm notoriously impatient and book small profits early. Any tips for letting winners run, especially for swing trading?

Example I bought PENN MGM off march lows but sold way tf too early.

I'm asking because if for example markets sell off and I swing trade inverses SQQQ UVXY SDOW SPXS SOXS LABD I don't want to get shaken out too soon.

Scale out so you let part of it run. Win / win.

 

[1a2b3cppp]

The sweetest thing I've seen related to this is to exit the trade when the MA changes. Since there is really no trend this isn't really a specific thing, but, as long as the MA is proceeding in your direction, stay in the trade. When it modifies, close.

Feasibly I need to ask, how are you getting into the trade? That will determine how you get out.

 

[ms33]

Run two pots: buy and hold (two weeks max) and day trading. Look at the historical odds by time of day. Conquering the fact the most of the time we're scared shitless is half the battle. Okay, maybe Minervini isn't but I sure am. And he is too. And so is Zinger. I'd make almost double if I delayed every action by five minutes. As it is, I'm almost a 100% certain to sell at the bottom; bet you are too. Eventually you have to wed yourself to the mechanics of a trade that works for you to build trust in something you cannot always see.

 

[tomorton]

A technique I have used in the past to milk winning trades is to repeatedly pyramid the first position as price advances. This works in consistent well-established trends with shallow pull-backs.

For example, you buy at 1000 with a SL at 950 and a new buy order at 1050 (SL at 1000). When the second trade is triggered at 1050, you pull the SL on Trade 1 to 1000 and set a third buy order at 1100 (SL 1050). When Trade 3 triggers you pull the SL's on Trades 1 and 2 to 1050 and set a fourth buy order at 1150 (SL 1100).

Risk never increases past -50, whereas you will have gained significantly greater exposure to profit if the trend continues. The downside is that break even is delayed, by which time the trend could have effectively ended.

 

[KCalhoun]

A technique I have used in the past to milk winning trades is to repeatedly pyramid the first position as price advances. This works in consistent well-established trends with shallow pull-backs.

For example, you buy at 1000 with a SL at 950 and a new buy order at 1050 (SL at 1000). When the second trade is triggered at 1050, you pull the SL on Trade 1 to 1000 and set a third buy order at 1100 (SL 1050). When Trade 3 triggers you pull the SL's on Trades 1 and 2 to 1050 and set a fourth buy order at 1150 (SL 1100).

Risk never increases past -50, whereas you will have gained significantly greater exposure to profit if the trend continues. The downside is that break even is delayed, by which time the trend could have effectively ended.

Smart approach re pyramid and scaling.

Right now is a good example, I'm in inverses from last week SQQQ TZA etc. Goal is to scale in if they keep going up.