Need advice on exits

[legionx]

OK that’s all good advice. I guess what I should say is that I just feel like I have no plans for an exit. The stop loss is easy we know how to do that. I just don’t know when to leave. I’m probably most upset about the winning trades that I allow to turn into breakeven‘s versus missing out on continued profit because I exited.

Just keep trading until you can't trade no more or don't wish to trade anymore for that day. If you can execute that feat providing sound risk management skills followed by a pll (personal loss limit/day), then more power to you. Is it worth? Trading does not have to be a 9 to 5 job or a 16 hr/day job. When it comes to exits, you gotta have a plan. Exits can be ratios eg 1:1,1:2...,. Quotas for the day like "I wish to make $500 everyday" etc. On the technical side of it exits can be candlestick formation, trendline breaks/countertrendline breaks, a pattern is completed, s/r etc. Or just combine them all . This is an idea of how I trade minus the quota. Try jumping out of a plane without any parachute. Your parachute is your StopLoss as well as your Exit, GoodLuck.

 

[treeman]

Exits are the most interesting problem in trading. As they say, its the exits that make the money, so random exits mean random profit.

Its my tactic to never leave a trade while its still trending. In fact, I pyramid all the trending positions as soon as they make a profit equal to my initial risk and keep on doing that. This works pretty well with my long-term trades but I suppose not so easy if you plan to be out by the end of the day - are you sure that's a good strategy.

Tom, we are similar traders. I believe you can do a bit better on exits however. Surely you know when you are at the top of a trending trading range (e.g. Early Feb in the ES)? A couple of things to think about-

1) You can stay nominally in the position. Let's say you have 3 contracts out there. You're at the top, drop a contract. You still have 2.
2) When your TL that got you this high gets broken, drop another contract. You're still long though - 1 contract.
3) re-up at your next ladder spot AND increase by laddering. You're buying those 2 sold contracts back at discount prices.

Play around with that stuff. I think you can do better, and you're leaving a lot on the table. You don't have to get out. I like to think about it like driving a speed boat. I'm not going to be full throttle the whole time. In practice it's clumsier than I wrote, but what in life isn't? Surely it's worth working on?

 

[tomorton]

Tom, we are similar traders. I believe you can do a bit better on exits however. Surely you know when you are at the top of a trending trading range (e.g. Early Feb in the ES)? A couple of things to think about-

1) You can stay nominally in the position. Let's say you have 3 contracts out there. You're at the top, drop a contract. You still have 2.
2) When your TL that got you this high gets broken, drop another contract. You're still long though - 1 contract.
3) re-up at your next ladder spot AND increase by laddering. You're buying those 2 sold contracts back at discount prices.

Play around with that stuff. I think you can do better, and you're leaving a lot on the table. You don't have to get out. I like to think about it like driving a speed boat. I'm not going to be full throttle the whole time. In practice it's clumsier than I wrote, but what in life isn't? Surely it's worth working on?

This is correct. In fact I closed my multiple US stock index longs in late January. But this was manually done, based on worsening TA that suggested the uptrend was ending, not on stop-losses being hit.

I do take the risk of leaving money on the table, but I don't mind that. The thing I do mind is losing capital from the trading account.

 

[murray t turtle]

There are numerous ways you can trail a stop and lock in profit as price goes your way, pivots, ma crosses, parabolic SAR and many others. But as Overnight noted, neither you nor I nor anyone will get every bit of every move. If I were you, I wouldn't take another trade until I had an exit strategy to go with entry and stop criteria.

%%
That works;
BUT sounds like someone needs to add the rule''never let a profit turn into a loss'' I mean a net profit,........ as far as a swing or position trade. You know its a tough business when so many bragg about a gross profit LOL .And you could try scaleing out, as earlier suggested; i seldom do that= I seldom sell early+ no sense adding comissions if i dont have to

 

[speedo]

I am all in and all out Murray but as we know there are many ways to skin this cat.

 

[murray t turtle]

I am all in and all out Murray but as we know there are many ways to skin this cat.

%% Thanks;
I meant original poster, [Speedo]should never let a profit turn into a loss I figured you were profitable whatever your time frame/ exits. And a profit accidently turning into a loss is better than an ordinary loss....................................................................................

 

[wrbtrader]

...My dilemma seems to be not knowing at what profit level to exit.

Just yesterday I had a 20 point profit on two contracts NQ, didn’t hit exit and ended up with a break even trade...

Breakeven are in fact a losing trade because you need to pay the commissions on the trade (cost of entry, cost of exit, cost of missing other trade opportunities while allowing a profitable trade to retrace back to breakeven and costs associated with other business aspects of each trade).

Therefore, to eliminate those costs associated with the trade...as soon as you reach a profitable price above all those calculated costs...that's where you trail your stop.

I trade Emini ES futures too. To pay for the commissions alone...as soon as I reach a designated profit (not my profit target to exit the trade but a profit to tell me to adjust my initial stop into a stop to pay all the costs associated with that trade)...

The commissions will be cover with a 1 tick profit. Therefore, at the minimum, I need a 1 tick profitable trail stop. Yet, that in itself doesn't cover the rest of my other business costs associated with a trade.

To cover "all costs of doing business for a single trade"...I must use a 2 tick trail stop as soon as I reach the designated profitable price to cover "all costs" beyond just the commission costs.

This is important because lets pretend you exit every trade at a 1 tick profit. Yet, in reality "all the costs" associated with the trade...you needed a 2 tick profit. That means at the end of the day...you still lost money.

Treat your trading like a business because breakeven traders are really just losing traders.

wrbtrader