Quote from IronFist:
... (almost) picking tops or bottoms?
Every time I use "tight stops" I get stopped out regardless of if I had the right direction or not.
I'm defining "tight stops" to be 3.25 points on the NQ (13 ticks).
I read a, um, "study" on here where where people did some research over a billion years of data and their result was that "...if price gets more than 7 ticks away from you, chances are it won't return."
So by that definition, 13 ticks would be more of a "loose" stop than a "tight" stop, amirite?
The only time I don't get stopped out is when I get lucky and pick a top or bottom (or come within 12 ticks of it)
(this is only for trend following. counter trend is entirely different, especially if you average down)
backtesting has proven time and time again that volatility stops are the way to go. They scare most people so only the most successful traders use this. Its not about the risk......its about the probability of the reward.