Target missed by one tick

[SIUYA]

What if the whole target is 6 ticks?

revert to post #2 and #3

Unfortunately set targets are either going to just miss, miss by a mile or get you out too early ......not much you can do about it except change these, or mange the exit.
Giving back a large part of profits is the trade off for being able to capture them in the first place.

 

[bigsnack]

Visaria,

I typically have the very same issue as you when I have hard set targets. I usually block out a "window" of price around my target, and any movement into that window I start to scale out.

Another thing that has really helped my bottom line is to be selling (taking profit) as the market is actively pushing upward, as well as buying (taking profit) as the market is actively pushing downward. I find it much easier to get fills this way as opposed to trying to get out after the market has already hinted at reversing. I also found that I wasn't really losing ticks this way, because even if the market continued beyond my target but then failed, my failure stop would usually be in the exact same area that my take profit order would have been originally. Good luck!

 

[nonlinear5]

So the solution is not to set profit targets.

But my targets are quite far away from my entry. If they go anywhere near them, that means a big profit. To surrender large chunks of that ... is very demoralising.

But there is another side of the same coin. By setting the profit target, you are potentially missing an even bigger profit. It sounds like you may want to optimize your exit criteria.

 

[newwurldmn]

Limit orders are short options.

You sold a call and it didn't take you out of your future.

If it had rallied one tick and then sold off would you have been a rock star?

 

[Wide Tailz]

I am anxiously waiting for this response from the local jokers: "Lower your target by 1 tick".

The obvious solution is to put limits just inside the prevailing channel boundry or s/r line. The less obvious is to check the book and front run the existing supply by a few tix :eek:

 

[Wide Tailz]

optimize your exit criteria.

+++

And that is the engineered solution, although it may require backtesting

 

[Visaria]

...because even if the market continued beyond my target but then failed, my failure stop would usually be in the exact same area that my take profit order would have been originally. Good luck!

If your take profit orders normally coincide with where your failure stop would be, then surely you should just have your failure stop and not take profits because you then expose yourself to the possibility of the market moving even more in your favour?

 

[bigsnack]

If your take profit orders normally coincide with where your failure stop would be, then surely you should just have your failure stop and not take profits because you then expose yourself to the possibility of the market moving even more in your favour?

It's a fair point for sure. Based on the typical range of the ES during the day, I personally feel comfortable taking somewhere around a certain profit target and calling it good. On the other hand, if a certain condition precedes the trade (for instance opening on a huge gap up and then selling off back into the range of the prior day right from the open), it can lend itself to just holding until the close. There are small number of conditions that lead me to believe a trade will really run, otherwise I take the money and bail. I'm not familiar with other instruments besides ES, so YMMV.

 

[xelite777]

I had a position trade (so not day trading) on one of the grains. I had a profit target and i put a limit order to exit if it hit that. The market went to 1 tick of my order and then retraced. Today, I was stopped out at my trailing stop, so still made money, but only half of what i could have made.

Suggestions please on what to do when a trade almost hits your target, but doesn't.

It depends.

If you are trading with a mechanical trading system then there is absolutely nothing to do, follow the rules of your system and that's it. And just accept the fact that sometimes you WILL miss your profit target by just one lousy tick. I know it's frustrating but that's life.

On the other hand if you are trading with a discretionary system (and I strongly suggest you stay away from that type of systems, as they are almost impossible to backtest) then you have absolutely no way of knowing what the optimal way of dealing with that type of situation may be.

 

[QuantWizard]

It depends.

If you are trading with a mechanical trading system then there is absolutely nothing to do, follow the rules of your system and that's it. And just accept the fact that sometimes you WILL miss your profit target by just one lousy tick. I know it's frustrating but that's life.

On the other hand if you are trading with a discretionary system (and I strongly suggest you stay away from that type of systems, as they are almost impossible to backtest) then you have absolutely no way of knowing what the optimal way of dealing with that type of situation may be.

I agree!