what do you feel is proper for targets and stops on NQ ??
I can't really answer (sorry!) because I feel it depends so much more on the type of trading you're doing than on the instrument.
In case that comes across as a bit of a "cop-out", I'll mention roughly how I trade NQ, myself, though I don't know whether it's appropriate/relevant to you ...
I trade it from constant-volume bars (i.e. rather than timed bars), and put my initial stop-loss just above/under the most recently formed swing-high/low (depending on whether it's a long or a short trade).
Regarding targets, depending on the entry-type (i.e. which set-up it is: I trade 5 different set-ups, all by price action and without indicators, though 3 of the 5 are pretty similar), I close either one third or two thirds of my contracts/lots (at two different targets) determined by both current volatility and any S/R lines on my chart and try to let the last part "run" (if it will).
I never use automated trailing stops and don't believe in them as anything more than a "third-best compromise".
I often trail my stop-loss manually on the last part of the trade, again just above/below the most recently formed swing-high/low.
I eventually close trades that do manage to run a bit according to a little set of established price action patterns (e.g. I'll close in congestion, bearing in mind that I can always re-enter, etc.).
My initial target (where there are two) is often less than the distance between the stop-loss and the entry (i.e. the first third of the trade has an R:R ratio of less than 1.0 ... many people would dislike this, but it suits me because I'm very risk-averse and need a high win-rate, or at least partial win-rate, because I can't and won't tolerate drawdowns that many other traders - especially those posting in forums, apparently - would find relatively acceptable).
If that all sounds a bit "mysterious" or "complicated", I should perhaps mention that, broadly speaking, I'm trading "patterns like Ross hooks" (nearly always with the trend, though I do also trade occasional, prominent 1-2-3 formations, which are of course reversals), and that my trade-duration can be anything from 5 minutes to 5 hours but that the latter is terribly rare and the average is much closer to the former. I take about 6-7 trades per day, on average, and that average is gradually creeping upwards, over the years. (I trade CL as well as NQ.) I trade about 99% by TA and only 1% by fundamentals; all my trading is S/R-based; I don't use indicators (other than occasionally looking at an ATR to form a quick impression of current volatility). Whether any of that "information" is actually helpful to anyone else is another matter, I'm afraid.
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