Some good points made, particularly by profitseer. There are many things to consider. Personally, I like to use market action rather than an arbitrary price movement to dictate exits. The initial stop is a disaster stop that I really hope doesn't get hit. Generally I have a pretty good idea if things are looking ok or not and I ideally will exit quickly if they don't feel right. I know from backtesting that tight stops are not optimal and will often destroy a good system, but backtesting can't capture your feel when you're in the trade. After the trade has cleared the noise zone, however you define that, then it is a question of first, protecting b/e, and second, deciding what will dictate your exit. I feel a trailing stop is a very poor method of exiting, because you are always getting out on weakness(if long). Still, you don't want to give the whole trade back if you miss a better exit. What I like to do is first, try to hold till the close, second, try to exit on a spike, third, exit on a pattern failure or reversal bar, and finally, if I'm still in a trade that is profitable but losing altitude rapidly, try to retain at least 50% of max profit.
