I've finally made progress with my entries to where I can get positive in my trades the majority of the time. However, I usually end up breaking even or negative and I need to work on my exits. Yesterday I had a trade go in my way and I was up $3k. But I ended up giving it all back. That's really frustrating. So I was thinking maybe I should just take profits? It's hard for me to scale out because I build up my position by scaling in. When I determine safe add-on points I add on. Of course this raises my average cost and therefore my breakeven stop, so I've tried to cut back on adding on lately. Today I caught the run in ES from 861 down to 841 and I added on contrats to a max of 4 and I'm up $2500. If I had taken profits at say $1k I would have left a lot on the table. And I'm thinking that it'll be possible for the ES to test its low so I want to stay in. Sorry if this post isn't well thought-out but I'm kind of stuck. Before my problem was always entries so I never really had the problem of not knowing when to exit. I'd like to get some input on this. I've read that exits are at least as important as entries and now I really believe it.
before you can make solid money with 1 single lonely contract... scaling in and scaling out will only mask your system's deficiencies.
I treat scaling in as new trades. I won't add on just because I'm up $1k for example. I will only add on if I see a setup that would cause me to enter had I been flat. My thinking is that if I get an exit on the first entry then that would be an exit on the 2nd as well. But in principle I agree with you that maybe it'd be better if I mastered 1 contract rather than pyramiding up to several contracts. But even then I still need advice on my exits for the single contract.
The BEST place to exit a long is the BEST place to enter a short... and vis versa. (but you knew that already.)
If someone put $3k in your hand right now, would you not take it? Are you in it to give your money away?? I would close out profits or use Trailing Stops just to be in the game. If I took $3k from market, I wouldn't trade the rest of the week. That a very nice Paycheck. Think about it. Good-luck.