Can someone advise on the best approach for exiting a winning trade intraday on YM, ER2 or ES ? For example if on YM you have 20 points would you exit or wait and perhaps get 40 points, then again it might turn and get stopped out? When do you know to hold longer and when do you know when to get out fast ? Thanks
That's what everyone is looking for: when to get in and when to get out to take the maximum profit. If you ever find the answer pelase let us know.
Well, I've been experimenting with trailing stops and I'm not yet convinced that they are useful for intraday trading. Yesterday was a good example: I sold the ER2 at the open (739.20) and put in a trailing stop of 2.5 points. But actually I didn't trust this and closed at 735 manually (a pivot level being there). Turns out, the Stop would have gotten hit at 736.20 without price going above that - but instead selling off to around 730 during the rest of the day. Ok, so I saved 1.20 points at first, but then missed another 5 points. Sure, a stop of 3 Points would have done it, but maybe next time that also get's taken out. It's very difficult to determine a good trailing-stop amount. In conclusion, I would still rather use S/R levels for exiting or placing a stop loss.
Yes I suppose but I don't mean necessarily maximum profit, just some thing that in general works quite well, do successful traders just guess when to get out ? Is it a intuitive thing ? For example on ES I would imagine if you were holding 4 points you would want to get out, why ? Because, again, I assume the volatility of ES is less now that before, but who knows?
I use fixed targets. It has been my experience that you come out about the same. You miss the longer runs but you catch more of the shorter runs without the aggravation of having to make up your mind in the heat of battle. Probably not the most efficient way but theres a lot to be said for saving wear and tear on the nerves.
Osho, When I first started I spent 99% of my time on entries and exits were how long I could hold my nerve !! Now I'm happy with my rules on entry I'm spending 99% on specific exit rules. My humble views to date: 1) Targets - don't work for me based on my trading plan 2) Automated Trailling stops - don't work for me based on my trading plan 3) My exit signal is my entry signal for a new trade - I'm holding until then using 10min & 60min charts - I move my stop up manually to above/below key swing highs/lows. Good luck
It really depends on you, if YM runs 20 quite often it will retrace back 10 before continuation. When I traded it I often sold half at the target price, and then moved the stop to break even, doing this lets you ring the register and lock in profit, but at the same time if you are right on the trend and the market is not out of steam then you will get additional profit than if you had just sold it all at once.
Thanks for all the replies I like targets, at least they are objective, but I read on ET they were not the best way to exit, some recommendations provided were percentage based and volatility based, but I don't understand which indicators measure volatility intraday and how effective it could be, and on the percentage based, no idea, does anyone use something like this successfully ?
there is no "best way" there is a way, that within YOUR system, YOUR trading methodology, and YOUR risk tolerance, and YOUR risk/reward setups, works. obviously the BEST exit is when you exit a long at the top, and a short at the bottom that is also an impossibility. so get over it PERSONALLY, within my setups, system, etc. for the YM i have a very specific strategy. my optimal size is 3 cars. the first two exits (for the first 2 contracts) is nondiscretionary. it's rule based. the third is discretional. this is the best of all worlds FOR ME. it results in high net %age winning trades . i think that one exit strategy that is right for most traders and most systems is regarding losses. imo, stops should be set UPON entry. iow, if u don't know what yer worst case exit scenario is, you shouldn't enter. i can accept some flexibility in my exits for profit (some), but none in my stop loss. too much ego and emotion involved to play with that. i never increase my stop, although i will sometimes decrease it based on my system also, for index futures (not for stocks) i will never add to a winning position. doesn't work for me. i will scale out but never add. risk management and trade management is the most important thing entry strategies, frankly, are less important than exits. imo