Truth be told, most books are useless. And most people posting on this site or in this thread including yours truly are not rich from trading profits. Successful trading over a longer period of time is not easy. It's harder than writing a book about it or teaching others what to do.
OK.. am not sure what is the trading level of people kindly answering my post here... So I ll try to make it easier : Because R, that was my initial target to sell !!! and a risk/reward is NEEDED before entering ANY trade..... ->>TECHNICAL "Why not just allow price to do what it's going to do and not be so afraid of what you don't understand that you have to bail at the least hint of struggle? ->> PSYCHOLOGICAL But, well, if you don t call that psychology... I guess "buy-to-see-where-it-goes" is a great technical trading rule... Also remember, I also scalp, so am used to see all my gains (some ticks/points) fade in a matter of seconds sometimes...
Well, no, a "risk/reward" is not "NEEDED" before entering "ANY" trade because you have no idea what the reward is. That you attempt to peg it ahead of time may be the chief reason why you can't let your profits run, which of course is not possible if you're bailing out at your "target" As for allowing price to do what it's going to do, that is the essence of letting profits run and, incidentally, how markets work. It has nothing to do with psychology. The market couldn't care less about your risk or what reward you expect. Learn how markets work and your results may improve whether you choose to scalp or not (which one might argue is the antithesis of letting profits run, but that's another subject).
You don t know for sure but you better have a REASONABLE MINIMUM expectancy due to past patterns of where it may take you... Because RISK is the only thing you set up ahead of time............. and is the only thing you control. So if you are systematically risking R to get 0.5R.. you ll go broke pretty soon.... But AGAIN, am not going to discuss about technique here... For me that s basic trading... Agree 100%, scalping is about making points, trade in trade out, not aiming for the fences. Again talking about ID trades here.
There is no psychology, only how you respond to the market. That's why you need to think about your behavior within the ecology of the market. Deep, right? That's why I recommend The Art of Contrary Thinking, by Neill.
Expectancy is irrelevant since the market couldn't care less about your risk. If you enter correctly and the trade goes your way, fine. If it doesn't, you scratch. If you choose to account for risk by placing a stop and sitting there like a deer in headlights while a clearly-failing trade hits it, that's your choice. The market doesn't know or care. And, yes, scalping is not about "aiming for the fences". So why are you so frustrated about cutting your profits short?
I day trade AND scalp.. When you are a superstar in ID trades I guess you can minimize your stop loss at a nice level just by intuition... until then you need to have a stop loss in mind...
It has nothing to do with intuition. It has to do with understanding what you're looking at. And if the trade isn't working, you exit. No stop required.
Correctamundo! Traders should be making plays where they perceive "their risk is 'X' and their profit potential is '"3X or more"'.