Sound like you need to find better ways of targeting profits so you take them at key levels where pullbacks are likely. Often it makes sense to take profits (or at least partial profits if you trade multiple lots) at a level that is likely to be challenged. If price stalls there or breaks through weakly, take some or all off the table. Then if the challenge fails, you can get right back on board for more. Psychologically, this is easier than watching a nice gain completely reverse. There's an informative price action thread in progress that might be helpful for you in targeting profits (and avoiding entries in no-man's land): http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=220303
I'm not sure what you mean. If going long buy at/close to the bottom of a price gyration. If going short sell at/close to the top of a price gyration. Exit varies depending on what's happening.
Reason to exit a short should be same as entering long and vice versa..!!! There is a "5 WHY's " rule to find any root cause. Try asking and answering it untill you cant ask another why. That is your root cause. Document them here ... lets go.
NP Jas, There is an age old method to identify root cause of a problem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys To start, Mac needs to state his problem, in this case - he seems to see a set-up in a choppy or sideways market and executes, only to see it fail very soon. It takes a while to cut thru our own presets and gain a clear vision into what is that we do and what makes it work. And only Self realization works the best.
I don't know if I agree with the first statement. Sometimes it will appear as a high probability to me that price is going up to a certain level, and I may take a profit there. But once that level is hit then I may not have a clue where it's going next, so entering a trade in the opposite direction might not be a smart move, but staying in the long might not be a smart move either, because sometimes I just don't have a clue & I'm better off sitting out. I've learned that I'm not Nostradamus. Thanks for the 5 Why's suggestion. That's a good idea: I have a few cases where I should use that process. I'm right on trades all the time, but I don't take profits & end up with losses, so maybe a good first question is, "Why do I let my gains turn into losses?". 1. I don't take profits when I have them. 2. I don't want to miss out on a big move if it happens. 3. Capturing a big move can make all the difference in the world. 4. Why isn't this working? 5. Because the big moves aren't occurring when I want them to. 6. Because the market ranges a lot & goes nowhere. 7. I need to know when I place the trade what I plan on doing with it based on what I can see: either plan on taking a quick profit, or plan on holding on for a larger move. 8. I fail to use common sense beforehand in planning out the exit strategy of my trades. I can't always "hope" for a big move unless there is evidence to back up that "hope". There's my first go at the "5 Why's" process.
Post some charts with your entries, reason for entering, stop loss, reason for stop at that level and expected minimum profit target. If you can't do that, then you need more research and defining of rules.
I have so many trades on my chart I can't even remember why I placed them. I get in & out, in & out. The chart is a mess by the end of the day. Perhaps I need to be a little more patient & wait for better setups. (change that to "obviously" I need to be more patient). Yesterday the chart looked totally confusing to me, and then I switched my CL chart from 400 volume to 200 volume & suddenly I could see all of the strcuture that I was used to seeing. I think most of this game is all about the little details like that. It's just like running a business; all of the little details can be extremely important. People spend way too much time searching for magical setups I think & forget about the other details.