Daytraders: Do you use Profit and Loss Limits for the Day?

Discussion in 'Strategy Building' started by aeliodon, Nov 20, 2008.

Do you use Profit and Loss Limits for the Day?

  1. I limit Profits and Losses

    8 vote(s)
    25.0%
  2. I limit Losses, not Profits

    15 vote(s)
    46.9%
  3. I don't use Profit or Loss Limits

    9 vote(s)
    28.1%

  1. This is the conventional wisdom - every one says limit losses but not profits.

    But if you're not limiting profits then you're not limiting greed.

    Sure there are days when you can make over 3x your average profit. But the same greed that motivates going for huge gains also results in a huge drawdowns from the HW mark as a trader fails to take profits.
     
    #11     Nov 20, 2008
  2. Im a scalper and and have a daily profit target and a max daily loss limit.The limit is 33% of the profit target.

    Sometimes I hit my target after a couple of hours, sometimes it takes all day and sometimes Im profitable without actually hitting the target. These are good days.

    On a bad day I find my limit tends to get hit pretty quickly and I walk away.

    There was a time felt you had to trade all day and take whatever the market gave...winning days were huge but so were losing days.

    Working with targets has made me a better trader and introduced dicipline.
     
    #12     Nov 21, 2008
  3. wrong answer VIKANA, the "trick" is to have a BIG edge and "play" it as LESS as you can

    Casinos will"kick" out a person that is making too much from them
     
    #13     Nov 21, 2008