i want to know how many of you scale out of your trades at predetermined targets. i just started scaling, and i can tell you that psychologically this is helping me big time. if you think about it, scaling out is basically a way to smooth out your equity curve. psychologically, then, this is a big plus, as you don't have to deal with as many swings. how many of you came to the same determination? for me, an intraday scalper, it has really done the trick.
Scaling in and out definitely helped my trading. When I was trading 1 contract, trading was very limiting. I had to be right immediately and I couldn't manage my position. Now I'm trading up to 5 ES and it gives me a little freedom. -Fast
...scaling in and out is pussy. For any given strategy, there is one and only one optimum entry, stop exit, and profit exit. Any variation from that is suboptimal and makes less money. Bet the whole wad at once, and take it off all at once! (Unless your size gives you poor fills, which is another issue.)
I agree, funky. If nothing else, it pretty much makes fear a non-issue since you don't have everything riding on one bet. Otherwise, far too much importance is attached to the ultimate exit point.
Scaling is good because once you peel off a bit for a profit you are playing with house money and it's psycologically easier to let the rest run. I scale out of almost every trade.