Nice that you bring this up (not nice that it happened to you, though ) I think that one of the most valuable things in trading is learning to be consistent in your execution and that this is particularly hard when it comes to your profitable exits. I don't mean that you cannot change over time how you execute your trades, but that you have to consistently execute them the same exact way over a period of time long enough to test and determine whether your execution style is serving you well (i.e. whether it is a good fit with your particular strategies). Take Nodoji's trade, for instance. When that happens a couple of times, what do most people do? They start either taking profits before their target is hit or trailing aggressively their stops. This of course prevents them from giving away all their profits, but it also has the unintended and unwanted side effect of deteriorating their R:R, which will end up costing them way more money that having the occasional "rogue" trade. (I find that when you have smaller targets in tighter R:R relations it's better to leave them alone but that as you increase your R:R it makes more sense to "sandwich" your positions as they approach their targets). Also, suppose she had taken profits one tick before the target was hit and then price had skyrocketed in her favor. That happens a couple of times and suddenly most people think that they shouldn't take profits at their targets, but instead "let their winners run". So they try that and after a while they start having trades that go past their profit target and then come back all the way down to breakeven or the stop loss, i.e. they let their winners run... away. This happens also of course with stop-losses, but a) most entry signals are "harder" or more clearly defined than targets that tend to be "softer"; and b) I'd say most people find it easier to re-enter a trade that was stopped out at a small loss or BE than a trade they've got out of after it went a long way in their favor. On a related note, I think this influences how averaging down is ever so tempting whereas averaging up is so hard to do that most people simply give up on it (for every trader that averages-in as the position moves in his/her favor you have ten that go all-in and then scale out - which, even though it may be easier psychologically, imho it has a lower expectancy).
Yes, I was very pleased with how I managed the trades I played, only disappointed in that I cherry-picked and what appeared to be the ripest cherries turned out to have little flavor. Something that's very helpful to me is that I've focused almost exclusively on trading one thing over the past 2 1/2 months. CL has a very distinct personality that I've gotten to know pretty well. I'm not nearly as good as EON_Kid yet, but by year end I'll be ready to challenge him to a duel P.S. - Sorry, db, for using "cherry" in a sentence; just simmer down now, the weekend's nearly over and you can soon trade again!
I've done extensive manual back testing and found that a fixed target is perfect in a certain type of setup I take, and other setups require the initial target to be flexible based on S/R levels. My initial profit target is almost always a mental target, because sometimes price breaks right through it, at which point I will work the trade as runner and look to take more out of it. My minimum profit target is always equal to the maximum survivable stop loss I'm willing to place on any trade. If a reasonable profit target on a trade is less than $200, or a survivable stop is greater than the expected profit, I'll just wait for the next setup to come along. I think a big problem for newer traders is knowing where to place the protective stop and the initial profit target, and this is one of several reasons why they cut winners short and let losers run. To overcome cutting winners short you have to accept that price will sometimes come within a few ticks of target and then reverse to stop you out break even. You can choose to trade larger size and take some off when price comes close to target. Just be sure you've overcome the issue of picking and choosing trades and you can consistently trade all setups without hesitation, because you don't want to be picking weaker trades and leaving good ones behind when trading larger size.
To fade the opinionated crap methods in other people's heads and the herding instinct, which are one and the same.
When price moves through my initial target, I either move my stop to my initial target or to the previous bar's high/low; at that point I would not let the trade go all the way back to b/e. Been there, done that, and it sets a bad tone for the rest of the day!
Obviously my laughing at your FAILURE to give the obvious solution to a simple grade school geometry problem struck a nerve. But that's no reason for profanity, nor are you fooling anyone with your bluster and pseudo-intellectual drivel.
Just to make sure we're on the same page, I wasn't saying that you did any of what I was pointing out as mistakes; on the contrary, I meant that you're very consistent on your approach, which is one of the hardest things to do.
Smart investing requires careful planning and knowledge of the market. You can earn profits if you invest wisely.
As you say there is no problem here. It is like when a bird watcher uses a bird book. Some birds have funny names. What is so fortunate about things is I am always wrong and you are always correct. ET owes you a great deal.