Every time I cut a profit early it turns into what would've been a 40-50+ tick monster trade. Every time I hold out for more, my 10 tick profit turns into a loss. I don't really have issues holding onto losers thinking they'll turn around. I think I am pretty ok at cutting losers. My problem is with cutting (or not cutting) winners.
As you become more closely neutral biased, you will begin to see an opportunity appearing. Exits and entries have the same characteristics An expert exit is simply an entry in the opposite direction. Also, there is a compliment to this expert measure of market sentiment once you have a neutral bias for trading. Markets are inclined to follow inertia laws. By understanding this you take the measures of the market's inertia and momentum. This is much like examining the exchange of potential and kinetic energy, especially as regards a pendulum. Sentiment keeps you on the right side of a trade. Timing is accomplished by the additional measures mentioned, however. So far you do not have a good grasp of sentiment and no grasp of the market's mode. You are 25% of the way there with respect to the coarse measures of market action (which is different than price action). market behavior is counterintuitive and the components of its measure are not oriented as opposites.
First, verify for yourself if it is really correct that all or most of your trades become large moves after you exit early. Memory can sometimes have ways of making one believe things that turn out to be incorrect when thoroughly examined. Check your records, journal etc. Then if it is really so then... Second, determine how to manage the trades so that you benefit from them. And third, do that then.
easy solution. set a target that you think is very likely to get reached, and cover half there. Ride the other half, but don't let it go to a loss. I've been trading like this for years, and it makes it totally stress free once you hit that first goal knowing you have a profit locked in, but can still get considerably more.
Psychology, if it immediately confirms your right and you feel relaxed get out, if it struggles to get to your target giving you some heat to bear along the way, stay with it as its shaking the weak out, the moment you feel the euphoria and relaxed state close out. 100% pschological. Just think there are 10,000 muppet traders who have just seen and felt what you have, and your aim is to strive and become one of the elusive non crowd. Once the big funds are done with there business its all down to crowd behaviour. It will click. Been there done it. Best, HPT.
Put it simply: You don't know what the FK you are doing. Sorry to say it so harshly... but that's the cold hard reality. Until you recognized this truth, you would not rethink your trading method, and your trading would never improve.
try using stops and keep moving em up,since u jumpout, psychologically you may have to reprogram your head,by using these moving stops you will prove to yourself that those profits can be had and your mental outlook will change
Actually, you haven't given enough detail to provide a truly useful "answer" FOR YOU. Therefore what Tums said is accurate... you don't know what the FK you're doing. I call it video-game trading. You enter a trade with expectation to make money. That is the "why" of trading, period. However, there is a "how" associated with EVERY single trade. Modus operandi for a position player is to shoot for "home runs" only. Same modus operandi might be applied for a swing trader (intraday or true swing), however the the meaning of home run may be different. For a scalper, home run is defined different still. Fine and dandy, I've addressed trading style. Now then, each and every trade is taken based on either the traders modus operandi or a variation of it. This is "how" the "why" will be achieved, and must be identified at the time the trade is conceived, not after its been executed. The word "identified" is what forms the basis for determination of what constitutes a good trade, a bad trade, or a lucky trade. (Also helpful for helping recognize mental and/or methodology flaws too. ) So... if you enter a trade with expectation of holding for an intraday swing, and the trade works out as expected, is it really a home run, or just merely good trading? Conversely taking the same example, entering with intraday swing expectation, within moments your expecation is clearly incorrect, is it a bad trade or merely good trading to exit with perhaps a scalp profit or maybe a small loss? As a generalized rule, it is usually easier to adjust the identified "how" of a trade upwards: scalp into swing into position as opposed to the inverse. Bottom line, there is no lucky trade. Lucky trades are bad trades that let a trader laugh (instead of cry) at his stupidity. There is no home run trade. There are only good trades and bad trades. Profit or loss, or number of tics, by itself, is not what makes a trade good or bad... Unless your why is to be listing on the high scores, in which case you are a video-game trader. Happy clicking Osorico PS.. nice nugget there Jack Hershey... An expert exit is simply an entry in the opposite direction.
Pump your last 100+ trades into a spreadsheet. Look at the MAXIMUM POINT the trade moved in your direction (this is called Maximum Favorable Excursion). Then, try a profit target that cuts off all your trades at different percentages of your largest max profit. See what the average win is for all trades at that %. You will likely find that a couple of profit targets would get you an overall higher average profit over all trades. Then, stop worrying about individual trades. One trade does not matter. It is your overall profit factor, total profits, etc. that matter.
That's exactly what I'm planning on doing. I have every trade for the last month in an Excel document already. That's what I'm hoping to find.