No,no. This is very important issue that many people ignore. Do you set a stop? If you don't, then even you have 90% win rate, you could lose money because the 10% you lose could cost your entire account. If you set stop, then those trades which go down before they go up have good chance hitting your stop and you are out even they go up later.
Of course one needs to set stop. But that makes most people hard to make money, I mean consistently. For example, if there is a chart pattern which has a 85% chance going up. Then after you set stop, the chance that you win is reduced to 50%.
Perhaps what Maxinger says is the key. Don't anticipate what the market will do. First see what it does, then react. If you have a full candle, you have a point where you can put a tight stop.
Also what bad_badness says may help. Buy high sell high, this means overcoming a resistance before firing
is this really your approach... if so I suggest you don't look at the market for 3 hours after entering your trades.
That's pretty much what Kullamaggi does. He "stalks" a stock that has a set-up he likes then waits for a nice up day that possibly signals a break out then he hops in. He harps on DONT ANTICIPATE...wait for that first big up day. I have noticed his stops seem to be tighter in this choppy,uncertain market. He seems to be just treading water like the rest of us.
Hi Nooby, well... sometimes you win, you raise the stop to the buy price and you end up empty handed.