I think this might be an interesting poll. I wonder, what is your average YM stop, looking specifically at the last 4 weeks or so.. I'm curious to see what kind of leeway different traders are allowing themselves. If you can respond to the poll and also make a post, then your post could include: 1 - average ym stop # 2 - average ym target # 3 - description of why you think your stop + target are appropriate for your method Let's see how this goes..
1 - average ym stop # I average about 20 average stop from the get-go but will often slide it in to 15 or so if the trade isnt working how i'd like. 2 - average ym target # I take profits quickly (if at all, heh) @ 8-10 pts 3 - description of why you think your stop + target are appropriate for your method I'm still a right noob at this, but for what it's worth, my stop is fairly small because once I start with realmoney in a couple weeks I can not afford large losses. Especially as a new trader I want to be able to manage my losses while I am still working out twinks with strategy and psychology. I expect I'll make my stop larger / more lenient later once my account shows some gains.
With tight stops you'll have to tick scalp on momentum or on reversals. The YM has quite a bit of back-fill.
My average stop is typically 50-75 points. I go for the daily trend, so I need leeway for the large whipsaws of the current volatility environment. Typically my target is 90-120 points. That said, everything changes as volatility drops. When $vix,$vxo,$vxn are at the lower range of the past few months, my stops become 15-30 points, with my target 50-75 points. Obviously there isn't a trend everyday. If I see the first hour developing a range with low volume, I will scalp much smaller point ranges. Stops of 20 points, target 10-20.
Always depends on the volume of the day but avg about 27 Target 10 then trial until stopped out Question #3, see response #1
the better question is...how many YM contracts do you trade 'all in' and 'all out' per trade...2,3,5,6,10???
Is that a good question? It seems that different people at different stages in their trading experience would trade different size. Different capital, etc. I'm not sure raw # of contracts speaks to technique/method.
I would have liked to vote is this poll, but unfortunately the correct answer is not a choice. The correct answer is it depends. What does it depend upon? It depends upon market analysis. Market analysis will answer any and all questions. Specifically, when to; 1. enter 2. hold or reverse 3. add to or subtract from 4. exit