Very well said, ManInJapan. This above statement would be an exception to what I stated in the above post.
I didn't see the high in real time. When i did look, the market was 1 point (4 ticks) away, so i figured it might as well go back up. But it didn't.
I agree that it is demoralising. With regard to your example, haven't you really just changed your target from $0.25 to $0.23?
Visaria, the numbers were just an example. What I tend to do is watch the price action. If it seems that the move is reluctant to get to my target, but is close enough, then it's time to ring the register. Ocassionally, if the action shows a reluctance for another leg up/down, I will still take profits far from my target; maybe leave a small portion on. For me, it's mostly about how the action is playing out and taking profits. If there is rejection, I will add my position back on.
Absolutely. And that's the problem with discretionary trading: NO clearly defined trading rules, so the trader is always asking himself questions like : "Should I do this or should I do that?". And then all discipline goes down the drain. Because, once again, there are NO clearly defined trading rules. In fact you cannot even know for sure if your system has ANY predictive power to begin with, for the simple reason that discretionary systems are almost impossible to backtest.
The only remedy compatible with your trading is to replace the single exit with a relatively narrow scale out zone. That will prevent the emotional effects tied to extreme outcomes. Other solutions imply changing your approach which I assume you don't want to do. Although "lower your target by 1 tick" is funny. ras72 "If I don't understand what someone is saying, it means he doesn't know what he is talking about" ras72
Scaling out (exiting a position in several planned increments as opposed to exiting the entire position at one time) usually works great if your system generates low risk/ high reward trades. Otherwise watch out, the outcome becomes worse!
i did see the "low" being made, just happened to be glancing at the market, i don't normally watch during the day. I changed the limit order to an OCO with the limit at 14030 and the stop being a certain distance away. Market went up , wasn't too far from the stop, but fortunately came back down overnight and was filled at 14030.