Well I would have to say you shouldn't be in any stock before you have a price target established. How do you know what your risk/reward ratio will be? After the fact? Makes no sense to me.
First of all, people who use a "let their winners run" strategy, they dont have pt's either, most likely they use trailing stops. As long as the risk aspect of trading is under control, I dont see what the problem is. MOST the time I do have a PT in mind...right now I hold RHAT and I'm looking for 17.00. To be honest, I'd be happy with .50 cm69
10/31/06 (1 day hold) Short 300 YHOO @ 26.19 11/1/06 Cover 300 YHOO @ 26.51 Risk .32 PT n/a profit -110.00 review: I was dead on about the pullback, but I was taken out by the highs of the day at 26.62. At 26.90 - 26.85 I might try shorting again, I don't know for sure. http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=YHOO&p=D&b=5&g=0&id=p21194344840
That is simply not true. People that let their winners run normally have a target in mind, and in fact some people have two or three targets and may scale out at each target. You say you would have been happy with .50. Well there you go trading basically at a 1:1 risk reward. You will never make money at that level. Trade the way you want, but you are starting out with a losing risk management strategy before you even begin. Good Luck
Cashmoney, don't take it personally, people just mean to point out ideas and advice to you. What is your ROI so far since you started this journal? Did you end up making or losing money? If you are flat or lost money, just consider changing MM or entry/exit strategies. Don't be shy to ask.
How many trades? How many wins vs losses? What is the average % gain on a win and average % loss on your losers? Take out your best gain and worse loss and recompute. How does this compare to any backtesting you have done. How many of the trades did you follow your plan exactly? Is your strategy working?