The myth of letting your winners run

Discussion in 'Risk Management' started by Flowfollower, Jun 2, 2020.

How do you do it?

Poll closed Jul 21, 2020.
  1. Outlier hunting

    20.7%
  2. Profit target

    44.8%
  3. A combination of both eg trim and trail

    34.5%
  1. volpri

    volpri

    I scalp 1 to 8 points. Yes, I suck money right out of others people’s account. You hear that sound? It is a vacuum cleaner. The traders equation put the odds in my favor.

    P.S. And I am not young. I don’t reckon. 65
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2020
    #61     Jun 2, 2020
    birdman likes this.
  2. volpri

    volpri

    Absolutely not. It is actually a poor use of capital. J.M. Hurst dealt with the matter but it seems no investor cares to hear of it.
     
    #62     Jun 2, 2020
    Flowfollower likes this.
  3. Tradex

    Tradex

    Is cutting profits short the optimal move?

    Only a serious backtest can give you the answer for your particular trading system.

    If you are playing the range for example (shorting at resistance, buying at support) or scalping the market here and there, then yes, cutting profits short IS the optimal move.

    If you are trend-trading that's another story.
     
    #63     Jun 2, 2020
  4. Tradex

    Tradex

    Care to post your buy/sell signals in real time then?
     
    #64     Jun 2, 2020
  5. deaddog

    deaddog

    I only trade stocks making new highs. Usually new 52 week highs. I'm not a buy and hold investor, I'm a swing trader. That said I'll hold a stock until it stops trending.
     
    #65     Jun 2, 2020
  6. deaddog

    deaddog

    No doubt.

    I prefer the boring daily charts. I found that at the end of the year I make about the same amount of money.
     
    #66     Jun 2, 2020
  7. deaddog

    deaddog

    If I knew for sure that my "One Winner" would be profitable it would be.

    I don't know so I have several positions open at one time, risking less than 1% of my capital per position. For my purposes it is an optimal use of my capital.
     
    #67     Jun 2, 2020
  8. volpri

    volpri

    Letting winners run is why most traders lose. They are never satisfied with what the markets hands them. They gotta get more and more. Then they find themselves going from paper loss to real loss when the pain gets unbearable. But really understanding that the market cannot go straight up or straight down. It is going to go up and down and sideways. Capitalizing on that phenomena, over and over is key. Of course, the shorter the time frame the more frequent. The more frequent .....well the more $$$. But the frequency can be too fast if trading manually. 5 min works well for me.
     
    #68     Jun 2, 2020
    yc47ib, Real Money, birdman and 2 others like this.
  9. deaddog

    deaddog

    The other side of the equation is cutting losers short.
    You can't lose if all you have is winners that are running. Running means moving in your direction.
     
    #69     Jun 2, 2020
  10. Tradex

    Tradex

    I am speechless.

    Seriously.

    [​IMG]
     
    #70     Jun 2, 2020