Anyone use very tight stop losses successfully?

How I use stops with my trading, My first stop after entry is taken will be say 3-5 points away (spx). If trade starts to work out after a few minutes, I'll move the stop closer to the low after my entry. If the trade does not start to work out after 10 minutes or so and is getting close to my stop ill just take the loss and not wait on it hitting. On trades that are going well, I might move the stop to breakeven or just under the low after my entry was taken. I'm looking for the average stop over say 100 trades, so I dont mind if I take a few 5 point stops as I know by moving my stops after trades start working out, my average stop over time will be a lot less.
 
in this market with the wider spreads is such tight stops a good thing? (rhetorical question) i bet scalpers are having a party in these markets.. wider spreads and tight stops equals a recipe for fun :)
 
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graemenash said:
Stops should always be defined by the market; in as much that they should be placed at a level that makes sense technically (as BSD said) and never by the monetary amount you wish to risk, or by an arbitrary round figure.
Click to expand...

Stops are a defined by proficiency, not the market.

Here we go again....

Unsubscribed!
 
hi all.
what i tight stop can be defined as is totally dependant on market your trading and indeed the time of day or current conditions of said market and of course your stratergy/style of trading.
if your scalping say on eur/gbp then a 5/8 pip stop loss might be ok but if your scalping on dow then 8 pip stop is loser every time.
now if you are trading 4h tf on gbpjpy for example then a 100 pip stop could be considered tight.

the point im making is only u can decide what a tight stop is, i personally love to scalp the dow on 1m bars and i have what i would call a tight stop say on average 25 - 40 pips and i also move my stop to break even at earliest logical point. i am only interested in sudden price movements and try to optimize my entry for that purpose, if move is not happening i would rather be out than hang around to see if it might eventually develop. so i do get stoped out for a loss sometimes and sometimes at break even but i am only interested in that big move and so i can handle a few losses along the way no big deal.
but again it comes down to market as this way of trading is okay for dow but then could be suicide in another market.
And lastly stops should only ever be where it signals u where wong to enter trade in first place or trade has turned against you and as i have said before where this is in the number of pips/points is irrelevant.

happy piping!
 
new_trader said:
Stops are a defined by proficiency, not the market.

Here we go again....

Unsubscribed!
Click to expand...

What new_trader has failed to grasp is that trying to be less PROFICIENT can lead to you being more EFFICIENT.
 
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I wonder why stops start the biggest debates.......?

End of the day, whilst I swing trade GBPJPY with a 35pip stop and trader_dante a 100 pip stop, it matters not as we both make money.

What really matters is YOUR bottom line so technically 'tight' or not, keep your risk exposure to a minimal (trade %), put your stops where the moves is invalidated and trade the way that makes you more than your lose.
 
wasp said:
I wonder why stops start the biggest debates.......?

End of the day, whilst I swing trade GBPJPY with a 35pip stop and trader_dante a 100 pip stop, it matters not as we both make money.
Click to expand...

I don't use 100 pip stops, I use whatever I feel is necessary to catch the move. Today I used a 28 pip stop to capture 239 pips. (Eur/Usd)

Tomorrow I may use a 295 pip stop to try and capture what I believe might be 1600 pips. (Usd/Cad)
 
trader_dante said:
I don't use 100 pip stops, I use whatever I feel is necessary to catch the move. Today I used a 28 pip stop to capture 239 pips.

Tomorrow I may use a 295 pip stop to try and capture what I believe might be 1600 pips.
Click to expand...

No need to be pedantic, I don't always use 35... I was just trying to make a simple point that it doesn't matter as long as you make what you want to make!!
 
ganndalf said:
My stop is 300 on all trades,,,if my pulse goes above that i exit
Click to expand...

Nice one, ganndalf!

Oh dear, what a debate, i didn't realise i had raised such a controversial subject!

I think for my style of trading i had been expecting myself to use stops that were too tight and unrealistic.

Hmmm... i think stops are so controversial i'm going to stop using them entirely. Place a trade and see what happens, boom or bust for my bank account :LOL:
 
Nice Scalp!

Bought right at the bottom for a scalp and the market never moved against me 1 tick!
 

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new_trader is the best! He bought the low!!!
And he got a whole 4 ticks out of it too!!!
I can't compete.
As he would say...

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Buying at limit down isn't a trade you can make every day, and it's pretty risky - what if you don't get a chance to exit, and the market gaps down on open? Huge risk for a few ticks.
 
fifty2aces said:
Buying at limit down isn't a trade you can make every day, and it's pretty risky - what if you don't get a chance to exit, and the market gaps down on open? Huge risk for a few ticks.
Click to expand...

A very good point, however I think the real issue is being overlooked.

  1. I can never be 100% sure if the trade will show a loss or a profit or how much.
  2. I traded when I got my indication to trade
  3. The market moved almost immediately in my favour.
  4. I traded at a point where I could secure protection with a tight stop.

Occasionally I make a loss (1.25-2.00), often I make a small profit (0.25-0.75), regularly make a medium profit (1.00-1.50), and occasionally make a larger profit (>1.50). But, bearing in mind this is in ALL market conditions. I don’t make a distinction between volatile and non volatile conditions. I have never professed to have mastered the art of trading completely yet, I am merely endorsing the advice I have read and putting it into real practice - STOPS are a function of proficiency.
 
new_trader said:
A very good point, however I think the real issue is being overlooked.

  1. I can never be 100% sure if the trade will show a loss or a profit or how much.
  2. I traded when I got my indication to trade
  3. The market moved almost immediately in my favour.
  4. I traded at a point where I could secure protection with a tight stop.

Occasionally I make a loss (1.25-2.00), often I make a small profit (0.25-0.75), regularly make a medium profit (1.00-1.50), and occasionally make a larger profit (>1.50). But, bearing in mind this is in ALL market conditions. I don’t make a distinction between volatile and non volatile conditions. I have never professed to have mastered the art of trading completely yet, I am merely endorsing the advice I have read and putting it into real practice - STOPS are a function of proficiency.
Click to expand...

Fair enough in general, but I was talking about this particular trade - my understanding is that if you buy at limit down you might not be able to get out unless there is a move. If there's no move, you wait till the open, when there could be a huge fall, exposing your stop to a lot of slippage.

I've not got much experience of markets going limit up/down, so could be wrong on this.
 
Is this better?

a image is entry
b image is exit

I suppose somebody will complain about something...
 

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  • 24-10-2008b.bmp
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