How many pips profit do you look for in a trade?

[JTrader]

TMM - A scalper will use the lowest level of price detail available to them because there view is extremely short term, they do not have a short term view because they use the lowest level of price detail available.

Hi TMM

don't worry about being harsh, I like to think that I am reasonably thick skinned .

I don't want to labour this point endlessly, but presumably scalpers will use the lowest level of price detail (timescale) as their view is extremely short term - naturally they are looking for small/short term, regular intraday trades and profits, whereas an EOD timescale trader would have a longer term view and would be looking to capture a bigger number of pips/ticks/points at a time? as the timeframe that the strategy is applied to, the more time and scope the price has to move.

While this may not equate to higher profits (due to position sizing), if you apply the same strategy with the same entry and exit criteria and indicator values to a 1-minute chart and to a daily chart, the number of units of targeted profit should be different, but as accepted the trader has the ultimate say on targeted profits and when to enter/exit.

These are the points I was initially trying to make, but I accept that the trader is free to set their own profit target, SL, entries and exits regardless of timescale.

Regards

jtrader.

 

[Enricfj]

I belive scalping can work, indeed I've been successfull with 5 pips profit and 12 pips stop. It's a matter of probability.

 

[nassercity]

10 to 15 pips , it is ok for 1 trade per day , but how many lots , that's depend on the currency and the market and other things ..

 

[commanderco]

How many pips profit do you look for in a trade?

This thread seems to have been derailed by time frames as though they were tradeables in themselves.
You dont ring your Broker and say " I want to buy dec euro at eighteen oh eight on the 15 min chart ".... No No No
So let us go back to the begining ... willing Buyer / willing Seller ( notice that I did not say "happy" I said "willing")
And so every trade represents "fair value" at that moment in time, which has past just as soon as the trade is made.
The markets move in waves ( Elliott says these are predictable).
The size of the wave is measured by PHigh to PLow. If the price is moving up then the up waves exceed the size of the down waves and vica versa.
How many pips do you look for will depend upon your choice of bracket stops... one stop for profit and one as a stop loss.
ie If you have identified that a certain instrument given certain conditions will yield 13 points for a stoploss of 4 and this happens on 68% of the occasions and you are content with the conditions that this imposes upon you as the Trader, then 13 /4 points is your pip target.
You can never see one side without seeing the other, unless of course you want to join the failure club.
You can certainly manage the trade once you are in it but that is a different subject.

 

[pttrader]

A man has a horse he will put in the races. Should run half throttle or full throttle? Should he attempt to win the race or lose the race? Does he want to come in 2nd or first? Then get ALL the profit you can. Winning is everything!!

Commanderco how did I do on my metaphor??

 

[Enricfj]

Hi pttrader,

I think it's not a "black or white" problem. Maybe you are not good enough to ride full throttle and the second price is good enough for you.

I think that it's not only the system, it's the system and the trader. If you cannot effort a 20 pips draw-down you cannot expect to win 100 pips. How many successful paper-traders are loser real-traders? The system is OK but it doesn't match with the trader.

 

[commanderco]

A man has a horse he will put in the races. Should run half throttle or full throttle? Should he attempt to win the race or lose the race? Does he want to come in 2nd or first? Then get ALL the profit you can. Winning is everything!!

Commanderco how did I do on my metaphor??

I hope you are not comparing trading with sport ( serious sport I mean, not the social stuff that your hairdresser discusses on a monday morning)
In sport, winning is everything and to come 2nd is to be nowhere and the other guy(s) is the enemy.

Trading, however is totally different. The other guy ( the other side of your trade) is your friend....without him you have nothing and so he must be encouraged to continue.
The markets are your playgrounds, not battlegrounds, because they must be there for you tomorrow and the next day.
That 95% of traders lose their stake is of no concern of mine other than to encourage them to learn and continue in the hope that they might move to the other side and someone else take their place.
Trading is perfecting the art of continuance not the termination that comes with victory.
Oddly enough, my decision to learn to trade come to me in a deck chair in Key West. All very peaceful really.
Talking of peace, did you follow GWB`s speech yesterday. The first of several we are lead to believe