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Attachments: How can I stop myself from closing trades early?
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How can I stop myself from closing trades early?

The problem discussed above is quite "popular" among the traders. To my mind, it is caused by something in the sphere of psychology. For example, the reason could be a huge loss incurred recently, or disbelief in trading strategy.
Thus, there could be different approaches to deal with that. First of all, it is necessary to check the strategy to ensure it works the way it should. If the trader knows that his strategy itself is profitable, he would be able to hold positions long enough without doubt, understanding that exit point specified by strategy rules is the best exit point possible.
Depending on particluar strategy traders could use even more extraordinary approaches. For example, mid-term/swing traders could just place alerts and then avoid watching the charts.
I have the same problem. I think we should not watch market all the time. Just set up TP and SL and then go away.
Quoting zilo
I have the same problem. I think we should not watch market all the time. Just set up TP and SL and then go away.
Exactly right. Determine the exit points (both SL and TP) before you put on the position. Stick with them. Aim for a 1:3 ratio between SL and TP i.e. if you risk 10 pips on a SL then you should set your TP 30 pips away.

One of the best things you can do imho is to formulate a trading plan. Before each trade fill out the following:

Instrument EURUSD
Entry point 1.1250
Stop Loss 1.1200 (Jan low)
Take Profit 1.1300 (Channel resistance)
Amount risked 50 pips, 0.5%, $200
Risk ratio 1:3
Motivation Momentum picking up with 10, 25, 50dma crossing over

Keep a record and review the winners and losers and look for patterns. Having this plan forces you to be honest about what your motivations were at the time of putting on the trade. It also forces trading discipline on you as it requires you to consider risk ratios, position size and stop losses before adding risk.
Thank you for this trend. It's been really helpful I'm going through same problems. Someone mentioned that the number of wins may be higher than losses yet that very loss may surpass entire TP which renders number of wins useless. I make ten straight wins with very small profit but my 1 loss takes everything. I keep shifting my stop losses. I believe we all went through this psyche problem n I have some answers from your thread hopefully I'll have better results in future
I suffered from this problem and realized if I let my pre-set SL & TP run its course, I would be way ahead by now. Its discipline you must instill in you. Maybe log out of your account after placing trades and get email notifications if either SL/TP is hit. In trading, the biggest enemy is not the market... but we ourselves. Trading in the Zone really helped me put this into perspective
There can be no peaks without troughs
  • Post #46
  • Quote
  • Edited at 8:16pm Jan 3, 2020 7:59pm | Edited at 8:16pm
Quoting PeligroRaton
I have this problem with my TP. Stop losses, I can live with them just fine now. I used to have this problem which I think most people have had, where you set a stop loss and if the price gets close to it you move it above/below the next support/resistance/trendline hoping the trade will work out. But of course mostly it doesn't so you move it again.... or take a bigger loss, or find you can't sleep at night.... Somehow I have taught myself not do that. And reading around that seems to be one of the hardest problems to fix. The problem I have is...

Try a trailing stop loss,

"JUST FOLLOW THE PRICE ACTION"

This is what I use in most of my trades.

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It seems to me that this is pure psychology and the only thing you can do in this case is learn to wait. And it's not easy, especially in this kind of gambling business, when you literally every minute worry and immediately see new prospects. But it passes with experience, you become more calm and start thinking two or three steps forward. Give yourself time and it'll be part of your trading system. Although it is not easy, but believe me, you are not the only one, each of us has been in this situation or is coping with it now. Try to risk a small amount to see what happens if you don't close the position. Do not risk large amounts at once, but with small amounts you can see for yourself that waiting can bring much more. It's a fact.
This is fight or flight which is biological, emotional and psychological. We are not biologically built to be traders and this is exactly what brokers are investing in.
It takes less than half a second to notice a threat, yet it takes several seconds to recognize something rewarding. This difference in speed produces more stress hormones and less pleasure hormones, creating emotional and psychological irrationals. It has the effect of magnifying the negative moves within a positive trade and ultimately causes the rapid decision to close out the trade. The exaggerated threat to the positive trade creates the flight. So how to stay and fight ?
There are some common thing like hiding trade data details etc, but ultimately its about knowing your limitations and how to capitalize on them.
Mindset Match
dont use SL,that way you can keep trades longer and dont take early TP
OP said: you set a stop loss and if the price gets close to it you move it above/below the next support/resistance/trendline hoping the trade will work out.
----
Assuming your trading intraday, IMO, You gotta train yourself to take profit early at those levels you're talking about. You can move the stop out of greed, but you can't take profit when you have it.
It's a matter of conditioning. Practice being profitable and don't be too unrealistic. If your TP seems too unrealistic (ie. TP is much greater than ADR) then your strategy needs work.
Quoting PeligroRaton
I have this problem with my TP. Stop losses, I can live with them just fine now. I used to have this problem which I think most people have had, where you set a stop loss and if the price gets close to it you move it above/below the next support/resistance/trendline hoping the trade will work out. But of course mostly it doesn't so you move it again.... or take a bigger loss, or find you can't sleep at night.... Somehow I have taught myself not do that. And reading around that seems to be one of the hardest problems to fix. The problem I have is...

I'm interested in your strategy. Can we talk please? I'm new to Forex.
In other words some guy has a strategy that gains 2% per week but he is very upset about that because he want at least 3%. And yes he is using static tp and sl with fixed RR for trades. And yes he is trading higher tfs manually.

Oookay
Observer effect
  • Post #53
  • Quote
  • Last Post: Dec 23, 2020 1:29am Dec 23, 2020 1:29am
quote
''But I just can't help myself closing winning trades early if they seem to run out momentum, or hit some resistance level and bounce back a bit several times''.
unquote

well, you need to rework on your trade plan
define clear rules on entry and exit. if x happens i enter, if y happens i exit
right now you seem to be trading as per emotions which is clearly a lack of defined rules
if you get exited or nervous anytime before during or after a trade, it is not a healthy sign
good trading is emotionless
work on your trade plan, revisit and rework the same

wish you luck
“Don't ever make the mistake of believing that market success has to
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