"Never turn a winner into a looser" - Myth or Reality? | Page 2 | Forex Factory

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"Never turn a winner into a looser" - Myth or Reality?

  • #21
  • Oct 16, 2009 4:19pm Oct 16, 2009 4:19pm
Don't take the concept literally. The main lesson I drew from this statement was that if you give trades the freedom to "run" (so not a binominal situation with a Take-Profit), it is key to trail a Stop-Loss. If you keep the initial Stop-Loss, and wait for too long, the SL is bound to be hit.
The nail that sticks out gets hammered back in
  • #22
  • Oct 16, 2009 6:45pm Oct 16, 2009 6:45pm
"Never turn a winner into a loser"?

It ALL depends on your strategy.

Trading is a very tough business.

There is no correct answer to this question.

I mostly try to trail the stops and/or take some/all profits.
Sometimes a winner turns to a (small) loser.

But when a position is in huge profit it would be very dumb to give all the profit back.
  • #23
  • Oct 16, 2009 7:30pm Oct 16, 2009 7:30pm
I would say... "Myth".

I would never allow a "big winner" to turn into a loser. For starters, if that happens, the "reality" is that you did something wrong. Say you enter EUR/USD at 1.3500. If you get up to 1.36, 1.37, there is absolutely no cause, considering how the market moves, for you to be getting out in a panic when it goes to 1.34 or something of the sort. And, further, what I said there about getting out is also a key. It isn't a loser until you bail on it. The market doesn't care who you are or what direction you are heading in, if you allow 200+, why not 200-?

There are some who would probably put the SL at BE ten pips into the positive. Unless you are a scalper, this is just obsurd. If you trade longer term, you have to allow 50 or so pips of swing positive, to swing negative and allow your convictions to play out a bit. This is just from my personal experience. My stops are typically 140 or so pips from entry, I dont think of moving them up to BE until I get near 75+ range. This change of the stop is only done if I see some new thing going on with the markets.
The market is my nation. Traders, my family. Hello, brothers and sisters!
  • #24
  • Oct 17, 2009 7:25pm Oct 17, 2009 7:25pm
definitly NOT a 'MYTH"! definitly one( of a few rules) that made me profitable.

having a profit and watching while it evaporates to hit your stoploss just doesnt make sence. besides which it will mess which ur head when that profit/ loss starts going into the thousands of dollars

of course, the rule is intirely baseless when you dont understand the market and dont know when your winner IS.
  • #25
  • Oct 18, 2009 3:58am Oct 18, 2009 3:58am
Quoting pizdun
besides which it will mess which ur head when that profit/ loss starts going into the thousands of dollars
Well that depends on your account size of course.

"Using too high leverage kills you" is definitely not a myth.
  • #26
  • Oct 18, 2009 5:14am Oct 18, 2009 5:14am
Quoting witkot
Hello every1,
There is one this that's been bothering me for quite some time. THE GURUS say: NEVER TURN A WINNER INTO A LOSER... Pretty obvious, right? No. Not for me at least.

What if: for example, I go long cable at 1,5, SL 50, TS 50, and it goes in my favour for say 20 pips to 1,502( so its a WINNER already, right?) then it retraces say 40 pips to 1,498. So now what: its a LOOSER for this very moment!! I DID TURN IT A WINNER INTO A LOOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I am acting according to my plan ( SL 50,TS 50).
If it goes back up - thats fine, but...
How one can be a winner without reaching the finish-liine?

Some use TP and others SL (moved up/down as pa goes in their favor) as their finish-line.
The Thief of Wall Street
  • #27
  • Oct 18, 2009 10:37am Oct 18, 2009 10:37am
Quoting StockKJay
I would say... "Myth".

I would never allow a "big winner" to turn into a loser. For starters, if that happens, the "reality" is that you did something wrong. Say you enter EUR/USD at 1.3500. If you get up to 1.36, 1.37, there is absolutely no cause, considering how the market moves, for you to be getting out in a panic when it goes to 1.34 or something of the sort. And, further, what I said there about getting out is also a key. It isn't a loser until you bail on it. The market doesn't care who you are or what direction you are heading...
I agree. Most of us are better at forming a bias than we give ourselves credit for. But we're not as good at position sizing and holding our trades as we think we are. If we need to bail early on, maybe our position size is too big. Dumping positions too early causes "Death by 1000 cuts".

Even if you're a shorter term trader, taking a few longer term trades with tiny position size can be a useful exercise. When you start having a few 1000+ pip wins, you'll begin to realize what's possible if you give your trade room to breathe, even if it means letting a +50 pip trade go against you a little bit.

It all comes down to your method and what you consider a "winner".
  • #28
  • Oct 18, 2009 11:26am Oct 18, 2009 11:26am
I am truly shaken, this week I had a giant margin call, and I'm afraid to operate, however as this is my main activity, must have the vision of winning.
Let us be green
  • #29
  • Oct 18, 2009 11:33am Oct 18, 2009 11:33am
I've let hundreds of losers turn into winners.
  • #30
  • Oct 18, 2009 11:53am Oct 18, 2009 11:53am
It's very important to have SL placed and closely follow with TSL, but I believe we must develop our stretegy correctly based on currency pair, time-frame, trading session & account size (small balance may not survive longer period trades). Most importantly we need to understand the nature of the currency pair we like to trade, every one reacts differently & has their unique noise.

Honestly speaking it's not easy!
Holding my candle high up, my mentor lit it up once!!
  • #31
  • Oct 18, 2009 12:00pm Oct 18, 2009 12:00pm
Quoting SerpentDove
I've let hundreds of losers turn into winners.
vice versa...unfortunately
The Market pays you to be disciplined
  • #32
  • Oct 18, 2009 12:02pm Oct 18, 2009 12:02pm
Witkot,

You need to have a good look at that trade and ask yourself some tough questions:

 

  1. Was your entry right?
  2. Did you check your entry on the lower TF's?
  3. Did you identify the Support and Resistance levels?
  4. Where was the Pivot?
  5. What was the trend on your chosen TF?
  6. How did the trend compare to other TF's?
  7. Was your SL and TP arbritary or properly reasearched?
  8. What is misssing on your chosen system?
  9. What was the time of day?
  10. Was there any news?
  11. What were you thinking/feeling when you entered the trade.

Answer those questions, learn from it and see how you get on next time.

Trading is fine balance between greed and fear, find your comfortzone and trade within it.

  • #33
  • Last Post: Oct 18, 2009 12:23pm Oct 18, 2009 12:23pm
Quoting mima
vice versa...unfortunately
It's a long road.

A few of those losers I didn't turn into winners, generally they ended in a massive loss relative to account size or a margin call. After my third margin call I focused on making regular withdrawals and building my bank account instead of my trading account. The last margin call I had was MUCH less painful as a result.

Didn't mean to sound like an escape artist/magician. It's tough in the beginning, especially when you really don't have the money to burn. It's greed and fear that require conquering, control them and the market will go a lot easier on me you or anyone else.
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