Adjusting T/P

So let's assume you took a position with a S/L and a T/P. You calculated S/L with 100 pips and T/P with 150. As the trade progresses you adjust your S/L till break even and it gets to the point where the trade is going to conclude to the point where you put the T/P. You look at your indicators and you assume you could make more money if you adjust your T/P. Would you just take the profit when it hits your initial T/P or would you adjust - with the risk this turning against you?
And if you adjust, by how much?

If the market conditions have changed so that a new trading signal is generated, then yes, I would adjust both SL and TP. But if I see no new trading signal, I stick to my planned TP.

I would stay with mi initial TP, don't be to greedy Moving to break even after 75% move is a good behavior, but it always depends on your trading system. Make some hostorical tests and chose the best setup for you.

Yeah being greedy is always a bad sign. When you stop being happy about incomes (because you start feeling its too low) that's a good time to stop and take a deep look at what you're doing, remember where you came from and with how much you have started.

IMHO unless scalping, fixed TP is bad.

I took my trading another step further, when I started to use trailing stop. Although I take half of my position off and move SL to breakeven at 2:1. Then I let the other half run.

You just need a couple of trades that run well per month and this might be a big difference when you look at your bottom line.

Firstly, this question is very subjective since it really depends on your trade plan, and the historical performance of your plan when playing with TP levels.

However, speaking very generically (and this does not apply to just anyone's plan, do take a moment to think if this applies to your own trade methods)...

Consider the following:

1) Why you got in the trade in the first place; is this still valid?
2) If you weren't in the position yet (flat), but still think price has more to move, would you enter a trade now for the difference?
3) Did you plan on letting the trade ride if the right conditions were met?

If you're agreeing with some of these, then maybe you can justify extending your TP order.

Now, practically speaking, you probably want to find out a quantifiable reason to mess with your trade plan. For instance, you might go over your trade history and realize that when X happens, price moves well past your TP, so maybe make a rule that when you notice X you can extend your TP. X can be anything, from an indicator value to the strength of a co-related currency pair... anything with statistical relevance.

What I personally like to do (that is, when I have a reason to let the trade ride) is take 2/3rds of my position off the table at my initial target and trail my stop up as price keeps shimmying in my direction. If I reach 2x my initial target distance, then I take even more off the table and let the last little bit ride even longer. This allows me to feel satisfied with the trade initially while still being a little exposed to a strong movement in my direction.


Hope that helps.

Well, I stopped adjusting t/p's. I just don't feel comfortable with it and too many times it turned against me. I simply add 100 or 150 pips on top of entry and let it ride. Statistically that has gained me the most money. And comfort.

for me i adjust the tp to e.g. 100 more pips as i expect and when i feel to close it then i will close it manually.

I use a very tight trailing stop (2 or 3 pips) once it hits my T/P level. That way, if the momentum of the trade carries it up a bit more immediately, I benefit from that little bit of an extra push. If it doesn't, then it usually stops out right around the original T/P level. It's not too often that it kisses the T/P level and then drops back down and hits the trailing stop thus resulting in a a few pips lower profit level and it doesn't matter anyway because all the extra little "pushes" more than make up for these.

To updated my previous answer:

I forgot to mention that there are some cases when I do change my TP. That's when I trade ascending/descending channels and symmetrical triangles patterns.