MT4 trailing stops

Hello everyone. I am amazed at the community here and hope to eventually be able to post more as I learn. (read lose money in Demo). I am using an MA cross (Bago-Sidus) and have limited my trades to 10 pips as I am not infront of the computer all day. I am using the 4Hr and 1Hr, when I can.

I am fairly new to MT4 and have a question about trailing stops. If you have a hard stop on an order say of 35 pips, and then you apply a trailing stop, will it trump the stop placed on the order. I have tried testing but seem to get stopped out or the limits are not hit. Is it possible to get an EA that can remove a stop and apply a trailing stop when a certin number of pips is showing as profit? Is this possible in MT4 or do you have to script it outside of the app?
Any ideas would be helpful.

Thank you,
Labrat407

Hi Labrat and welcome to the forum!

Well, I couldn't get your problem so I'll try to solve it by answering the above questions and try to explain to you the concept of trailing stops.:-)

First, you asked :
Well, it depends on how many pips you trail your stop. Hmmmm.. now that you asked it, I'm really not sure if it will trump your hard stop.. hehe...
But my initial feeling is that it won't trump your hard stop because the concept of trailing stops is that it will trail the price when price starts to move into profit... But again, this one I'm not sure... I'll have to check it too if somebody doesn't answer this for us.. :-)

So that wasn't a good reply for your answer... hehe.. So I'll try to take stab on it by explaining the concept of a trailing stop (this one I'm sure.. ).

Trailing stops work like this (this is a case when you are on the Buy side):
Currency: USD/JPY (this is the currency I'm most familiar but use any currency you want.. )
Entry Price: 117.00
Trailing Stop: 20 pips

So in the above case (not accounting for the spread for discussion purposes), let's assume the following price action happens succeedingly(or is it serially? whatever..):

Scenario: price hits 117.20
Trail Stop Price: 117.00

Scenario: price hits 117.21
Trail Stop Price: 117.01

Scenario: price hits 117.22
Trail Stop Price: 117.02

Scenario: price hits 117.20
Trail Stop Price: 117.02 (yup, it will stay in 117.02 since the highest price it hit was 117.22. )

Well, hope you get it based on my explanation.. :-)
Try it out on your demo and see if what I said is true..

If it isn't then come back here and let's sort this one out..

Regards,
East

Thanks East,
I have followed your postings here and consider your answers and insight to be outstanding.
I understand the concept of the trailing stop and the uses. I also will not place an order with out a stop. But I would like to change the stop as soon as it makes the break even or +1 pip (any profit is better than a loss). The question I can not find an answer to is the method or script.

Regards,
Labrat407

Damn labrat you caught me off guard there..

Hmmm.. okay, so you're looking for a script that does make that trailing stop... Okay, I think I should have read your post a lot better..

(Is it ok for me explain myself? ) It was because there are brokers out there who offer built-in trailing stop functionality and I haven't used MT4 to trade. I use it only for charting purposes.. hehe..

So I assumed that MT4 had the trailing stop functionality.. Wrong assumption I guess.. LOL...

Well, I took a stab and it didn't hit... hehe...

Quote

Disliked

The question I can not find an answer to is the method or script

Hmmm.. okay.. I think I got ya now.. You're right, not all brokers offer a trailing stop functionality...

So as for the method or script, anyone in the forum here have any script or EA for this?

Well, hope somebody replies. Personally I don't have one since my broker is Oanda...

Let's wait and see.

Regards,
East

On MT4 you can Place an order and then modify the order to have a TP and a Stop loss. This is places on the order and can not change as far as I can see. You can take it off by placing 0.0000 in the window for modify the order (this is the one wou get when you right click on the scroon ot the order in the trade tab. Another function of MT4 is that if you right click on the order you can set the trailing stop to 15 pips or more. This does not show up on the trade as the stop... It shows the one you set originally for the Modify order selection.
I am looking to cancel that Stop and add a TS. The reason I do not think it can be a function of MT$ (if you think about it) is it would guarrantee a profit if you had any profit point, companies might not like it. I think it can be automated using PrimalScript or similar program. As sort of a Macro, but it is more work than I want to do now.

Labrat407

Until your trade is in good profit your hard stop will hold good.
In MT4 you can determine your trailing stop by right clicking on your order or your live trade. You'll have a choice of pips to set the trail at.
The sensible approach will be to set a hard stop as the trade develops, perhaps with a trail set at the time, so if the trade goes against you your loss is minimised.
Once the trail is in play (say you set it at 30 pips) then I would cancel the hard stop.
Hope this helps
Peter

Hi Labrat,

I've put on a test trade in MT4. Depending on the outcome of this trade, I'll try to answer your question..

I've entered the following:
Buy Price: 1.2769
Stop Price: 1.2749 [20 pip stop]
Trail Price: 15 pips (Price when I put on the trail stop is 1.2766)

Depending on the outcome of this trade (I hope it gets stopped out so that we may get the answer), if the trade is stopped out at 1.2751 (1.2766 - 15 pips), then it means that the trail stop trumped on the hard stop.

However, if the trade is stopped out at 1.2749, then the hard stop remains.
You won't be needing to cancel your Hard stop if you have a trailing stop.

The trailing stop also does not display on the platform but IT IS THERE..
Have faith.. hehehe..

Well, let's see how this trade pans out..

Regards,
East

Good to hear from you Peter. I am trading on the 4 hr and only doing one trade a day. My MM and Trading plan have evolved to accomodate the fact I have a FT job and 3 kids under 6. I get up at 4-5 am EST and try to catch the open of London. If there is no trade I do not trade. Hard and ffast are the rules, by way of experience. I am for safety's sake only loking for 10 pips. If I could do the TS and remove or reset the hard stop I would maybe plan for more. But I can not babysit the trade.

Regards,
Labrat407

Thanks East,
I have not had any luck with the test as I can not monitor it.
I have a lot of faith and patience, It is time that is in short supply.

Labrat407

Hmmm... Last time I heard, time is still the same.. 24 Hours a day, 60 min an hour.. hehehe..
Inform me where I can get a lot more supply.... LOL...

Hehe.. just kidding.. I know what you mean..
But honestly, it is in prioritizing. Because we can never create time...
It is in how we use it.

So I know where you are coming from.. You want to do this but you have some other priorities.. That's okay.. That happens to me too..

So it's either me make time for it or we just let the time for us to be free to take on it... Just my thoughts anyway.. Hope I said them clearly..

So sure, prioritize as you see fit...

Regards,
East

The Family comes first. I want to be able to do this so I can get that little bit extra to make things easier. I would love to be able to work from home.
But I would stop if I had to chose time with the kids.

Labrat407

East,
I will check back in in the morning. Please let me know the results.
Thanks for the help.

Labrat407

Hey Labrat407,

I Use MT4 as my platform, I think the answer to your question is that if you set a hard stop say 20pips and a traling stop of 15. You MUST leave the terminal up an running for the traling stop to take affect. Also 15 Pips is the smallest traling stop MT4 uses. The traling stop comes into effect once you have gone to 15 pips + 1.

Have you tried setting Take Profit as this will close your order at +10 pips ??

Hope this is of some use to you.

Ademac

Hi Labrat,

Okay, based on my test trade, here are the findings:

Conditions:
Currency: GBPUSD
Buy Price : 1.8920
Stop Price : 1.8900
Trail Stop : 15 pips

1) Trailing Stop will apply when price has moved to your specified number of pips.

So for example, from the above conditions, price moves to 1.8915 (15 pip profit) the trailing stop will apply and your stop will be automatically moved (but not shown in the chart) to 1.8900 which is your entry price.

2) Your hard stop will NOT be trumped by your trailing stop on your entry.
Meaning, trailing stop will apply ONLY when your position has move a number of pips (specified by your trailing stop. So in this case, it is 15 pips.).

Hope this helps.

East

I think so I will try on another demo account to see if I get what I want.
I might be back again with another question.

Keep in the Pips,

Labrat407