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I am trying to use for manual trading to get at least 1:1, but try to do less but bigger trades with 1:3-4-5 reward.
In contriary to EA's. My EA's need a big SL and a small TP in most cases, as the market statiscally needs that amount of movement.
As for setting take profit points, there are a few different approaches you can try. Some traders like to use technical analysis, like identifying swing points or pivots, while others prefer to use a risk/reward ratio to determine their take profit levels. It's important to find what works best for you and your trading style.
One thing that might help is to use higher time frames for your exit points. This can give you a better overall view of the market and help you identify key levels to exit at.
In terms of breaking even, it really depends on your risk management strategy. Some traders like to break even once they've reached 50% of their target, while others prefer to let their profits run and only move their stop loss to break even once they've hit a certain level. Again, it's about finding what works best for you.
As for indicators, it sounds like you've already tried a few and haven't found them helpful. That's okay, not every trader uses indicators and it's important to find what works best for you. One thing you could try is backtesting different exit strategies to see what has worked well in the past.
Overall, just keep experimenting and trying new things until you find what works best for you. And remember, it's okay to make mistakes along the way - that's all part of the learning process.
When I first created my latest trading system, which always has a single 100% size entry, the only exit I had for initial backtesting was the exit signal that that indicated it's time to get out. This technical exit signal would sometimes occur in profit, sometimes in loss.
I built spreadsheets to statistically analyze the maximum profit and maximum drawdown that occurred between entry/exit signals on each setup, and then added features to use different exit protocols to see if there was a way I could increase profit factor or get more desirable stats or quality of life increases (like higher winrates, avoiding big drawdowns, if it could achieve the same total profitability, or just quick exits at set profit targets so I don't sit there for hours on a trade that could have been done in minutes, etc.
I realized that from playing with these statistics and different exit protocols that there are a lot of different ways to manage positions on a trading system which can drastically alter certain stats and aspects of the trading, and often times many different exit strategies will be similarly profitable. The difference is how that profit is distributed. For instance, the most convenient way to trade is to just go for a quick, relatively easy % ADR profit target that can be hit 70-90% of the time, and then just take off the entire position. This makes it easier to churn capital quickly for multiple trades per day. However, it fails to capitalize on those smaller % of moves that end up being big winners, and for my system that lowers overall profitability.
Of course, on the flip side, an exit protocol that focuses on holding most/all of the size to the end of the technical move, while it does overall make more money over time, has a much lower win rate, much longer holding time tying up capital (often time spent wasted in long consolidation periods), and will introduce much larger drawdowns.
There's also the question of, if using profit targets instead of technical exit signals for my system, using smaller, easier to hit profit targets, or larger, harder to hit profit targets. I've found that for maximum net profitability, a somewhat higher profit target tends to work better, but it's much lower win rate, more drawdowns, more time wasted. It's higher R/R. On the other hand, a tighter profit target can achieve a 90%+ win rate, with less than 1:1 R/R, tends to have much shorter trades, and much less drawdown over time. It sometimes has higher profit factor too, but not always. But, overall it makes less money. Even though the profit factor is higher, to make as much money as the other method, requires taking on bigger risk.
I eventually found a sweet spot that combines the strength of both ends of the spectrum where I set tight scalp targets for the first 50% of the position, like 4-10% ADR, raise stop to breakeven, and then ride out the rest of the move to the exit signal or breakeven. I found that doing this leads to both high net profitability (maybe a bit less than entry to exit signal), low drawdown, high win rate, and about halfway between tying up capital too much and having more available for other trades, since if a trade is profitable, 50% of the size will be gone once it's time to attempt to ride the move. The best part is the profit factor which goes up a lot.
The only danger of tight scalp targets + raising stops to breakeven is that when trading with large size, if those initial targets are too close to breakeven, those raised stops may attract some price fluctuations and be a self-fulfilling prophecy. But I'm hoping this ends up being a "high quality problem" that won't matter until I'm trading huge lot sizes.
Take profit is a trading strategy that involves setting a target level at which to close a profitable trade. The purpose of the take profit strategy is to lock in profits and avoid the risk of potential losses from a reversal in the market.
Here are a few common TP strategies:
Fixed take profit: A fixed take profit strategy involves setting a fixed price or pip target at which to close a trade. This strategy can be useful for traders who have a specific profit target in mind and want to limit their exposure to potential market reversals.
Trailing stop loss: A trailing stop loss strategy involves setting a stop loss order that moves in line with the market price as it moves in favor of the trade. This allows traders to lock in profits while still giving the trade room to move in favor of the trade.
Technical analysis-based take profit: Some traders use technical analysis techniques, such as support and resistance levels or trend lines, to determine their take profit targets. This approach can be useful for traders who are skilled in technical analysis and want to use chart patterns to inform their trading decisions.
Ultimately, the choice of TP strategy will depend on each trader's individual trading style, risk tolerance, and market analysis techniques. It's important to carefully consider your TP strategy and use proper risk management techniques to help minimize your potential losses.
hi
internet is full of best entry strategies , but no one talks about setting TP points , what is best way to set take profit point ? latest swing points ? R/R ? pivots ? how you identify the retest so u dont break even fast ? do you use higher time frames for exit points ?
but the problem is : i always exit very quick , focusing so much on entry points and quick exits don't let me focus on exit points , can you help me ?
please lets not talk about entry point strategies and money managment , they are fine , 500+ pips with a 90% daily win rate in 1m TF @ XAUUSD
just looking for a proper TP targeting , and also when to break even (for example you break even in 50% of target reached or what ? )
is there any indicator that can help me in this one?
i looked ATR ADX but could not find it useful in 1m TF since they calculate previous data and can be false with a long reversal candle with high volume , or maybe i am wrong
any recommandations ?
thanks
You need to backtest your strategy. Means that you'll be doing the exact same scenario 99% all the time.
When you backtest it, then you'll find what works (Moving SL to breakeven, taking partial profit, or just let the trade run whether it hit SL or TP)
Most of my strategies have multiple possible exits:
My latest one that I'm really liking is to exit on a certain number of consecutive small candles, e.g., exit when there are 8 consecutive candles < 0.5 ATR. That's not instead of a stop loss, but in addition to it. It basically means that the price action has stalled. There's probably a way to approximate this with an indicator, but I like it for helping keep trades from dragging out when the price action slows down. So far, it improves results on every strategy I've applied it to.
Also, I haven't coded it yet, in either MQL or Pinescript, but from my experience with no-code crypto bots, doing an indicator exit with a minimum profit is very effective, e.g., exit on RSI overbought/oversold, but only if > target profit. This is a great way to maximize your profits beyond just a simple TP line.
I agree with Carl Schreiber. Generally speaking, it's better to close positions depending on the current market situation which is constantly updated. If you set stop levels and ignore what happen until their reach, you will probably miss important information about it.
I like this idea. I don’t stop analyzing my trades. If my EA sees the trend has shifted in the wrong direction it will wait for the best time to exit , keeping the loss low. Similarly if my strategy is to take profit on the trend then it will exit before the takprofit point. Ideally the stoploss and takeprofit points only provide a range but the decision when to exit happens based on market conditions within the range.
hi
internet is full of best entry strategies , but no one talks about setting TP points , what is best way to set take profit point ? latest swing points ? R/R ? pivots ? how you identify the retest so u dont break even fast ? do you use higher time frames for exit points ?
but the problem is : i always exit very quick , focusing so much on entry points and quick exits don't let me focus on exit points , can you help me ?
please lets not talk about entry point strategies and money managment , they are fine , 500+ pips with a 90% daily win rate in 1m TF @ XAUUSD
just looking for a proper TP targeting , and also when to break even (for example you break even in 50% of target reached or what ? )
is there any indicator that can help me in this one?
i looked ATR ADX but could not find it useful in 1m TF since they calculate previous data and can be false with a long reversal candle with high volume , or maybe i am wrong
any recommandations ?
thanks
As most people have already said, it depends on your strategy. But usually you end up in two situations:
- If you are trying to trade trends, your exit points should be based on indicators, fibonacci, support/resistance levels.
- If you are trying to trade ranging market, your exit points should be based on a fixed R:R, ATR, upper/lower channel margins.
hi
internet is full of best entry strategies , but no one talks about setting TP points , what is best way to set take profit point ? latest swing points ? R/R ? pivots ? how you identify the retest so u dont break even fast ? do you use higher time frames for exit points ?
but the problem is : i always exit very quick , focusing so much on entry points and quick exits don't let me focus on exit points , can you help me ?
please lets not talk about entry point strategies and money managment , they are fine , 500+ pips with a 90% daily win rate in 1m TF @ XAUUSD
just looking for a proper TP targeting , and also when to break even (for example you break even in 50% of target reached or what ? )
is there any indicator that can help me in this one?
i looked ATR ADX but could not find it useful in 1m TF since they calculate previous data and can be false with a long reversal candle with high volume , or maybe i am wrong
any recommandations ?
thanks
i think that the simples method to spot TP point is by average dayli movement. for example, in my calculation, daily moving average for xauusd is around 2800 pips. you place the TP poin 2800 pips down or up on the opening market.
market movement will not be too far from the daily average movement. even if the movement exceeds the average, there could be high impact news such as NFP or CPI etc