hi dave and Devadas

ive recently been actively trading and i have to say you are right on the money [pardon the pun]. in fear of being wrong i too have exited trades with a small profit.

ive got a 'choice' one going against me at the moment 'mvl' with a move against me by $2. its interesting because whatever ive learnt about the emotions of trading, in theory, is amplified many time when you are actually trading. ive been thinking of moving my stop with this stock. a definate 'no no' but the thought has crossed my mind, more than once.

the other thing ive thought about is if it moves in my favour, i'll close my position and come out even.

i'll certainly look at the modules that you pointed out dave.

these are my thoughts and id love to hear from anyone that can shed some light on the subject further.

if i am using historical price and technical analysis to get into a trade, some decision about when to get out of a trade needs to be made before a position is taken.

but at what time frame?

if i am day trading perhaps potential movements on a weekly chart are not going to be relevant to me.for example, if the ATR [on a daily chart] is 1 then it may be unusual to see the price move say 5points either way. im not saying it wont happen and thats why we manage our money using stops but to expect to take profit in the day when the price has moved in your favour from $10 to $15 may not happen. so id take the view that if im day trading then my potential profit is going to be $1 if the price moves from $10 to $11.

this to me is not taking your profits early. however, again i would say that i am new to this so if anyone would like to set me straight, please do.


'research your own experience, absorb what is useful,reject what is useless and add what is uniquely yours.' bruce lee

great site dave. loving daytrader rockstar.

best wishes pan