The presented article covers one of the most important (in author's opinion) aspects of trading in general and Forex trading in particular - managing of orders and positions. This includes choosing entry points, making decisions about exit points, stop-loss and take-profit of the trader.

I hope this article will help new traders, who just began to work with Forex, and also to experienced traders who trade regularly and regularly make or loose their money to the market.

When I started to trade Forex and made my first big losses and profits I began to notice when very important thing about the whole trading process.

While the right time to enter a position was rarely a problem for myself (nearly 80% of all my open positions had gone into the "green" profit zone), the problem was hidden in the determining the right exit point for that position.

Not only was it important to cut my risk on the potential losses with stop-loss orders, but to limit my greediness and take profit when I can take it and make it as high as I can. There are many known guidelines and ways to enter a right position at a right time - like major economic news releases, global world events, technical indicators combinations, etc. But while the entering into a position is optional and trade can decide to miss as many good/bad entry point moments as they wish, this is untrue if we talk about exiting a position. Margin trading makes it impossible to wait too long with an open position. More than that, every open position in a certain way limits trader's ability to trade.

Choosing the good exit points for positions could be an easy task if only the Forex market wasn't so chaotic and volatile. In my opinion (backed by my trading experience) exit orders for every position should be toggled constantly with time and as the new market data (technical and fundamental) appear.

Let's say, you took a short position on EUR/USD at 1.2563, at the time you are taking this position the support/resistance level is 1.2500/1.2620. You set your stop-loss order to 1.2625 and your take-profit order to 1.2505. So now, this position can be considered as an intraday or 2-3 days term position.

This means that you must close it before it's "term" is over, or it will become a very unpredictable position (because market will differ greatly from what it was at the time you have entered this position). After the position is taken and initial exit orders are set, you need to follow the market events and technical indicators to adjust your exit orders. The most important rule is to tighten the loss/profit limit as time goes by. Usually if I take a middle term position (2-4 days) I try to lower the stop and target order by 10-25 pips every day.

I also monitor global events, trying to lower my stop-losses when very important news can hurt my position. If the profit is already quite high, I try to move my stop-loss the entry point, making a sure-win position.

The main idea here is to find an equilibrium point between greed and caution. But as your position gets older the profit should be more limited and losses cut.

Also, trader should always remember that if the market began to act unexpectedly, they need to be even more cautious with exit order, even if the position is still showing profits.

Every trader has their own trading strategy and habits. I hope this article will make its readers think about such an important aspect of trading as the exit orders and this will only improve their trading results.

by Andrey Moraru

http://www.earnforex.com
http://earnforex.blogspot.com

It is not too long ago when veteran traders used to draw trend lines using pencil and paper. Market data was sent by physical mail to them and there was no computer and trading desk. Were they really not able to perform by not using super analytical charting platforms? Were they all losers?

I bet they were not only doing great, but compared to my fellow traders (Including me) they were absolutely sophisticated traders.

I don't want to undermine anyone as we have many legend traders and hundreds of good traders who actually make money around the globe on daily basis.

My argument is merely pointed at those traders who think that broken accounts is a result of them not really having the best strategy to trade in a safe and secure manner while at the same time having a one year outlook for reaching 1 million dollar, through a 10000 buck trading account.

Where a trading strategy is introduced as a reliable method of making money for traders, there are some questions that must be asked, to evaluate the accuracy of the given strategy:

• Is it a trend or a range market based strategy?
• If it works as a trend based strategy, what can the strategy offer to trade around range markets, and vice versa for the range market based strategy?
• Is it a day trading strategy or planned to signal longer term trading signals?
• If it is an Intraday trading strategy, how many hours are required and when exactly should I sit down and watch the screen?
• If it is a long term strategy, what is the estimated possible drawdown in pips?
• Is there any historical performance of trading using the given strategy in real accounts and if the answer is "YES" for how long? (don't rely on less than one year)
• Are there any money & risk management rules attached that are specifically tested on this particular strategy?
• What is the average/highest/lowest risk to award ratio of the last year's trades?
• Is there anyone who has used the strategy on a real account? (Be aware of marketing tactics and ask someone who is honest).
• What is the outcome of the trades for the above mentioned trader? Even if positive, don't necessarily trust that exact approach for yourself, because one cannot fit a common strategy with the same characteristics to every trader. In this case you need to test it yourself.
• Ask the developer about the psychological pressures that may come upon you while using that strategy on real accounts (We recommend to ask your mentor to analyze the strategy)
• Does it have an Exit and Stop Loss rule for different market situations?
• Ask the developer if you can get back to him occasionally to ask questions about some points that you don't really understand (don't make it 100 times a week cause he/she won't sell any strategy to you).

However, I know a couple of guys who experienced real damage and disappointment where they tried to believe the strategy given to them from the first day. So I am being serious when I say don't ever try to apply a new strategy on your real account, unless you have met an expert and he has given you the green light, or if you have just passed one year of continuous testing.

Final Words:

You may ask for how long? One year… it's too much…I can't wait…!! Well then you can try it, but count on it as a gamble…You know the gamble…Too many jack pots, nothing Hot Shots.

Let science make you wealthy step by step. Don't ever think you are smarter than any other trader because no one knows what is going to happen next.

So it's better to be next to those wise traders who win, because they are disciplined and have spent a long time practicing before doing anything real on their money.

Try to admit it if you are not sure enough about your ability, and try to solve the problems with patience and remember it is worth it if you make that million dollars three or even five years later, instead of losing what you got from hard work within just a couple of days.

Also, not to forget, forward any questions you might have on this article to my email address s.a.ghafari@iftc.ir and I will try to respond as soon as possible.

S.A Ghafari
FX Analyst
s.a.ghafari@iftc.ir
http://www.iftc.ir