Entries vs Exits

[Soultrader]

I decided to open a new thread on an interesting topic from:

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for....html#post1081

The question is: Which is more important to you? Entry or Exit?

Traders get split evenly. There are traders like myself who focus more on entries while other traders focus on exits. I would love to hear your opinion on this topic and the reasons why you prefer exit or entry.

[Follow The Trend]

To me the entry point is far more important than the exit point - as they say :-

"You need to buy a ticket to win the raffle"

If you have not taken the plunge to buy a stock, then how can you make money?

Even if I make 5%, 10%, 50% etc and miss a massive rally after selling, I would not be too bothered......a profit is a profit.

[carter]

I would have to say the exit is more important. A profit is a profit but you can never get rich that way. Here's a good quote:

"You'll never grow poor taking profits... If taking one-point profit in five or siz years is a way to keep out of the poorhouse why not sell apples on the street corner? It ties up less capital." - Wyckoff

[are_mai86]

haloo

i have problem dunno when to exit after entry..~

[bunkerdoo]

I would have said the exit strategy is more important as it dictates the size of the profit or loss. But even more important is the position size taken/money management aspect of the trade, as even random entry systems can be made profitable with appropriate money management rules.

[Trade Up]

I also think that the entry point is more important than the exit point.

Until you have an entry point, you do not have a position to trade, no position = no potential profit.

After taking the plunge to buy a stock (assuming you have bought the right stock at the right time) it is up to you how greedy, or fearful you want to be.

Greed = potentially holding on for too long
Fear = the fear of losing, or reducing a profit

Fear and Greed are what makes the market go around.

[Soultrader]

	Quote:	Trade Up
	I also think that the entry point is more important than the exit point. Until you have an entry point, you do not have a position to trade, no position = no potential profit. After taking the plunge to buy a stock (assuming you have bought the right stock at the right time) it is up to you how greedy, or fearful you want to be. Greed = potentially holding on for too long Fear = the fear of losing, or reducing a profit Fear and Greed are what makes the market go around.

Nicely said Trade Up. I have predefined exit target points and stop loss points on every trade to reduce the emotional aspect of trading. This allows me to control fear and greed.

[ant]

I trade market development and market structure based on the Market Profile graphic and my goal is to identify trades with excellent trade location and excellent risk/reward. When a market is in a trading range, I would say that entries are more important than exits. For example, I would not want to enter in the middle of a trading range because that offers poor trade location. However, for a breakout trade, I would say that the exits are more important because these are the trades that can lead to a stellar week, month, or quarter. My goal with breakout trades is to ride it as long as the trend is intact. I do not want to exit too early. I do hold breakout trades overnight since these are the best trade opportunities the market offers, IMO. With a breakout trade, the goal is to just "get the trade on." Trade location will improve as the trend progresses.

[Soultrader]

Very good points ant. Real money is made by staying in a trend. Although I have strict rules in partialling out on a winning trade, I will always try to hold on to my last portion as much as I can.

I consider the first portion as covering commision costs and the last portion as my income.

TREND vs RANGE requires different entry/exit strategies.

[torero]

I think it's harder to learn to exit properly than entries, because are a few ways to enter (price or indicator signals) but tons of ways to exit (normal stops, percent or dollar trailing stops, SAR, stop loss, etc). I'm still learning to how to stop properly. Psychologically speaking, exits are harder to take than entries.

Learning to use a simple stop loss is a major step for any trader. And learning to stay with a trend is even harder for any experienced trader. Even most traders from Market Wizards admit they tend to exit too early.