[ashmat]

Hi King,

Stops and targets were a huge struggle for me in my early years of trading and it can be really difficult, but not impossible to overcome. I like brownsfan's reply when he mentioned the time frame.

Here's what I found. Either:

1. Take trades going for a 'smaller' profit target with multiple trades
2. Take trades looking to catch the bigger moves and a lower amount of trades

So I think it is very important to decide what type of trader you are. I am pretty much a pure scalper and my stops are very tight, but I am seldom in a trade for more than a few minutes. I just found that after trying several methods and time frames, this style suited me.

I have a question as well. Have you looked to see how often you score on the larger movements versus the smaller ones? i.e. What is the ratio to the 2+ trades, 10+ trades, etc. If you aren't getting a good ratio of the bigger moves, you may need to look at tweaking your entry system. If you are getting a good percentage of the larger moves, then the smaller hits are just part of trading.

Finally, It sounds like you have good discipline, which is 1/2 the battle. Just watch the emotions and tweak your setups until you feel comfortable.

Hope I could help a bit. You'll get a lot of great advice from this forum and hopefully you can find some things that work for you.

Good Luck (I like the idea of the "stops" thread)

Ashmat