Friday 25 October 2013

Anatomy of a Losing Trade

The chart shows why I avoid anything but drop dead stops.

You can see where the trade entry is. Not a great trade location as it's a bit far from the  shorter EMA but still OK.

The trade fails as the trend is now suspect but the context allows an exit at break even. An order can be placed at resistance which in this context is the longer EMA. When the DoubleDown entry is executed, an order is placed to exit at break even with a drop dead stop still in place (there is ALWAYS a drop dead stop in place in my trading plan).

Market pulls back from resistance and the trade is exited at break even.

Looking for a new trade.

This can be done as a discretionary, hybrid or fully auto trade.

4 comments:

  1. Hi EL, just curious how far away was your drop dead stop in this example and in general, how often does it get hit?

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  2. Hello Boss,

    My condolences on your loss.

    I thought of you and your "trade one chart" when I read this. http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/august24/multitask-research-study-082409.html

    Be well,

    Rino

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  3. Hi EL,

    Where would the stop-loss on the initial part of the position have been - once price had traded as high as the longer EMA, was this not already hit?

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  4. Thanks, Rino. Good article.

    Anon 14:02, Stopped only if the trend has changed. Maybe a double down before.

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