May 11, 2010 05:43

When to move a stop-loss to break even?

Posted In: Forex Q&A
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Wanted to ask you all a question. When do you guys move your SL to break even? AT how many PIPS profit? I usually wait for about 15 PIPS profit to move my SL to break even. What are your thoughts? Is this too aggressive?

Alex

10 Comments on "When to move a stop-loss to break even?"
  1. Avatar of piphut
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    Comment left on:
    May 11, 2010 at 05:49
    piphut says:

    Hi Alex, in general I only move my SL to break-even if something has changed in the technical picture from my original analysis.

    For example, if I enter short at 1.3000 with SL@ 1.3050 and TP1(take profit #1)@ 1.2950 / TP2@ 1.2900 then I will generally leave the SL at 1.3050 throughout the whole trade as long as the original analysis is valid.

    If I was expecting a break of a certain support or a bullish candlestick appears at a support level, casting doubt on the ability of bears to hit my targets I will then move my stop-loss to break-even eliminate risk.

    I have used strategies before too that move to break-even after the first target is hit but you need to be very confident in the long-term consistency of your strategy before you start doing that as you essentially cut-off your trades breathing room and can end up with a lot of 0 pip gains and -50 pip losses :(.

  2. Reply
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    Comment left on:
    January 6, 2011 at 07:01
    sam says:

    hi
    i need help in placing a signal with (tp1,tp2,sl and break even) in the platform
    fore example:
    buy eur/usd @1.4260
    tp1 50pips
    tp2 100pips
    break even 50 pips

    what is break even
    many thanks

  3. Reply
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    Comment left on:
    January 25, 2012 at 23:14
    john says:

    new to fx so can someone tell me what is tp1 tp2 do you sell at this point or are they nothing more than first target price

    regards john

    • Avatar of piphut
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      Comment left on:
      January 25, 2012 at 23:31
      piphut says:

      tp1 is “Take Profit 1″ or, in other words, the first target and tp2 is the second target

      • Reply
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        Comment left on:
        January 25, 2012 at 23:33
        john says:

        thanks

    • Reply
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      Comment left on:
      April 27, 2012 at 03:14
      Yasmin says:

      Forex is generally more riksier than options simply because with Forex you have no right to avoid a non-hedged loss position, but instead this loss will be realized in your hands. On the other hand with options you’re granted the right to avoid a loss position by not exercising the option. Therefore Forex is generally more riksier than options. Hedging positions, may become complicated, therefore you’ll need guidance from a an experienced mentor.

  4. Reply
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    Comment left on:
    February 8, 2012 at 07:22
    Ramesh says:

    How do we know when to exit the trade (like after hitting TP2 close it) and update our SL if email updates are not sent for them?
    Do you update those details for all live open trades on your site, so that both customer and you can be on parallel lines?
    Where can we look at your past trade signals performance and those trades which are live?

    • Avatar of piphut
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      Comment left on:
      February 8, 2012 at 07:40
      piphut says:

      Hi Ramesh, this is not a duplicator service and it is not meant to be. These are the tools to trade like we trade, not to follow us blindly. EU daily has been using S/R signals for 4 years now and all past posts are available on the site. For example to view all of our EU trades for January use the following link:
      http://piphut.com/2012/01/

      If you are looking for a pure duplicator service than this is not for you.

  5. Avatar of erdem26
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    Comment left on:
    February 11, 2012 at 21:11
    erdem26 says:

    well i trade in Turkiye. +2 GMT. so i think your candles close or open 2 hours earlier than me. for example in the last week u sent me a resistant brake signal with USD/CHF pair so i have taken the long trade. and then i had been stopped out -50 pips. but then i have readed your next day analysis that you said your candle closed below the resistant area and you closed your long and opened a short. and grabbed lots of pips ( should be about +70 pips as i remember) . so as a newbie and rookie of candle patterns and if i also add the time zone difference how can i avoid the situations like i mentioned? could you let us know in such cases by e mails? is that possible? thanks..

    • Avatar of piphut
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      Comment left on:
      February 12, 2012 at 21:25
      piphut says:

      There are two easy ways to avoid the situation you described: 1) you can look at the PRO charts under the “Swing (S/R) charts and Alerts” tab of dashboard, or 2) get a free demo account from a UTC broker such as IBFX.

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