Also, if you're coherent with your rules and apply them constently without changing your strategy too often, a good help is offered by backtesting and looking at the MFE (Maximum Favorable Excursion). It can help and gain confidence with pscyological factors and sharpen your runs on profit. Have a look also to MAE (Maximum Adverse Excursion) in order to sharpen your stoploss. These two factors better apply to automated strategies but they can offer a good starting point.

I realized I always want to take profit when I'm slightly in green. Only to see the price run 2 to 3 times or even 10 x in my direction after I took profit.

Any idea how to fix this? How can I hold and let my profit run instead of taking small profit.

Sounds like you're dealing with a psychological hurdle which is one of the most common issues traders deal with when starting out and is easy to overcome. There's some great ideas posted here to help you by other members. I would add this, have you considered or can you afford to trade more than 1 contract? If so, provided it fits within your risk parameters, consider scaling out of your trade as it works in your favor. Figure out maybe an initial target that would give you a risk-free trade and manage the remaing position(s) with as someone else mentioned, adding a variable moving average or whatever MA you prefer. Tweak the setting/period specific to the market you're trading so that it allows you to get the most out of the move. Maybe having a trailing stop a few ticks away from the MA to allow for good wiggle room.

Also, if you're coherent with your rules and apply them constently without changing your strategy too often, a good help is offered by backtesting and looking at the MFE (Maximum Favorable Excursion). It can help and gain confidence with pscyological factors and sharpen your runs on profit. Have a look also to MAE (Maximum Adverse Excursion) in order to sharpen your stoploss. These two factors better apply to automated strategies but they can offer a good starting point.

Jonc

not sure about your method and chart set up, however try to add AaZlema Vma indicator and make VMA line transperent.

See if that assists you with staying in the trade for longer.

Jonc

We spoke awhile ago and you seemed to be going through this issue.

how confident are you with your methods and entry

have you got a defined Business Plan and also how many successful trades have you had in Sim with strict entry and exit strategies

Do you enter the market with predefined profit and stop targets.

not sure about your method and chart set up, however try to add AaZlema Vma indicator and make VMA line transperent.

See if that assists you with staying in the trade for longer.

Let me know and email me, i am based in Auckland.

sharmas

I realized I always want to take profit when I'm slightly in green. Only to see the price run 2 to 3 times or even 10 x in my direction after I took profit.

Any idea how to fix this? How can I hold and let my profit run instead of taking small profit.

There's nothing wrong in taking profits. My motto is, "You can't go broke taking profits."

I used to say the same thing. I no longer say it, you can in fact going broke taking profits and I think that it almost encapsulates exactly how a large number of traders do go broke -- they consistently feel the need to take a smaller profit just to ensure it isn't a loss, and then at the end of the day, week, month, or year, their winning trades are much smaller than their losing ones - and they've lost money.

You also have to consider that if you trade just three times a day, with 3 lots per trade, that is 9 round turns a day or approximately 1,800 round turns a year (based on 200 trading days). At a rough cost of $5.00 per rt in commission, you've spent $9,000 just on commissions.

If you have a $20,000 trading account, even if you broke even on the year from a gross trades perspective, almost half of your account is now gone after commissions.

Mike

I used to say the same thing. I no longer say it, you can in fact going broke taking profits and I think that it almost encapsulates exactly how a large number of traders do go broke -- they consistently feel the need to take a smaller profit just to ensure it isn't a loss, and then at the end of the day, week, month, or year, their winning trades are much smaller than their losing ones - and they've lost money.

You also have to consider that if you trade just three times a day, with 3 lots per trade, that is 9 round turns a day or approximately 1,800 round turns a year (based on 200 trading days). At a rough cost of $5.00 per rt in commission, you've spent $9,000 just on commissions.

If you have a $20,000 trading account, even if you broke even on the year from a gross trades perspective, almost half of your account is now gone after commissions.

Mike