Hey transat. I never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever trade without a stop order. Also, before I ever get into a trade, I know my target price where I'm going to sell. Here are a few of my own personal rules that I was taught by an expert trader.
1. NEVER trade against the trend. The trend is your friend.
2. Always buy at support, and sell at resistance. NEVER buy at resistance or sell at support. ----(by doing this, you can set a stop loss and not have it taken out on a regular basis. When you buy or sell in no mans lane ((inbetween support and resistance)), you're just asking for trouble).
Also, once you've decided your risk vs. reward, set your stop loss and then forget about it. If you can consistently trade with a 3 to 1 or more profit to loss ratio and you're right about 40% to 50% of the time, you'll have a lot more money when December 31st rolls around than you did on January 1st. The WORST thing you can do is let your losers get out of hand while cutting your winners short. The sad thing is, most novice traders do that very thing by moving their stop loss when it's reached.
Hope this helps.
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