I think this gets into a question of position management which is different from the trade itself. It is an area I still have trouble with.
Many will take a position and hold it until they have a profit. double up when they have to - etc. That is more like shorter-term investing to me.
My trade system is based on ema's. Currently, i have two ways to enter a trade. First, I drop down a level and look for an entry in a quicker timeframe. Then, I try to hold through the desired trigger and make it a successful trade. The negative to this strategy is you are holding at support or resistance rather than closing a position.
The second way is to simply let a bar print at an ema cross. Enter the position and use the bottom/top of the bar that prints the trigger as the stop. No other timeframes involved.
I try to keep this as simple as possible, but of course no system is perfect. The good thing about my system is that if i can come out of an ema on the right side, my success rate is very high. However, it can take 3, 4, 5 tries and whipsaws at times before I am on the right side. And gaps totally screw me up.
I am always open to new points of view here, so I, too, hope that some others chime in.
GT
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