Scale onto trade or not?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by bloomberg1, Feb 11, 2020.

  1. Anyone trading multiples, do you scale in?
     
  2. Either scale in or tight stops for full position. I prefer scale in because the likelihood of being exactly correct in entry isn't that great.
     
  3. danielc1

    danielc1

    For me it depends on the time horizon of the original trade and an low risk setup for the next scale in. In futures I use the margin requirements to scale further in with the winnings of the early positions.
     
    bloomberg1 likes this.
  4. padutrader

    padutrader

    yep
    you cannot sell the high or buy the low so tight stops goes against this....and yet so many do this to 'reduce risk'...….you really need a good temperament on keep on booking small losses
     
  5. tomorton

    tomorton

    I am trialling (Week 2) a simple trend-following system on the 30-min charts, mostly for the Dow, otherwise GBP/USD.

    The r:r I am using is 1:1.5, I add a second trade when gain = +0.5r, a third at +1.0r and as Trade 1 is closing at +1.5r, Trade 4 is opening. And so on, until the trend weakens.

    An alternative would be to knock out the TP's on the trades and just keep adding trades in parallel rather than in series, with a trailing SL.
     
  6. Did you arrive at metrics by just random circumstances, or extenious study of the past?
     
  7. Sekiyo

    Sekiyo

    I wouldn’t scale in while day trading.
    It’s Okay for swing traders and investors.

    You’re simply averaging up your entry position.
    I prefer to buy lower and sell higher.

    I want to buy tops and sell bottoms.
    Not buying 50% and selling 50%.

    That’s the real problem IMHO.
    Being caught into a position.

    You need to be able to Break Even.
    That’s how I would reduce 95% of the risk.

    It’s advised to buy supports but ...
    If it breaks it becomes resistance and ...
    You’re trapped behind it with no chance to BE.

    The 5% risk remaining is simply a wide SL.
    Wide enough for a retracement to happen.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
  8. tomorton

    tomorton

    Trial and error.

    The distance from entry to stop-loss varies each trade anyway - if an uptrend I would use the high of a low bar for entry and place the stop at the low. Although I would avoid using a very wide or very narrow bar for this, it still means the distances in pips/points vary. To standardise trades I aim to adjust position size so that initial risk is 0.5% of my account.
     
    murray t turtle likes this.
  9. Handle123

    Handle123

    Doesn't matter. It comes down to how it is tested. I average down on every signal from one minute to weekly bars, I never advise anyone to do so cause few ever go to extremes that I will to test. Some people are minnows and others are sharks. I LOVE testing better than most other parts of this industry .
     
    ironchef likes this.
  10. Junos

    Junos

    It did not suit me well, although there are certain prospects for such an approach...
     
    #10     Feb 11, 2020