Interesting thread! :-)
After a lot of trial and error, I pretty much stick to setting a TP at 2R most of the time. This does of course mean that I miss the big winners but I find my equity curve is a lot smoother this way. This means my psychological state is more consistent as I don't have a long string of losers or break-even trades while waiting for the big 3R+ trades. I don't trade very frequently so this is important to me.
This is just my opinion of course but I think it is down to individual psychological make-up. At the end of the day you have to decide which causes the most stress, banking and seeing the move continue versus not banking and seeing the move retrace. Once you make your choice it is just about being consistent. Or knowing when a trade is going to run and run and acting accordingly. But I don't think any of us can do that!
After a lot of trial and error, I pretty much stick to setting a TP at 2R most of the time. This does of course mean that I miss the big winners but I find my equity curve is a lot smoother this way. This means my psychological state is more consistent as I don't have a long string of losers or break-even trades while waiting for the big 3R+ trades. I don't trade very frequently so this is important to me.
This is just my opinion of course but I think it is down to individual psychological make-up. At the end of the day you have to decide which causes the most stress, banking and seeing the move continue versus not banking and seeing the move retrace. Once you make your choice it is just about being consistent. Or knowing when a trade is going to run and run and acting accordingly. But I don't think any of us can do that!