Open trading account 
1. PRE-PLANNING
o Do not take any trades if it's not pre-planned
o Analyze the market and decide if you have a valid trade as per the rules, room to opposing HFT SD area, that is, following your trade plan
o Set your limit order and wait for the setup to be triggered
2. TRADE EXECUTION
o The trade is executed by your broker. Now you are in the trade
o Control your emotions at this stage. You risked a % of your equity, it's a number's game
o Don't touch it if the rules still apply
o Walk away from the charts
3. MOVING THE SL TO BREAKEVEN
o When to move your SL to Breakeven to protect your trade
4. TAKE PROFIT AND TARGETS
o Which are your targets? You have 1 or more targets?
o Will you exit at an opposing SD area?
o Will you trail your SL above/below new SD zones until price reaches a HFT SD zone?
We've alredy covered the first 3 stages on other lessons, now it's time to cover 2 key aspects of any trade setup.
WHEN TO MOVE STOP LOSS TO BREAKEVEN + SPREAD (and/or commission)
As a rule of thumb we'll be moving our SL to Breakeven once our trade has moved at least 2:1 R/R (Risk/Reward) from our entry point.
For example:
CONS
o Do not take any trades if it's not pre-planned
o Analyze the market and decide if you have a valid trade as per the rules, room to opposing HFT SD area, that is, following your trade plan
o Set your limit order and wait for the setup to be triggered
2. TRADE EXECUTION
o The trade is executed by your broker. Now you are in the trade
o Control your emotions at this stage. You risked a % of your equity, it's a number's game
o Don't touch it if the rules still apply
o Walk away from the charts
3. MOVING THE SL TO BREAKEVEN
o When to move your SL to Breakeven to protect your trade
4. TAKE PROFIT AND TARGETS
o Which are your targets? You have 1 or more targets?
o Will you exit at an opposing SD area?
o Will you trail your SL above/below new SD zones until price reaches a HFT SD zone?
We've alredy covered the first 3 stages on other lessons, now it's time to cover 2 key aspects of any trade setup.
WHEN TO MOVE STOP LOSS TO BREAKEVEN + SPREAD (and/or commission)
As a rule of thumb we'll be moving our SL to Breakeven once our trade has moved at least 2:1 R/R (Risk/Reward) from our entry point.
For example:
- Long entry triggered at 1.1000, our SL is set 25 pips below at 1.0075, THEN we'll move our SL to BE at 1.1050 once price has travelled 50 pips (2 RR) in our direction
- Short entry triggered at 1.5500, our SL is set 35 pips above at 1.5535, THEN we'll move our SL to BE at 1.5430 once price has travelled 70 pips (2 RR) in our direction
- Move your SL to BE + Spread/Commissions after 2:1 R/R
- Other options: [list]
- Move to after 3:1 R/R to allow price to breath a bit more You trust in your level and you don't want to have your entry retested and kicked out of a winning trade
- Don't move your SL to BE, your trade is either a win or a loss You don't care what price does, you want your trade to move far away from your entry price before you touch your SL
- PROS [list]
- Your trade is safe, your ego will feel satisfied and you will breath better
- Your fear of losing is under controlled
- You can concentrate on other setups and forget about this one since it's now safe, you can't lose (exception: Sunday open gaps and big news events do not respect your SL)
- Price can retest your entry before it finally takes off of your entry level, this happens VERY often
- Your ego will fight against you if it sees that price kicked you out of a valid trade on a first retest and the trade played out really well without you riding it
- You can miss very good trades if you don't allow price to breath enough to accumulate/distribute before taking off.