Risk
Taking partial profits and moving the stop to entry
Close part of a trade at the first target and move the stop to entry.
Widely taught. The Exchange can test it on public price history and will say what it finds.
No published test found. The effect can be measured on the trader's own trades.
What it is
The idea is to bank some gain and remove the risk of a loss. The price is that some trades that would have gone on to the full target are stopped at entry, and the average winner is smaller.
What it suggests
It changes the shape of results: fewer losses, smaller wins. Whether it improves the average depends on how often price comes back to entry before continuing.
How to check it
Record each trade's path after the first target so the Exchange can show how often price returned to entry, and what the alternative would have earned.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the rule helps because it feels safe.
How we will test it
On public price history, never on anyone's account. Until it is done, the note above is all we can honestly say.
- Cases: trades that reached the first target
- Measure: average R with the entry stop and partial exit versus holding to the full target
- Window: closed trades
- Compared with: the trader's trades that held to target
Related lessons
Written in our own words. Education only, not financial advice.