Intermediate 7 min read
Defending an open trade
Break-even stops, trailing stops, scaling out. The four moves you have once a trade is live.
Once you're in, you have four levers: move to break-even once price has moved roughly 1R in your favor (removes risk, doesn't guarantee profit); scale out at your first target and let a runner ride with a trailing stop; trail the stop under new structure (higher lows in an uptrend) rather than a fixed distance; or do nothing and let the original plan play out.
The error most traders make is defaulting to "do nothing" out of fear of missing more upside, then giving back the entire gain when the trend reverses. Have the rule decided before you're in the trade, not while you're watching P&L flicker.