market forex

Failure to Include Stop-Loss and Take Profit Instructions

When you place a market order and leave it open – that is, enter a trade at the market price without instructions to close the order – you are in effect, gambling with the total value of your account. For this reason, you should consider adding stop-loss instructions to all open positions.

For instance, if you are holding a long GBP/USD position, you can include a stop-loss instruction that automatically sells your long position if the rate falls to a certain level. In this way, you can limit the amount that you could lose on any given trade – even if you are unable to constantly monitor your account.

Take-profit orders are similar in that they allow you to establish the rate at which you want open positions closed in order to lock-in profits. Again, you simply need to identify the rate at which to take the profits, and the trading system closes the position without further intervention on your part.