Managing the Trade

So you’ve pulled the trigger and opened up the position, and
now you’re in the market. Time to sit back and let the market
do its thing, right? Not so fast, amigo. The forex market isn’t a
roulette wheel where you place your bets, watch the wheel
spin, and simply take the results. It’s a dynamic, fluid environ-
ment where new information and price developments create
new opportunities and alter previous expectations.
We hope you’ll take to heart our recommendations about
always trading with a plan — identifying in advance where to
enter and where to exit every trade, on both a stop-loss and
take-profit basis. Bottom line: You improve your overall
chances of trading success (and minimize the risks involved)
by thoroughly planning each trade before getting caught up in
the emotions and noise of the market.
Depending on the style of trading you’re pursuing (short-term
versus medium- to long-term) and overall market conditions
(range-bound versus trending), you’ll have either more or less
to do when managing an open position. If you’re following a
medium- to longer-term strategy, with generally wider stop-
loss and take-profit parameters, you may prefer to go with the
“set it and forget it” trade plan you’ve developed. But a lot can
happen between the time you open a trade and prices hitting
one of your trade levels, so staying on top of the market is still
a good idea, even for longer-term trades.