is it good to keep shifting my stop loss as price nears it?
shifting your stop loss to accomodate more losses is a bad practice, it could work for you some times but in the long run it will hurt you when you get used to doing it.
Adjusting your stop is not necessarily a bad practice every time. On some trades, based on the market movement at that time, I do adjust my stops. This may not work for everyone.
But the most important rule is your loss limits. For intraday trader, it is the daily loss limit. If you are expecting to walk away on the day after making $100 profit, you should walk away after losing a $100.
This simple rule will keep you in the game & if your expected value is positive, you will come out ahead.
What it means in actual trade is, if your adjusted SL is within your daily loss limit, and you are okay with losing i.e. betting your daily loss limit on that single trade & then walking away after the loss, I think it is okay.
Keep your losses within your limits.
Adjusting your stop is not necessarily a bad practice every time. On some trades, based on the market movement at that time, I do adjust my stops. This may not work for everyone.
But the most important rule is your loss limits. For intraday trader, it is the daily loss limit. If you are expecting to walk away on the day after making $100 profit, you should walk away after losing a $100.
This simple rule will keep you in the game & if your expected value is positive, you will come out ahead.
What it means in actual trade is, if your adjusted SL is within your daily loss limit, and you are okay with losing i.e. betting your daily loss limit on that single trade & then walking away after the loss, I think it is okay.
Keep your losses within your limits.
For me I hate to take many trades, I just take one or two trades in a day. For the trade I take i can adjust the stop loss if the market is too volatile.