Advanced📖 19 min read🏷 Execution
TRADE MANAGEMENT
How to Handle a Trade After Entry — The Art of Running Winners
Getting into a trade is only half the battle. Managing it after entry — the harder half — is what separates profitable traders from break-even ones. Most traders enter well but exit poorly: closing winners too early and letting losers run.
Trade management after entry determines profitability as much as the entry itself
// Lesson Content
ENEMY 1 — PREMATURE EXIT (Fear):
Price moves in your direction. Profit appears. Fear of "giving it back" causes you to close at 1R when the target is 3R. You watch price continue to your original target without you.
The cause: You are trading your P&L instead of the chart. The moment you think "I have $200 profit, I don't want to lose it" — you've shifted from objective analysis to emotional decision-making.
ENEMY 2 — HOPE TRADE (Denial):
Price moves against you. Instead of accepting the planned loss, you move the stop or refuse to exit. The loss grows from 1% to 3% or 5%.
The cause: Ego. You don't want to be wrong. The market is always right. You are not.
THE SOLUTION:
Predetermined, written rules. Followed without exception. Write your exit plan BEFORE entering. Execute it regardless of emotions in the moment.
📌 Two enemies: closing winners early (fear) and holding losers (hope). Rules eliminate both. Write the exit plan BEFORE entry. Execute it regardless of emotions.
// Test Your Understanding
// KNOWLEDGE CHECK
1. When should you move stop to breakeven?
2. ICT's minimum required R:R?
3. Valid reason for manual exit before stop is hit?
// What to study next
Continue your ICT journey