Personally, I like using anywhere from .2 to .4 max on trailing stops (managed manually by watching time/sales LIVE, *not* by entering them into broker software, as many of you have asked me), with finger on mouse button, for NASDAQ stocks.

NYSE stocks I often use .6 since the specialists like to take out half-point stops.

For swing trades, holding 2-10 days, I'll use a max 1.5 point trailing and initial stop. Stops are what keeps us in this game, tiny small paper cuts, in pursuit of larger wins.

What questions do you have about trailing stops, scaling out (for example at major prior s/r levels, or time based stops for intraday trading, eg 12-20 minutes).. ? Or your own personal trading strategy - let's hear it!

-ken

Hi Ken, I use .25 trailing on breakouts (+/- .25) because I recon if I enter on momentum the stock should follow through and if not I will immediately know it was a bad trade. If it reverses after 10c or so I get stopped out for 15c loss. If it continues I wait for the trailing stop to hit my b/e point, add the spread and pull the trailing stop and add a hard stop just over my entry. Whatever happens ( almost) I can't take a loss on the trade now. I'm in it safe. Nows the time to manage it. I have a target and I either hit it or feel sustained loss of momentum (2-4 mins) I'm out. It's not healthy for me psychologically to watch retracements, hoping that the momentum will return. If it does, thats another wave, thats a new entry, not the wave I was trading, I've long been out and considering a re-entry.