There’s an abundant amount of trading opportunities each month in the market, but we don’t always have the time or desire to sit around staring at our charts waiting for the market to hit our pre-determined entry level. Also, I should mention that sitting around waiting for the market to trigger an entry is an unnecessary waste of time and can tempt us into entering a trade prematurely or to enter a trade that we otherwise might not. Fortunately, with the knowledge of how to use ‘on-stop’ entry orders, we can eliminate the need to sit in front of our computers waiting for the market to trigger a trade entry.
I get a lot of emails from traders asking me about different trade entry order types and how to use their Meta Trader 4 (MT4) trading platform. Thus, in today’s lesson I thought I would answer both of these questions by discussing how to use ‘on-stop’ entries properly and some of the advantages they provide.
Advantages of ‘on-stop’ entries
Let’s discuss some of the ways that ‘on-stop’ entry orders can improve your trading and the major advantages they provide:• Momentum confirmation – When you enter the market on a stop entry, the market moves into your order on momentum that is in-line with the direction you want to trade. This has the added advantage that price is already moving in the direction that you are trading at the time of entry and often results in your trade moving into profit quickly. If you were to use the other two popular entry orders; a market or limit entry, you do not necessarily have this advantage.
For example, if you are entering on a ‘buy stop’, it means you are buying the market and in order for your buy stop to get filled the market has to be moving higher and move up into your buy stop entry, and that means it has bullish momentum behind it. Conversely, if you enter on a ‘sell stop’ entry, the market will need to be moving lower, down into your sell order. It doesn’t “guarantee” that the trade will continue in your favor, but at least at the time of entry the market is moving in your favor.
• You don’t have to be at your computer – Many of you have read my set and forget trading lesson, but what I don’t get into in that lesson is that the stop entry order allows you to set up your trade and ‘forget’ about it (stop entries allow you to ‘set and forget’). Also, unlike a limit entry, with a stop entry order you have the added peace of mind of knowing that if your trade does get filled after you set and forget it, you will get filled with ‘momentum confirmation’ as we discussed above.
Many of us (myself included), don’t have all day to sit around waiting for the market to move to our desired entry level. If you use an on-stop entry, you do not need to sit there watching and waiting; once you spot a price action trade setup you can simply enter your stop entry order, stop loss and target, and then walk away for a while.
• Eliminate trade ‘obsession’ – If you are trading an inside bar setup for example, you do not need to sit there waiting for the market to break past the mother bar high or low to enter. Instead, you can simply place a buy stop or sell stop just above the high or low of the inside bar and then go do something else. Traders who obsess over trades and are glued to their screens tend to lose money, you need to be interested and passionate about trading but not “in love” with it, I discussed this in last week’s article in which I talked about the differences between amateur and professional traders.
• Reinforce discipline – If you set an on-stop entry order and then walk away and let the trade play out, you are trading with discipline. There is something to be said for “letting the market come to you” as opposed to just jumping in with ‘at-market’ orders all the time. A stop entry allows you to set the exact level you want to enter at; if the market breaks past a certain level you will get filled, if it doesn’t, then you won’t. Many traders get into trades too early, before they really start moving, and this causes all kinds of psychological problems for them like second-guessing their entry, over-analyzing and closing out trades prematurely; if you enter with a stop order as the market moves into your desired entry level, it can help you avoid these mistakes.
Also, by setting your order and then going and doing something else, letting the market ‘do the work’, you are getting into the habit of not ‘forcing’ trades and of trading in a relaxed manner, instead of over-trading and (or) getting in prematurely. Once you start to see success trading in this manner it will begin to reinforce the discipline you had to put forth to set your order up and walk away.
Success in Forex = Learning + Practicing + Update Knowledge
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