Trading strategy - setting stop loss and trade horizon

One of the key factor in successful trade is the set the stop loss at the right place. Selling off too early is often the cause of my losing trade and at the end I sit and wait to see the stock move up much higher that it was and could has resulted in reasonable profit.

I sold off Ascendas India Trust at 0.68. I was getting impatient over this counter. Within the next 3 trading sessions, it went up to 0.71.

Healthway was sold at 0.10 and it closed at 0.105 on 17th July.

Parkway was sold off at 1.69 on 17th July during intra-day and it turn out that it was closed at 1.71. Now the counter looks a little bullish. Again, the same mistake as the above 2 counters.

Looking back at my records, I could have made a lot more money if not for selling off too early. I was able to pick the right stock but often too early in the stage. But if I has set my stop loss a little lower, those trades would not have been prematurely sold off.

Another issue is the trading horizon. I seems to be very impatient and ignore the movements of the overall market. One thing I need to know is that some counters takes time to move. I must give them more time as long as they did not hit the stop loss point. I must allow 10-12 weeks if possible before I decide to give up. This means that I need more trading capital and take higher risk (setting more aggressive stop loss points).

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