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When do you always hear about Entry, Stop Loss, Take Profit but don't really understand how they work? Especially when starting to get familiar with forex or trading on Gate.
What is Entry? Simply put, it’s the price point where you decide to enter a buy or sell order. When you open a position at that price and then close it at the same price, you break even. It sounds simple, but choosing the right Entry is a skill that needs to be practiced.
But just having an Entry isn’t enough. You need to know how to protect your account. That’s where Stop Loss comes in. Stop Loss, also called SL – cutting losses, allows you to automatically close a position when the price drops to your specified level. For a buy order, the Stop Loss must be below the Entry. For a sell order, it must be above the Entry. However, don’t set the Stop Loss too close to the Entry because the market can be volatile, and you might get wiped out unnecessarily.
If Stop Loss is a way to avoid risk, then Take Profit (TP) or profit-taking is how you lock in gains. It automatically closes your position when the price hits your desired profit level. For a buy, Take Profit must be above the Entry. For a sell, it must be below the Entry.
The advantage of setting these two orders in advance is that you don’t have to constantly watch the screen. Psychological pressure is greatly reduced when you know exactly how much you can lose and how much you can gain. Usually, I set the Stop Loss smaller than the Take Profit from the Entry; this way, the winning trades can offset the losing ones over many transactions.
But it’s not always smooth sailing. When the market moves strongly, you might experience Stop Loss hunts and then the market reverses. Or sometimes, your Entry looks perfect, but the Take Profit gets hit early while the price could go further. These situations can be really frustrating.
Nevertheless, setting Stop Loss and Take Profit is extremely necessary, especially when trading Futures. Without Stop Loss, you could blow your account immediately. Remember, earning a little over a long period is always better.
When you want to trade more professionally, Stop Loss and Take Profit are two essential orders. They help you save time, reduce psychological pressure, and most importantly, help you trade with discipline. Entry is the starting point, but SL and TP are what help you survive and succeed in this market.