Scaling in
Scaling in is a form of trading that entails beginning with minimal overall exposure and progressively increasing it over time if the trend looks favorable to you. The rule of thumb here is to not increase your position until you are certain that the price will continue to move in your favor for some time.
Opening a position with just a fraction of the amount you’re willing to risk allows you to scale in on a trade.
Whenever the price goes in your favor, you should add more positions, adjusting the size of each in the way to fit the entire trade idea into the predetermined risk exposure.
If you wanted to trade with a standard lot but only had a portion of that, you could employ scaling in order to do so.
You lower the overall risk by dividing your position into several smaller ones. If the trade doesn’t work out, you’ll lose less money than if you used a whole standard lot.
In case the trade starts to go well after your first entry, you can increase your position size at various levels depending on your degree of comfort.
As long as the deal goes in your favor, you can keep doing this until your total size equals one standard lot.
However, if you have a trailing stop, you can add more bets, confident that the locked gains will cover the increased risk.
Scaling out
Scaling out is the practice of reducing the number of lots in your trading position when the price momentum weakens. Scaling out differs from scaling in as you close some trades and reap profits while leaving others open. Take a standard lot, for example. If your trade is on a trajectory where it is almost hitting the take-profit level, but you believe the trend will stay on the profit-making course for a longer period, you may want to hold onto it.
To do this, you can take profits on certain open positions while leaving others open to benefit from predicted price movement. You will require a trailing stop in order to accomplish this.
When you use a trailing stop, your stop loss level will move towards the direction of the trade you are holding. Leaving the trade running lets, you lock in part of the earnings that you’ve already made.
Benefits of scaling in
Scaling in lowers your trade’s overall risk. This is because it involves opening your initial position with only a portion of your entire position size. For instance, you may break your $1,000 investment into four portions, each worth $250, with different entry points.
You will only increase the number of trades if your trust grows that the price will progressively move in your favor. In case the price movement goes against you, you will have lost less money because you will have some of the money not invested in a single loss-making trade.
Benefits of scaling out
It safeguards the profits you have made by locking them in even after hitting your stop loss, even as you wait for the price to hit your profit target.
- Scaling out will assist you in reducing your risk exposure and limiting your losses.
- As long as prices remain favorable, you can take advantage of the overall trend and profit
- It serves as a safeguard against sudden price reversals, which would otherwise eat up all your profits.
- It enables you to get a better average exit price.
You’ll have more time to examine the market once you make your first trade. Generally, you should expect significant fluctuation when the price tests fresh levels of support and resistance.
Once these levels are re-tested, you are presented with additional opportunities for you to benefit from the current trend and to add more entries.
- By opening up multiple trading positions, you increase the potential profit margins if the price moves in favor of your position.
- Even if you only trade one currency pair, at the end of the day you can have a substantial profit in your account. Scaling out closes some winning situations while leaving others open. As a result, you’ll make more money by holding on longer to the trades that go in your favor.
The downside to scaling in and out
As a result of scaling in, your overall risk exposure may increase, and this may cause your account to go into the red if there is an unexpected price reversal and you haven’t set up loss-limiting stops to protect your capital.
By increasing the number of open positions, you grow your risk exposure if the price reverses against you. It doesn’t matter if the market is heading in your favor or against you; there’s always the possibility of the trade going the other way, and the more open positions you have, the more money you stand to lose.
Another factor to consider is that if you start entering positions while the trend is developing, the positions you take later in the trend will likely be closer to the trend’s conclusion. This will limit your profits.
In summary
Scaling is a strategy that entails increasing or decreasing the size of your original trading position. With this approach, the value of your open position is progressively increased or decreased in accordance with market fluctuations. Using the strategies discussed above can help you increase your profit margins and also minimize your losses.
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