Trailing Stop
A trailing stop follows price as it moves in your favour, locking in profit while leaving room to breathe.
A trailing stop follows price in your favour and only moves one way, locking in profit while giving the trade room. Price must reverse by the trail distance to trigger it.
A trailing stop is a stop-loss that moves with the market in your favour and never backwards. As price advances, the stop trails behind at a fixed distance, locking in gains; if price reverses by that distance, the stop triggers. Trailing stops automate the hardest part of trading: letting winners run while protecting the profit already made.
How It Works
- Trail by a fixed pip distance, percentage or chart level (like a swing low)
- Only ever tightens, never loosens
- Triggers as a market order once price reverses through it
Trading Tips
Set the trail wide enough to survive normal noise - too tight gets stopped out on the first pullback
Trail by structure (recent swing points) rather than a fixed distance in trending markets
In choppy markets, consider banking profit manually instead of trailing
Trailing Stop Example
Say you buy EUR/USD at 1.0800 with a 50-pip trailing stop. Price climbs to 1.0950 and the stop trails to 1.0900 automatically. A sudden reversal exits you at 1.0900: 100 pips banked from a trade you stopped watching.
How Traders Use Trailing Stop
Set trails wide enough to survive normal noise, usually beyond the average pullback, or chop will stop you before the trend pays. Tighten the trail manually into targets rather than trusting one distance everywhere.
Related Terms
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