The trailing stop step feature that is used with all our cTrader automated trading products is slightly different than the standard trailing stop feature that you may be used to and which is used as standard with the cTrader platform. there are two key components that make up our trailing stop step feature.
- Trigger - this is the value in pips that a position must be in profit before the trailing stop is activated.
- Step - this is the value in pips that the stop loss will move behind the price when the trigger is activated and will continue to trail behind the price as the price moves in favour.
What is a Trailing Stop Step?
A trailing stop step is a type of price movement for a trailing stop order which follows your position if it earns you profit and closes if the market moves against you. The value used in our cBots for the trailing step is set in pips. So, a trailing stop step set at 10 pips would only move after the trailing stop trigger had been activated.
The larger your trailing step, the more the market has to move before your stop is re-positioned, and the less frequently the ‘trailing’ would be performed, if a small step value is used like 1-pip be aware of the symbol spread and if the spread was 1-pip or more then the position will close as soon as the trigger is activated.
Example of a Trailing Stop Step
You are using one of our automated trading robots like the Grid-Hedge trading system and you have activated the trailing stop feature with a trigger value of 20 pips and a step value of 5 pips and when the position has gained 20 pips (spread must be considered for accuracy) the stop loss will move to 5-pips behind the price and as the price moves in your favour another 5-pips to 25 pips, the stop loss will be moved again a further 5-pips so it will always be 5-pips behind the price.
The position will close if the price was to drop the 5-pips and hit the stop loss, but as long as it continues to gain pips than at every 5-pips it will move and lock in profits.