Time stops: closing a scalp after 12 minutes regardless of P/L

[FXS London Scalper]

A time stop on EURUSD and GBPUSD scalps is simple: if the trade hasn't hit the target or the stop after a fixed number of minutes, close it.

How to choose the number: look at how long your winners take to reach target. If most get there within 10 minutes, and trades lasting longer have a much lower win rate and often drift to the stop, a limit just above that, such as 12 minutes, makes sense. Your own duration distribution should set it, not a number from a forum.

How to evaluate it before using it live, from past trades:

• Find trades still open at the time limit.
• Score them at the price at that minute instead of their actual exit.
• Compare that total with what they actually made.

A worked example: if 18% of trades are still open at 12 minutes, and closing them there averages −0.1R while letting them run averaged −0.4R, the rule saves 0.3R on each of those trades, about 0.05R across all trades.

The risk is cutting trades that would have worked later. Check a sample of them. A few will reach the target after 20 or 30 minutes; the question is whether enough do to change the picture.

Does anyone use time stops on scalps? What time limit works for your trades?