After a slipped gold stop: what I do next

[LondonScalper]

After a gold stop slips badly, I follow the same procedure every time, mostly to stop myself from doing something stupid.

First, I flatten any related risk. If I have other dollar positions open, I close them or move their stops to breakeven. One bad fill is enough for the moment.

Second, I write down the facts while they are fresh: the time in server time, where the stop was, where it filled, the spread at that moment, and whether there was news. I take a screenshot of the chart and the deals tab entry.

Third, I take a break of at least fifteen minutes away from the screen. This is not optional.

Fourth, I check whether the slip was reasonable. During a data release or a sharp move, a few dollars of slippage on gold is normal market behaviour. In a quiet market, it is worth a message to support with the evidence.

What I never do is re-enter in the same direction straight away to win back the slipped amount. In my early years, that was exactly how one slip turned into three losses in a row.

The psychology part is mostly procedure. Having fixed steps means I do not have to decide anything while I am annoyed.

[Shadow Trader]

Fixed steps are the right answer, and the fourth is where I'd put a number. My test for reasonable is whether the fill sits inside the broker's own candle for that minute, not how big the slip feels.

The attached chart is a made up XAUUSD M1 illustration of a release minute, a long stopped at 4,112.00 and filled at 4,109.60, so $2.40 of slip on a candle that fell about $6. Ugly, but the fill is inside the candle, so I log it and don't write to support.

img_13370_r1.png (56.39 KiB) Viewed 30 times

The same $2.40 in a quiet hour, filled below the low of that minute's candle, would get a message with the evidence. That's the case where the slip has nothing to do with the market.

My first step differs slightly. Closing other dollar trades into the same spike pays the wide spread twice, so I move their stops to entry and close them once spread is normal.

The break I'd keep as it is. After a bad slip gold is also finished for my session, because my next entry on it is always early.

Do you record slip in dollars or as a share of the stop? I use the second, since $2.40 on a $3 stop and on a $10 stop are very different days.

[Shadow Trader]

LondonScalper, the inside the candle test I use breaks down on one kind of slip, the Monday gap. If gold opens $8 below Friday's close, a stop in between fills at the first price, and there is no candle to compare the fill with.

Those fills are almost always legitimate, which is why I treat the weekend as part of the stop decision rather than something to dispute. A long held into Friday's close carries the gap risk whatever the stop says.

Round numbers are the other thing I changed after a few slips. Stops just under $4,100 or $4,050 sit where everyone else's do, and when that level breaks the fills are worst exactly there.

I now put mine about $0.70 beyond the round figure rather than $0.20, and size down to keep the money risk the same. Over roughly 30 stops each side of that change, my average slip fell from about 20 percent of the stop to around 8 percent.

Your rule against re-entering the same way is the one I would print. Do you also count the slipped amount toward the daily loss figure straight away, or only when the day is booked?