Trailing stops and tick noise
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 9:06 pm
A trailing stop follows price at a fixed distance. In theory it locks in profit. On a one-minute scalp, tick noise often triggers it too early.
Price wiggles. A trail of 2 pips on a pair that regularly oscillates 3 pips gets hit constantly. The trade closes with a small gain, and price continues.
The distance needs to reflect the pair's typical noise, not a round number. Measuring average pullback depth during winning trades gives a data-based figure.
Another option is trailing by structure, behind the most recent swing low or high, instead of by a fixed distance. That adapts to conditions.
Time-based or bar-based trailing, moving the stop only when a new bar closes, reduces the tick-level noise.
Whatever approach is chosen, test it. Some strategies do better with a fixed target and no trailing, since the trail gives back more than it protects.
What trailing method has worked best, and was it compared with a plain fixed target?
Price wiggles. A trail of 2 pips on a pair that regularly oscillates 3 pips gets hit constantly. The trade closes with a small gain, and price continues.
The distance needs to reflect the pair's typical noise, not a round number. Measuring average pullback depth during winning trades gives a data-based figure.
Another option is trailing by structure, behind the most recent swing low or high, instead of by a fixed distance. That adapts to conditions.
Time-based or bar-based trailing, moving the stop only when a new bar closes, reduces the tick-level noise.
Whatever approach is chosen, test it. Some strategies do better with a fixed target and no trailing, since the trail gives back more than it protects.
What trailing method has worked best, and was it compared with a plain fixed target?