Figuring out the best stops loss

The Challenge: to increase my trading bank by 5% per month.

The story so far...

Starting bank: €1,000 (beginning of May 2010)
Target for end October: €1,340.10
Today’s opening bank: €1,643.47
Today’s closing bank: €1,688.86
Today's profit/loss: +€45.39
Today's turnover: €15,517.84



Only traded four races today as I went out for dinner with my family. It was a very good day all considered with a profit of €45.39. As the bank builds, I find that I can use bigger sums to trade which has positive and negative sides. The positive side, obviously, is that each successful trade is worth a bit more. The downside is that when a trade goes wrong, the loss can be harder to take. Again, I'm trying not to think in actual money figures, just percentages. It's easier said than done though!

Today, I tried trading without an automatic stop loss and while I made a profit, I didn't feel entirely comfortable. Perhaps I don't yet have the discipline to get out of a bad trade by myself and I let one or two run on longer than they should have. Trading with an automatic stop is great in one way as it takes out the emotion but it's not always suited to every situation. Sometimes you are fairly sure the market will come back your way but your stop loss has been hit in the meantime - this can prove frustrating. I haven't yet figured out the right stop loss yet. Perhaps I never will and it needs to be adjusted for each market, but I know that stops are something I must work on.