When Should You Use a Trailing Stop? Let’s Keep It Real.
You open a trade at night — price starts climbing, everything looks dreamy.
Next morning? You wake up to -83% and regret not setting that trailing stop.
Sounds familiar?
A trailing stop is your seatbelt. Doesn’t guarantee a moon ride, but can save your capital from a crash landing.
So when’s the right time to use it?
- When your trade is already +2–4% in profit — not too early, not too late.
- When $BTC is calm-ish — because if the king gets shaky, your alt might trigger that stop mid-yawn.
- When volume is healthy and RSI isn’t maxed out — no need to trail into exhaustion.
- When you have a life outside the chart — gym, sleep, pizza dates... trailing stop has your back.
How much is enough?
On alts with 10–20x leverage, a 0.5–1.2% trailing distance is common.
For super volatile moves? You can give it more room — up to 1.5% — but manage the risk.
Worst move? No stop at all.
Because “I’ll watch it” often turns into “why did I even trade this?!”