Adding to a winning trade

[NickAbrams 11]

Hi everyone,  

I have been thinking about trying to make the most of my winning trades.  I want to maybe try and add to a winning position if I see another signal for another strategy if I am already in the trade. 

I'm not sure how it would work and I want to know your opinion's on it.  Just today I had this scenario.  I caught a good double top reversal on AAPL I had distance between my entry and the current price.  Then the price action met with the 1 minute 50MA.  And I watched to see how how everything would play out.  Well it turned into a very nice Robert H reversal that would have been nice to take.  I would take it , but of course, there is potential that it will not work.  I had the thought that maybe this is added confirmation for the reversal trend likely to VWAP,  I could add to my position.  But then I was stumped,  How would I do that? I could put my stop loss be as if I was trading the 15 minute reversal, independent of my initial trade.  I could set the stop and my Percentage of risk Calculator at the double top level, now about a dollar away, or at the 50 ma where I would normally set it when I trade a 15 minute reversal.   So there is a tradeoff here.  With the new shares added, my break-even would be brought much lower.  Deciding on where I set my Percentage of Risk calculator would determine how much lower my break even would come.  

I don't want to get too wordy here.  I hope I explained a common situation I have when trading reversals.  Do you guys add to a winning trade when you see another setup forming?  I like this idea because It may even keep me in the moment with the stock and price action.  I want to know how you guys would implement it and if it's even a good idea.  Thanks for reading.  Any input is greatly appreciated.  

Edited November 14, 2018 by NickAbrams

[NickAbrams 11]

Maybe my adjusted break-even could be my stop loss for the whole thing.  Since the parameters of the trade have changed drastically within the last 15 minutes. A stop loss at the double top level could be irrelevant. 

And what are your strategies for adding to pullbacks.  I really like Douglas's idea from his Trading in the Zone, where he said that when the price action goes against you, it doesn't have to be threatening.  That it may potential be a place to add to your position and extra confirmation.  I'll watch Andrew video in the Education center again.  What are your strategies?

Thanks, 

Nick