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Glossary / Order types

Trailing stop

Definition

A stop that follows price by a fixed distance as the trade moves in your favour.

Why it matters

Trailing stops capture trends but give back open profit on every pullback. Your MFE data tells you whether a trail beats a fixed target.

Example

A 15-point trailing stop on a long entered at 4,000 moves to 3,995 when price hits 4,010 and to 4,035 at 4,050, locking in the move without a fixed target.

How to track it in a journal

TradeStack calculates the core performance numbers — win rate, average win and loss, profit factor, expectancy, drawdown and consistency — automatically from imported trades, so trailing stop stops being something you estimate and becomes something you read.

Related terms

Market order
An instruction to buy or sell immediately at the best available price.
Limit order
An order to trade at a specified price or better.
Stop loss
A resting order that exits a position once price reaches a set level.
Stop limit order
A stop that triggers a limit order rather than a market order.

Keep reading

Trading journal guides
Expectancy, profit factor, drawdown, backtesting and the PDT rule.
Free trading calculators
Position size, risk-reward, expectancy and options profit.
Expectancy calculator
Expected profit per trade from your own numbers.
Broker CSV export guides
Step-by-step exports for Tradovate, NinjaTrader, IBKR and more.
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