When Should You Take Your Profits? Some in the 3rd Elliot Wave? All in the 5th Elliot Wave?

But WHEN do you KNOW WHEN to take your profits?

TLDR:

1. Take some profits into the 3rd wave using @haejin 's laddering technique.
2. Re-buy into the 4th wave (using same laddering technique).
3. Take the rest of your planned profits into the 5th wave (using same laddering technique).

KEY: Understand Elliot Waves and have Confidence in your own abilities. Learn about conditional buy and sell orders.

I asked this question inside of @haejin 's blog and was directed to his Laddering Technique video. An Effective Buying & Selling Strategy: Laddering; A Tutorial on to Cast a Ladder

I watched that video; and now, over the course of watching many of his videos, I am beginning to understand the importance of being able to identify Elliot waves and then make strategic decisions on WHEN to take profits.

In his videos, Haejin explains that he may take 1/3 to 1/2 of his profits at the top of wave 3 and then he may re-buy at the bottom of wave 4 and make even more profits into wave 5.

Is that the perfect strategy to implement into your trading?

Here is how I mapped out a recent entry into Lumens XLR:

But what is the top of wave 3, bottom of wave 4, and top of wave 5? How do you know the exact moment to execute your trades.

You can never know exact ends of waves. (Or can you?)

A part of your answer lies in understanding Elliot Waves.

Another part of your answer lies in your ability to execute a disciplined strategy of programming your buy and sell orders into your exchange. You can take the time to find out what conditional buy and sell orders are, and how to correctly enter your data so that they buy or sell occurs at the values you wish.

Haejin gives good advice to "...humbly take your profits..."

Additionally, a strong point is made in the book Technical Analysis of Stock Trends about taking profits in Chapter 8: Important Reversal Patterns: the Triangles (pg. 77)

"The more experienced an investor, the less concerned he is with getting the last point, or even the last 10 points, out of his market commitments."

This is not trading nor investment advice. This is solely my opinion to add to an already existing conversation for educational or entertainment purposes.