Live on monthly chart trading｜Episode 14: How to take daily profits with long-term trading [Relaxed Forex]

When you hold a position for the long term, you may feel the dilemma of wanting to take profits but if you settle, you won’t receive swap points… What is the best approach when you want to take profits in a long-term trade? From Yuttari-Kawase, we’ll learn about a trading method that actually uses repeat orders.

*This article is a reprint/re-edit of FX攻略.com's June 2018 issue. Please note that the market information written in the body may differ from the current market.

Profile of Yuttari-Kawase

Yuttari Kawa. Individual investor. A “relaxed trading” trader with extremely few trading instances. Studying daily with the aim of achieving great success in FX. Holds accounts with various FX companies and is familiar with a variety of services in the industry.

Official blog：FX Relaxed Trading Style
Official blog：FX Real Trading Dojo

Unplanned profit-taking is a no-go

So far, I have viewed long-term holding trades from various perspectives. The common points are two:

(1) Aim to earn swap points

(2) Try to settle during a yen depreciation, but in reality settle only after several years to about 30 years

Every trade has advantages and disadvantages. One of the drawbacks of ultra-long-term trades that earn swap points is that unrealized gains are just “unrealized.”

Suppose you’re holding for a long term and the yen depreciates significantly. Unrealized gains are large. In such a situation you’d like to take profits, but if you settle, you won’t receive swap points anymore. If the unrealized gains are overwhelmingly larger than daily swap points, you might consider taking profits. However, if the trade was originally aimed at earning swap points and the objective has somehow shifted, it is not highly recommended to profit-taking in a haphazard manner. If you had decided beforehand that you would take profits once the yen depreciates to a certain level, that would be acceptable, but spontaneous profit-taking is not highly recommended.

This is because, depending on market conditions, if your thinking keeps changing, it’s hard to achieve long-term success. From my own experience, trading without a solid framework tends to lead to losses.

Therefore, to earn swap points, pretend to hold through yen depreciation. Then, if a large yen appreciation occurs, you may feel disappointed. “Ah, if only I had taken profits there and held the position again now….”