I hope you don't mind, I want to mention a couple of things you said in your post, two that's absolutely correct and one that's absolutely wrong :-)
nobody ended up broke by taking profits, however small
really bad idea, that's why most people lose money. Ask any financial institution about what their (losing) retail traders accounts look like and they all say the same thing, lots of little wins and a couple big losers = bust. It should be the opposite, lots of small losers, but huge wins.
just a lesson for next time to be a bit more patient
absolutely, this is the part that most people have trouble with, either impatient to make money or scared to leave money on the table, closing the trade early.
You should be very impatient with losing trades, just cut them dead and move on, take the small losses. On the other hand, be extremely patient with winning trades and maximise the profit, dig every single penny you can out of it. Retail traders do it the wrong way round, let losers run too long and cut winners too early.
I had moved my stop when BNB started rallying yesterday and basically I have placed it too tight
again, reports from trading institutions and the statistics of failed traders "stop losses too close or moved stop losses too early". All these point to the same thing, patience and the belief in your trade to see it out to the end.
Great feedback, thanks @tradergurl. I can openly admit it was my impatience this time taking over the control.
Any practical advice/tips from your experience in this regard?
How do you manage your stop losses if you see your position entering the profit zone after a period of boring sideways movement? I'd like to think it would have been easier for me to sit tight had this movement happened earlier.
It's easy, before every trade you decide where to put your stop loss, and where your profit target is (even if it's a trailing stop, or a MA stop or something else, doesn't matter). Then you enter the trade and sit on your hands.
It either works and you make money or you make a small loss. Don't 'fiddle' with the trade, you made a decision at the start based upon the available evidence, and until the trade either wins or loses, it's still the same evidence. There shouldn't be any reason to change the trade plan halfway unless it's due to fear or greed, and in both cases you'll end up losing money because thats gambling, not trading.
I'm not saying you shouldn't move stops up to breakeven, or lock in profits, but only if you have some rule set in advance and you follow it to the letter.
If, over a period of time you find that you're losing too much money to not making enough, then go back and re-evaluate your system, but you need a set of rules on every trade that you never deviate from.
"lots of small losers, but huge wins" - I like that strategy, pretty much what I aim for.
tell the truth, this is your only strategy
That's not true! I also have this cool one where I buy high and sell low.