[Packerfan1]

Started swing trading about a month ago. Current system is once my trade hits a 3% gain, I put in an trailing stop alert at 2% off the high.

I generally use alerts and "mental stops" vs. preordered when I'm available at the computer. If the trailing stop alert is triggered, I make my call then to sell or not.

I too am trying to find the right %, but I think you really have to take a stock by stock look at it. On Wed three of my holdings hit the target AND the trailing stop alert. I kept two of them (SWIR and VDSI) but took the small profit on one (LRCX).

As a side note, when I first started I used Scottrade as well. I switched to MB Trading after a couple weeks. Tough to make $$$ at $7 a trade compared to $1 or $2 a trade - plus the alert system is excellent on Quotetracker. I kept my Scottrade account because I want a backup and it allows me to backfill charts on QuoteTracker which is the interface I use for MB Trading. Just FYI.

Pack