THESTRAT / DOCS

Trades That Should Really Go

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Definition A trade that should really go is one where price is forced to move immediately: every qualifying situation contains a trapped participant or a forced actor. The tight stop is only rational here: “We know why something should occur… this SHOULD go. Why would this not go? We have an unknown participant. I don’t want to find out who that is.” If the thing that has to go doesn’t go, you’re wrong about who’s in the trade, so leave.

The situations

Punch-first entries are conditional: “you can’t do that on everything. We want to line that up with time frame continuity and knowing where the actionable signals are”. All of the situations below share one mechanic: the immediate move is other people’s stops firing, not your prediction coming true.

  • An actionable signal triggering with aggressive full timeframe continuity. Everyone visible is already positioned your way; the trigger forces the holdouts: “Why would this not work? Everybody we know is a buyer.” And aggressive means aggressive: “it does, but by like two cents. It’s not really aggressive. We like the nice long red and green bars.”
  • Reversals that trap the other side. The signal identifies people caught wrong; the cascade of their stops removes liquidity and speeds the move.
  • Simultaneous breaks. Stock, sector, and index breaking together: “I can’t stress the importance of a simultaneous break… We want to have probability.”
  • Momo continuations with continuity. A shooter off a 2-down, a hammer off a 2-up: “this has to go”.
  • Pivot machine gun on a gapper. Everyone who bought the failed breakout is the fuel: “usually a pivot machine gun on a gapper tells me they were dead wrong”.

Qualifiers on any of these: magnitude still available (not an exhaustion push, not inside a mother bar’s range) and time left on the bar: see the take-action window and the trade checklist.

The execution spec

Entry: the trigger is the confirmation. “Take the offer as soon as the price is above the high of the hammer… We are always throwing the first punch.” Don’t offer it: “That allows the other team to take a shot at you first.” The short side is the mirror: “we’re going to hit the bid”.

Stop: “We place the stop one cent below the bar that triggers the hammer”, and not the hammer’s low: “Placing a stop below the hammer’s low is way too low; it’ll have already failed way before then”.

A hammer prints at a low; the next bar takes out the hammer’s high and becomes a 2u — take the offer at the break and place the stop one cent below that trigger bar’s low, not below the hammer’s low, which is far too low Trigger — the hammer’s high: take the offer Stop — 1¢ below the low of the bar that triggers it Not the hammer’s low trigger — the hammer’s high too low — it has already failed way before here X 2d hammer open 1 2u take the offer — throw the first punch stop — 1¢ below the bar that triggers it The hammer prints the low. The next bar has to take its high. Triggered — zero heat: that bar should not come in. TheStrat.AI
A hammer at a low, then the bar that takes its high: at the break you take the offer and throw the first punch, and the stop goes one cent below the low of that trigger bar, never the hammer’s low, which price only reaches long after the trade has failed. The shooter version (hit the bid below the low) is the mirror image.

Zero heat

Rule: “Let it go against you? Zero. One or two pennies”. In a forced situation there is no legitimate reason for price to trade back through the trigger: “That should not come in. That bar should not reverse… We want this to just go.” A small opener makes the stop-outs noise, and if the level re-breaks, get back in (“second mouse gets the cheese”): see Why You Keep Getting Stopped Out.

The inverse

Why “tight stops don’t work” complaints happen: the same one-cent stop placed in trades that don’t have to go (conflicted continuity, exhaustion pushes, movers with no setup). The stop was never the problem; the trade selection was. See Why You Keep Losing Trades.

Frequently asked

When can I give a trade room?

Only for a stated reason: higher-timeframe signals still in force with magnitude remaining, or a position already at a profit. The stop is always tight at entry, and room comes later.

Related: Why You Keep Getting Stopped Out · Actionable Signals · Simultaneous Breaks · Hammer
Next: Fix Your Trading →

TheStrat was developed by Rob Smith. These docs are written by Alex Sopa (AlexsOptions) and quote his teaching. Work in progress: spotted an error? Tell Alex.

For AI agents: free TheStrat tools (MCP and REST) at thestrat.ai/agents.