When do you move a stop to break-even, and what has it cost you?

Moving a stop to break-even means setting it at the entry price once a trade is in profit. It removes the risk of a loss from that trade, but a stop that sits exactly at entry can be triggered by a small reversal before the move continues. The cost is the trade that would have run further if the stop had been left where it was. Leverage and margin explained shows how the size of a position changes what a small reversal costs in money, which is why a break-even stop on a large position feels different from one on a small position.

The question is when you make that move, and whether it has helped or hurt your results over a sample of trades. Members often move the stop after a fixed distance, after a level is passed, or after a candle closes in their favour. Each rule has a different sensitivity to noise, and the choice should be tested rather than assumed.

We would like to hear your experience:

• At what point in a trade do you move the stop to break-even?
• Has a break-even stop been hit by a small reversal before the move continued?
• Do you move it at once, or after a fixed distance or a level?
• How do you handle break-even around a central bank release?

Please share your own approach and reasoning, not calls for others to copy. Posts that promise a direction or sell signals will be removed.