A position tool is only as honest as its defaults. Most draw a box and leave the stop and the target to the trader, which is fair, and also means the two numbers that decide the trade are the two nobody measured. On our desk the long and short tools place a position in one click — the entry where you click, the stop 0.10 % of spot away, the target at 1.5 times the stop — and every rail and every edge of the box can be dragged after. The defaults come from the same harness as the levels.
The exits we tested
- Three stops: 0.07 %, 0.10 % and 0.15 % of spot — about 6, 8 and 12 ES points, three to four times that on NQ.
- Four targets: 1, 1.5 and 2 times the stop, and holding to 15:55 with the stop only.
- Every combination on every reaction — the fade in the direction of the regime and the retest after a break — with a placebo at the same distance, on 88 SPX sessions replayed on ES and 82 NDX sessions on NQ.
What the grid said
The tight stop with a 1 R target printed the best-looking numbers — profit factors above 2 and win rates above 70 % — and the placebo printed them too. A tight stop and a close target win often on any line, because price rarely travels far before it wanders back; that is the shape of the exit, not the level. The gap between the level and its placebo was widest at 1.5 to 2 R with the 0.10 % stop: on NQ the playbook ran 1.45 against 1.28 at 1.5 R, on ES 1.36 against 1.07. Holding to the close with the stop only paid in the regime’s direction and nowhere else.
How the tool uses it
- Pick Long or Short on the dock at the left of the chart and click the entry — usually the level you are fading, or the level being retested.
- The stop appears 0.10 % of spot away on the wrong side, the target 1.5 R on the right side, the box a default width. The label reads the risk and the reward in points and the ratio.
- Drag the stop or the target rail to change the ratio; drag the left or right edge to change how long the trade is expected to take; drag the entry to move the whole box.
- Hold Shift and drag anywhere to measure a distance in points, percent and minutes without placing anything.