Two trailing methods protect your profits — Candle-by-Candle tightens with price action, R-Trail moves at profit milestones. The system uses whichever locks more profit.
Two trailing methods protect your profits — Candle-by-Candle (CbC) tightens with price action, R-Trail moves at profit milestones. The system uses whichever locks more profit.
A fixed SL does one job: limit your loss. But once a trade moves in your favor, that fixed SL leaves all the profit unprotected. If price runs from $185 to $200 and then reverses to $181, you give back the entire move and take the full loss.
Trailing stops solve this by moving SL in the direction of profit. The question is not whether to trail — it is how. Different methods suit different market conditions, and no single method dominates in all cases. That is why the system runs two methods simultaneously and picks the winner on every evaluation.
CbC Trail uses completed candles to ratchet SL forward. For a long trade, after each qualifying candle closes, SL moves to the candle's low — provided that low is higher than the current SL.
How it works:
Timeframe switching: Strategies often use two timeframes. The initial trailing timeframe applies before breakeven (tighter, faster trailing to reach safety). The post-breakeven trailing timeframe applies after breakeven (wider, giving the trade room to run). When these differ, each has a jurisdiction — the initial timeframe moves SL up to entry, the post-breakeven timeframe takes over beyond entry.
Why CbC works well: It adapts to volatility automatically. In a slow grind higher, candle lows are close together — SL tightens steadily. In a volatile spike, candle lows are far apart — SL gives more room. The market's own structure defines the trailing pace.
Best fit: Trending moves with consistent candle structure. Works especially well on timeframes one step above your entry timeframe (entry on 15-minute, trail on 75-minute).
R-Trail uses R-multiples to define fixed SL levels. One R equals your initial risk — the distance from entry to initial SL. As price reaches each R-multiple milestone, SL jumps to a predetermined level.
See R-Multiples for how R is calculated.
The milestone ladder:
| Price Reaches | SL Moves To | Profit Locked |
|---|---|---|
| +1R | Entry (breakeven) | 0 (risk eliminated) |
| +2R | Entry + 1R | 1R locked |
| +3R | Entry + 2R | 2R locked |
| +4R | Entry + 3R | 3R locked |
Each milestone locks in one less R than the current level. At +2R profit, you lock 1R. At +5R profit, you lock 4R. The pattern is mechanical and predictable.
Configuration options: Strategies control how far R-Trail extends. Setting r_trail to 2R means SL moves at +1R and +2R milestones only — no further trailing after that. Setting it to Y means unlimited R-trailing: the ladder extends as far as price runs.
Why R-Trail works well: It is completely independent of candle structure. A choppy market that whipsaws candle lows can still produce clean R-multiple progression. R-Trail also makes risk/reward explicit — you always know exactly how much profit is locked.
Best fit: Momentum moves where price runs in multiples of initial risk. Particularly effective when candle structure is noisy but the overall move is strong.
When both CbC and R-Trail are enabled (the default for most strategies), the system computes both SL values on every evaluation cycle and picks the more protective one:
This is the Golden Rule. It means you get the best of both worlds — whichever method is tighter at any given moment is the one that applies.
Neither method can override the other in a harmful direction. If CbC calculates SL at $190 and R-Trail calculates $192, the trade uses $192. If market structure shifts and CbC catches up to $194 while R-Trail stays at $192, the trade uses $194.
SL never moves backward. Once set, a trailing SL only moves in the profit direction:
This is enforced after the Golden Rule comparison. Even if both methods calculate a level below the current SL (which can happen when candle data refreshes), the existing SL holds. Progress is permanent.
| Market Condition | CbC | R-Trail |
|---|---|---|
| Steady trend with clean candles | Tightens efficiently with each candle | May lag behind — waiting for next R-milestone |
| Volatile spike (fast 3R+ move) | Candle lows may be far from price — loose trail | Jumps SL quickly through R-milestones |
| Choppy grind higher | Catches every favorable candle close | May not reach next milestone if moves are small |
| Gap up overnight | No candle data to trail on (gap, not candle) | Instantly recognizes new R-level at open |
| Mean-reverting sideways | Holds SL at last candle's extreme | Holds at last R-milestone |
In practice, neither method consistently dominates. That is exactly why the Golden Rule exists — the system does not force you to choose.
Setup: Buy AAPL at $185, initial SL at $180. Risk (R) = $5.
R-Trail: Price reached +1R ($185 + $5 = $190). SL moves to entry: $185.00.
CbC: The last completed 75-minute candle had a low of $188.50. SL moves from $180 to $188.50.
Golden Rule: $188.50 > $185.00. CbC wins. SL = $188.50.
The trade is now past breakeven — state transitions from ACTIVE to BREAKEVEN, then to TRAILING.
R-Trail: Price reached +2R ($185 + $10 = $195). SL moves to entry + 1R: $190.00.
CbC: The last completed daily candle had a low of $192.30. SL moves to $192.30.
Golden Rule: $192.30 > $190.00. CbC wins again. SL = $192.30.
Profit locked: $192.30 - $185.00 = $7.30 (1.46R).
R-Trail: Price reached +3R ($185 + $15 = $200). SL moves to entry + 2R: $195.00.
CbC: The market got choppy. The last completed daily candle had a low of $193.80 — but SL is already at $192.30 from before, and $193.80 > $192.30, so CbC moves SL to $193.80.
Golden Rule: $195.00 > $193.80. R-Trail wins this time. SL = $195.00.
Profit locked: $195.00 - $185.00 = $10.00 (2.0R).
Price drops from $200 to $196. The SL at $195.00 holds (Silver Rule — it does not move down). Price continues to $194.50, breaching the $195.00 SL. TM waits for the configured candle to confirm the breach, then exits.
Result: Entry $185.00, exit ~$195.00. Profit = $10.00 per share (2.0R). The trailing system captured 67% of the $15 move from entry to peak, without requiring any prediction of the top.
The best trailing timeframe for CbC is typically one step above your entry timeframe. If your signal fires on 15-minute candles, trailing on 75-minute candles gives the trade room to breathe while still protecting profits.
See these concepts in action: Execute overview.
This is engineering infrastructure, not investment advice. All trading involves risk of loss.