I've noticed a common thread in all my strategy work. Regardless which method I use to slice and dice a market for trend following intraday or swing trading systems, the result is a win rate of 30%-40%. For some periods of time, that win rate can be better but overall that's all I can get. I've used support and resistance, indicators, price action, and candle stick patterns, to mention a few. Using static stops and targets or other money management techniques like scaling in/scaling out only serve to increase the win rate at best while decreasing the overall performance of the system. The best I've found is to accept the 30-40 percent and let the trades run to a "natural" end. What that implies is that I must be willing to accept the draw downs, trades that go way in my favor and then retrace to a meager profit or even a loss, big winners, and big losers. What this also implies is that my systems are stop and reverse. To do anything else decreases overall performance. Oh and by the way, accepting all that I've said means you MUST be well capitalized, have balls of steel, and the discipline of Job (Biblical character who stayed the course in the face of overwhelming adversity.)
Ok. Now that I've made my black and white statements, I will say that everything I've claimed can be disproved by putting things in a different context. I can do so myself and just did while I was writing this. However, in the way that most new traders are exposed to the markets, I believe my claims are valid. We will see how you more educated people receive them.