Scaling out (partial exits)
Scaling out means closing a position in several parts at different prices, typically taking part of the profit at a first target and leaving the rest with a protected stop. It trades part of the potential gain for a higher share of trades that end with some profit, and it changes the win rate and payoff ratio of the record.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
How the outcomes change
Take two MNQ contracts with a 10-point stop, which risks 20 dollars per contract and 40 in total; call 40 dollars 1R. The plan closes one contract at +10 points and moves the stop on the second to the entry. If the market hits the stop first, the trade loses 1R. If it reaches +10 and comes back to the entry, the first contract earns 20 dollars and the second nothing: +0.5R. If it continues to +30, the result is 20 + 60 = 80 dollars: +2R. Holding both contracts to +30 would have earned 3R, and holding both to the entry after touching +10 would have earned nothing.
Scaling out shifts results from the tails toward the middle: fewer full losses once the first target is reached, and smaller full wins.
| Path | Scale out | Hold both |
|---|---|---|
| Stop hit first | −1R | −1R |
| +10 then back to entry | +0.5R | 0R with stop at entry |
| +10 then +30 | +2R | +3R |
Effect on the statistics
- The win rate usually rises, because paths that touched the first target end positive.
- The average win falls, because the best paths carry less size to the end.
- Costs grow slightly: more exit orders, and on some brokers more fees per partial fill.
- Whether expectancy improves depends on how often price reaches the first target and then fails; measuring MFE on past trades answers that better than intuition.
In Senzoukria
On the broker account panel, a position can be reduced with Close ½, which closes half of it rounded up, next to Reverse and a BE button that moves the stop to the entry once the market has moved past it in the position's favor. The simulated account offers the same partial close and break-even move. The automatic backtest does not model partial exits: a strategy's close decision flattens the whole position, and each position has one stop and one target fixed at entry, so scale-out plans must be evaluated in replay or from recorded MFE and MAE.
Related
In the same section
- Scaling plan
- Sample size
- Scripting
- RTH
- Security definition
- Rotation factor
- Self-match prevention
- Roll yield
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Frequently asked questions
- Does scaling out improve profitability?
- Not by itself. It changes the distribution of outcomes, raising the win rate and lowering the average win. Whether net expectancy improves depends on the market's tendency to reach the first target and reverse, which should be measured on your own trades.
- Why is my win rate higher but my profit lower after I started scaling out?
- Because the trades that would have been your largest winners now carry only part of the size to the final target. The added small wins may not compensate for the reduced large ones, especially after costs.