how does a forex trader use a trailing stop 
if a trader were to buy 50 shares of a company stock at 50 per share he may place a trailing stop at 10 that is to say if the price drops 10 to 45 then his broker has a standing instruction to sell the shares thus keeping the loss at a 5 share or 250 total however if the stock price rises the trailing stop of 10 rises with it and if the price peaks at 80 before beginning to fall then the trailing stop is 72 or 10 of the 80 peak that the price reached if the price now falls below that 10 line the broker has instructions to sell thus enabling the trader to earn 22 per share or 1 100 before the stock price continues to drop successful traders are those who can find the proper balance to ensure that the trailing stop is not too large thus risking higher losses but at the same time big enough to allow for the stock price to correct any anomalies and continue in the desired direction 