Mistake: Not Taking Profits

The second mistake—and in my opinion, an even worse one—that most traders make is that by not taking profits, they get greedy. Why wouldn’t you take profits when given the opportunity? In other words, if the crude oil market moves up to $72.58, that’s a $.50 profit, for a total gain of $500. The trader could exit the crude market, taking his or her profit off the table, and then jump back in when presented with another opportunity. Most of the time, however, they don’t. The reality is that most people hold onto the position until it turns around and they are losing so much they are forced to liquidate. Avoid this at all costs by setting your goals from the start, by grabbing gains, and by not being greedy. 
Another way to play it if you have multiple positions is to simply liquidate one of the contracts and hold the other. In other words, if you buy two contracts you can sell one as the market starts to go up if you’re long. Then as the market, as hoped, goes even higher, you would sell the other one. An even smarter move is to take your protective stop order and keep moving it up behind you as the market moves higher. 

Eventually the stop will be above where you initially entered the trade, and even if the market reverses itself you will likely be stopped out with a profit or minimal loss. Bravo!
So if you were holding onto two contracts or positions in December crude oil from $75.00 and the market rallied to $75.50 and you sold the first contract, you would make $500. Then if the market continued higher to $76.00, you could sell the second contract for a profit of $1,000. Nice!