Closing after a set time if the price does not move. Capital tied up in a stagnant asset is a hidden loss. Also called: time close, dead track. Finviro's term: “Time Stop”.
What this exit is
A Time Stop (Time Stop) is an exit rule based on time: if the idea has not moved in its direction within a set window, get out. Not because you lost, but because nothing happened. A thesis that said “it will move soon” and then did not has failed on time, even if price never broke it.
Why time is a silent enemy
Capital frozen in a sleeping trade pays a hidden opportunity cost: it misses live setups while guarding nothing. In options, silence turns into an open bleed, with theta eating while the idea sleeps. A time limit turns “hopeful waiting” into a disciplined decision.
Setting the time limit
It comes from the nature of the idea itself: a momentary breakout trade gets a few sessions, a structural bounce gets a week or two, and a seasonal trade gets its planned month. The rule is written at entry: “if it does not reach X within Y, I exit.” It is carried out with no negotiation.
Hypothetical example
An entry expecting a bounce within a week, using monthly contracts: two weeks pass and price hovers just above the stop. A time exit recovers 60% of the remaining Premium. The usual alternative is waiting “two more days” until it evaporates completely in theta's jaws.
Common mistake
Limiting failure to price losses misses most of it. Most capital wasted in stagnant accounts is not lost, it evaporates slowly in dead trades guarded by hope. Stagnation is a second kind of failure, and the time limit is what exposes it.
Where to see it on the platform
The trade journal records each trade's time limit and shows its current age, and the Systematic trading module applies the time exit as an explicit rule in its systems.
