What TP1, TP2 and TP3 mean in a trading signal

TP stands for take profit. In a signal, TP1, TP2 and TP3 are three prices on the profitable side of the entry: TP1 is the closest, TP3 the furthest. When price reaches one of them, you can close the trade or part of it in profit. The stop loss, usually written SL, is the matching level on the losing side, and every signal worth following has one.

The three targets on a real signal format

Here is a gold signal in the format our desk posts, with illustrative prices:

XAU/USD
Direction: SELL
Entry Price: 2410.50
TP1 2405.50
TP2 2400.50
TP3 2392.50
SL 2418.50

On this sell, TP1 sits 50 pips below the entry, TP2 100 pips and TP3 180 pips, counting gold in the usual convention where one pip is $0.10 of price. The stop sits 80 pips above the entry. On a buy everything flips: the targets sit above the entry and the stop below it.

Why a signal has three targets instead of one

Price rarely travels to one number in a straight line. Three targets tell you where the provider expects the market to react on the way: TP1 at the first level price is likely to pause at, TP2 at the next, TP3 where the move would have done everything the setup promised. On a well-built signal those levels come from the chart, such as a previous high or low or a zone price has turned at before, which is why the gaps between them are rarely equal. In the example, TP2 is 50 pips beyond TP1 and TP3 is 80 pips beyond TP2.

The second reason is choice. Three targets let traders with different rules use the same signal. One closes everything at TP1, another holds for TP3, a third splits the position across all three.

What "TP1 hit" means

When a channel posts "TP1 hit", price has touched the first target. If you closed everything there, the trade is finished. If you are holding for TP2 or TP3, nothing has changed for the rest of your position unless your own rule says so. Some traders move the stop to the entry at this point; that choice has a cost as well as a benefit, and the breakeven article puts numbers on both.

One practical detail: the chart on most platforms shows the bid price. A sell closes at the ask, which sits a spread higher, so a target can be touched on the chart while your take-profit order is still a fraction short. On gold and in quiet hours that gap is worth knowing about before you call a target missed.

Three ways traders use the three targets

• One exit for the whole position. Close everything at TP1, or everything at TP2, or hold the whole position for TP3. The nearer the target, the more often it is reached and the less each win pays.
• A partial ladder. Close a share at each target. 70% at TP1, 20% at TP2 and 10% at TP3 is a common split, and it is the default ladder on our copier.
• Hold for TP3 with the original stop. The fewest wins and the largest ones, with the widest swings in the account along the way.

Here is what each rule does on the example signal at 0.10 lots, where one gold pip is worth $1, in two outcomes: price runs all the way to TP3, or price reaches TP1, turns and hits the stop.

The ladder line works out as 0.07 lots closed at TP1 for +$35, then either 0.02 lots at TP2 for +$20 and 0.01 lots at TP3 for +$18, or the remaining 0.03 lots stopped out for -$24. Spread and commission come off every line. No row is best in both columns, which is the whole point: the target you choose decides which outcome you are paid for.

How a results page scores TP1, TP2 and TP3

A provider's record usually shows which target each signal reached. On our results page, every closed signal is scored at the highest target the market reached, measured in pips from the entry, so a sell that touched TP2 and then turned back is recorded at TP2. A signal that hits its stop before TP1 is a full loss at the stop distance. The methodology page sets out the rest, including when a breakeven is recorded.

That score belongs to the signal, not to anyone's account. The table above shows four traders finishing the same signal with four different results, and a record cannot know which rule you used. In one replayed month of our VIP signals, 24 August to 21 September 2026, 76 of 79 resolved signals reached TP1 and 3 were full stops. How much of that a trader kept depended on what they did at TP1.

Which target should you use?

There is no target that suits everyone, and the choice matters more than it first appears. Pick one rule, write it down and keep it for a full month, because switching rules after each trade is how a decent month of signals becomes a poor month of trading. The take profit guide compares the rules on a replayed month of our signals and shows how to test them on any provider, and the profit calculator shows the money at each target for your own lot size before you place the trade.