On the day that the twins were struck how far did the dow drop before they closed the markets? and then how far was the drop when they reopened? wasn't it over a week later when they reopened? Were the day trades closed out when they closed the markets early that day as they normally do at the end of the day? What would happen if you are trading e-mini dow if the CBOT /or NYSE was destroyed? do they have real time back up to offsite computers? I have thought that if I only day traded the long side of the e-mini indexes that there would be some end to the loss if my stops were blown. I wasn't trading then so i really don't know-just curious I have tried to google some of these questions without much luck. I have often thought that if the NYSE; CBOT and Washington DC (with legislation in session) were suitcase bombed about the same time one day -that we would become so crippled as a nation that we would revert to a military dictarorship-just to seek relief.
"Arnie seems to have a point. If there is a nuke or some other major event, I bet the market will drop right through stops and not trigger them." i have no idea why you would bet this. do you have any evidence that in event X, that the market would go THROUGH stops without triggering them? maybe this has happened before... i have never heard of it. and if it did happen, then there is no drawback to setting stops, they merely wouldn't be triggered. it's a win/win situation. but why are you betting this would happen? what evidence? what reason? " However, nothing would frustrate me more than to have my stop hit, and then watch the market instantly bounce back." so what? look, this is one of the most fundamental reason most (90% of futures traders) fail. emotion/psychological inadequacy. if you cannot deal with that frustration (it WILL happen) then you should not be trading[--- period. if you are not prepared to have your stop hit on any given trade - then DON"T enter the trade. period. do some of my trades have a stop hit, then reverse for what WOULD have been a profit? yes. that's part of trading. deal with it. nothing is more important than risk management. nothing professional traders TAKE THEIR STOPS. period. amateur losers hold on to losing trades and hope, pray, etc. that they just get back to breakeven. and then they have one big losing trade that wipes out their last 5, 10, 20 good trades or even their whole account. the biggest moves in the markets happen when stops are blown through and some people hold on hoping and praying until margin calls cause massive liquidation. some people NEVER learn " I'm about to start trading futures myself, so I am curious just how fast my broker will apply the margin call to my account. Will they sell me out in a few seconds, even if the market snaps right back, or is there some leeway? Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks." this depends on your broker. regardless, if your stop distance will put you into margin call, you are SERIOUSLY overleveraged. period. if you are worried about your stop being hit, then the market bouncing back, then --- welcome to trading make a better entry, or set a more logical stop. but using "mental stops" in futures (which can and have moved hyooge distances in very short time periods on occasion) is simply a loser mentality executing a loser plan. if you are just starting futures, i will give you one piece of advice about stops. set your stop on entry PERIOD and never widen it. you can move it in to protect profits. this is part of a trading plan. if you can't predefine your risk/stop on a trade before you enter... don't enter. and your above point was meaningless. IF the market is going to blow through stops without hitting them ((????)) which oyu have presented no evidence for, then there is no drawback to setting them. sure, in a severe market event you WILL get slippage. that is entirely different from not getting triggered at all completely different fwiw, i was trading the nikkei (but i was not in a position at the time) several months ago, when it had that HYOOOOGE selloff. that would have been a great time to have a "mental stop" lol if you don't set a stop, you are long, and all of a sudden, the market drops 200 points in a heartbeat, i can GUARANTEE you that you will panic. panicking and rational trade decisions are generally mutually exclusive. set a frigging stop if you want to be a professional. if you want to succeed in this business, you better get serious about risk management and protecting your capital. nobody else will do it for you