It seems that my stops are taken out and then the market proceeds my way to make me a loser and a frustrated one. Today I was long MES (2 contracts) and my sell stop was just under 3198.75 then they pushed it down to 3198.25 and run it up...I figure I should have used a wider stop but it makes me wonder. Do they know where the stops are?
On ES it very common to run stops ~ 10 points above and or below previous lows or highs before RTM happens
I was long 1@ 3217 and 1@ 3204 (the one buy at 3217 was an ill conceived one but it still was ok if I just held on...)
Trust me - one of the most liquid markets in the world does not care about your 2 contract stop. False breakouts are common on ES, so you'll often see a snap above/below a level and then a sharp reversal. You did NOT move the market down to 3198 today. LOL. Your question is interesting, though. Can certain players see where stops are placed? Does CME sell this information? Solve your problem by better entries or wider stops. Also - remember that you can re-enter in the same direction if initially stopped.
FWIW - I generally only use disaster stops these days. Does not mean I will take that disaster stop. Haven't done so far. It's just there. I'll usually exit far sooner. This makes for more relaxing trading on my end. Tight stops only work if your entries are perfect. If they're not - work to improve them or use larger stops to allow for some inexactitude. Nothing worse than to be right on a main move and stopped out prematurely and then have the market take-off without you.