Just deleted "No Alternative" words from my method, they are redundant. ok, back to your post, I believe Red_Ink doesn't use stop loss, he is very successful, as successful as we all wish to be. You have already answered your own question: One is supposed to throw in the towel when he is wrong. A stop loss is not necessarily the same as being wrong. A stop loss usually means one is more than just being wrong, or over-wrong. To use a stop loss is the same as using a target. Strictly speaking, using a target is wishful thinking. We all know we shouldn't wish in trading, then why do we use a target? Using stop loss is the other side of a target, or negative wishful thinking. If we are not supposed to do positive wishful thinking, we shouldn't do negative wishful thinking either. Therefore, we shouldn't use either a stop loss or a target.
I hope ya don't mind I answer for Sal but it shouldn't matter since he and I are the two ugly faces of the same coin. Anyway, I beg to differ (by miles). I use both stops and targets. They're not wishful thinking as you suggest. I know when to get out should I be wrong (stop) and I also know approximately where the trend will reverse (target). These are no arbitrary numbers. Far from it. Now you have yet to show me what is not considered a wishful thinking and I look forward to your edifying thoughts in the coming days. May I just suggest that we steer clear from empty rhetoric. I don't want this thread to become flooded with a useless discourse in abstraction. I want concrete examples. Thanks in advance for your consideration.
I started sim trading CL intraday a few weeks ago, .20 cent stop on all trades, 5 min chart and use S/R exclusively. The only thing on my chart besides price candles is a 20-period EMA to give me a quick visual of whether I want to go long or short. If it's trading in a range, I've used stops to enter breakouts thru S/R, but the slippage is awful. Anyone have tips for b/o trades? Do you just continually long the bottom of the range, and short top of the range until the breakout finally occurs and you're already in the position?
The only way to "catch" a breakout is to enter once it breaks out of the range. To say otherwise is, well...a "wishful thinking" (in the context of what has been discussed above.) In order to avoid the problem of slippage, I suggest you use a limit order. However, the drawback of using the limit order is that you might not get a fill. Hence your best bet is to jump on the bandwagon before the breakout occurs. But this is easier said than done. There's no easy answer. I can only recommend that you make a brief visit to my tutorial, "Unholy Grail to Success", which should give you a pointer or two. Other than that, you have the choice of following the live trades we post here during the trading session. Enough said from me. Good luck.
What do you guys see for the remaining session? Straight up or sideways chop? I don't envision a dumpster diving.