My views on stocks not as sophisticated as yours. My signal for entry lasts about 1 1/2 hours. In this period I make a decision and then price begins its move. The same is true for exits. So, mostly I am exiting to obtain capital to enter (long) a stock that will be performing better than the stock I am exiting. (Cross-over trading).
============= Elitetrender-NYC Like[generous-not tight] limit orders, but in trending stocks/strong trending stocks; better get in or simply suffer stingey payday[not much@all pay]. Hi volume[multiple millions] can help ; in a strong trend , order execution is not very important.If your not in you cant win.My comments are limited to liquid stuff Illiquid stocks, ,why bother/short squeezes/horrible slippage??; if i want illiquid stuff real estate maybe better.
But even still a market order will give you much more slippage and you'll get dinged a penny or two on every entry and exit...
in the market I trade (forex) there is no difference between buying at the market and buying the ask. It only comes into play when all hell is breaking loose. And in those cases if I want to get in or out I want to get in or out at any price. As far as I know I have never been dinged one penny, and if I have, I can make it back up on limit orders where in forex positive slippage is not at all uncommon.
What are pennies??? As I said, you are more sophisticaed than I. I just do crossover trading with winners all the time.
if I had a nickle for ever dollar I lost chasing a limit all the way up instead of buying at the market I'd probably have enough to pay for my next commission.
Stop limit? Stop orders are dangerous in themselves anyway. Stops end up being a setup for you to exit at the worst possible time -- combine them with a non-limit order, and you're in the realm of probabilistic suicide, at least with US equities. And why would you even consider them unless you're either overleveraged or unconfident in your position?