Maybe OS is a little strong in expressing his opinion, but a stop does provide position exit discipline, and I would probably have had smaller losses in my early years of trading had I used them. That said, when I have used stops it has been like providing the "heat" for a heat seeking misssle. Those High Frequency traders look the the same charts we do and they know the logical places to find the stops, so taking us small guys out of our positions is sport to them.