Stop Losses are for Losers

Absolute assanine post.

If you are always getting stopped out you are placing your stops to close to the noise level.

If you have no clue as to when you are WRONG in your assessment of your trade then you shouldn't be trading.

 

Times where a stop loss is useful:

1) when the trend ends and then reverses
2) if you are playing a trading range and then the market makes a proper breakout
3) if you are going with a breakout and it then fails
4) when you are trading normally and then some major news hits the market

 

Exactly why I trade a method called the "accordion" at times as taught to me by AMT4SWA.

 

I also think what you have listed here are the exact criteria which should be considered to end a trade..good or bad.

Excellent points!

 

but... wareco showed us that you were advocating the use of stops a few months ago!

 

The guy, never said NOT to take a loss, which is very different to a stop loss!
Just Arb your way out of a bad trade, he says in the very first post and so correct he is too.
Stop losses are the training wheels, use them if you need them or trade like the pros do, without them... . Mind you, day trading only and most importantly don't let a loser run, correct it immediately.

 

sometimes, that happens.

but what happens far more often is i get stopped out, and if i had stayed in, had a loss MANY times greater than the one i took.

but then again, i don't have my stops where most people do, nor am i a savvy trader.

 

This is why, marketsurfer, the way you trade and the amount of heat you take on everytrade is ridiculous. You cannot accept the fact you CAN be wrong at times. Of course if you paper trade, you can keep averaging in until you end up with a winner.

So what if you got stopped out and it rebounded? move on and make another trade. If you prefer to be right all the time, then I assure you that you aren't making a lot of money in the market.

Losing is part of making money. Accept it and you'd be better off.

I don't use hard stops but I've used it at times when I need it.

 

Stops are not effective due to poor positon sizing. Position sizing is much much more important than placing stops.

 

what you are suggesting is churning--- stopped out due to market noise, jumping back in, noise stop out again. if your positioned sized properly, one can let the market tell them when to get out instead of noise churning with fixed stops---- just like your BROKER and MARKET INFRASTRUCTURE demands from you.

THINK!

surf