do more ppl trade with stops or without??? theres a lil debate going on here, and just out of curiousity we need a third party opinion on them... thanks in advance...
Sticking with stops is what separates the professional trader from the amateur. It's what keeps me in business.
im not speaking having stop points, but actually initiating a stop, and letting it sit on the specialists book... (ie: X is tradign at 48.00 and you initiate a stop at 47.75 and leave it pending on your order status bar until it either hits or moves higher than ladder up your stop again)
My experience is that entering stops as an actual order is not a good practice. Many times, particularly on issues that are not heavily traded, I suspect my stop has been hit simply because it has been on the books, and may not have been hit otherwise.
I've found that active STOPS (not the ones sitting in your head that go unused because you think the market is wrong and will swing in your direction just as soon as the latest swing against your position is over) are a must. One BIG loss may wipe out dozens of good trades and make an otherwise good system a bad one. I'm somewhat of an exit junky. My current systems have one or two simple entries and at least 6 exits plus a stop. Doug S
lindq that is exactly my contention... (i always have stops however i never ititiate them until neccessarry, trading without stops is like driving without insurance... however on the flipside trading with stops sitting on the specialists book is like paying poker with your cards exposed...)
Stock trading: I use mental stops, execute when necessary. Futures trading: I put the stop in the marketplace when I open the trade.
Stop losses are the most important part of my systems... stop losses are to my trading what air is to my living...
Stopping or braking in a vehicle does mean you always have to have your foot on the brake pedal. Depending on your discipline, reaction time, and peripheral vision, you can drive quite well without ever having your foot on the brake pedal until necessary!!!
In my experience actively trading listed stocks during the day it was best to work with mental stops. Only enter the order when your stop price was hit. I only used physical stops if I had to be away for a few minutes (e.g., potty run). I can't tell you how many times the specialist ran my stop. Bam! Hit it and right back to the previous price level. Got to where I damn near peed my pants sometimes when I was in a trade. Or I'd put the stop so far away only a market disaster would get to it. When I've got a position trade on (with appropriate stop levels for the longer time-frames) I'll use physical, OCO target and stop loss orders. They work fairly well. You will get the occasional run at the open, but I just don't like staring at open positions all day. It causes me too much consternation.