I concur. I use mental stops. Times in the past I placed stops, I swear they always got hit, no matter where I placed them. Using mental stops, even just yesterday the price was within a few cents of hitting my stop, but never did. Good thing, stock shot up today and I got a nice profit. Betcha if I had placed the stop I would've been out (at a BE). They would've gone for it.
Yep, the market's purpose is to hit your stops. I'm not intending to be rude.....just providing some insight.
I place my stop losses (eminies) when I place my entry order. I just let them get hit. (no exceptions) In the past I have used mental stops, but found myself not always having enough discipline to honor them, then would find myself hoping. Then would find myself cussing. Self talk would be something like, " well 80 bux lost wasn't good enough for you - you had to make it 280 instead. &^%$#@!!!" It's better for me to place hard stops and let them get hit. Then wait for a bit and see if I want to enter the same trade again or not. My trading mentality seems to fair better this way and so does my account. To each their own.