dattrader, i'll give you two examples. you haven't seen them in the states yet in the futures but one day you will. I'm sure with nasdaq and ecn's these happen quite often given the number of busted trades. two weeks ago on the EUREX an order to sell one contract was mistakingly entered in as something like sell 5010 at 1. The market immediately dropped around 8%. Imagine a stop market order getting filled 8% below market only to see the market climb back all the way once everyone knew the order was an error. (fyi, the eurex busted all trades below a certain level 5 hours after the event). in HK, last week someone entered an order with enough size to virtually take out the entire futures book. This triggered other stops and within seconds the market moved 600 points. orders got filled within this short amount of time from 10100-10700. Just as fast the market was back to trading 10200 and within a few more minutes back to 10100. Here's the kicker, the 10700 fills got busted BUT - if the firm that executued the trades did not contact the exchange within 5 minutes, they trades would not have been busted. I'm just saying, i'd be more comfortable with a stop limit a few % away from my trigger than being caught in something like this. (such examples could happen with nasdaq stocks as well). Yes, I would want to get out, but not at any price.
I certainly understand and trust defs examples, but with the stocks I play and the markets I watch, I will continue to use Stop Limits for my entries, partials and positive exits, and Stop orders for my bailing exits. If I have to take the weirdo hit now and then, I will to ensure that my limit doesn't get passed over. Glad to hear the discussion and what other traders do, I've often wondered. JB
Let me state first that I am not an accountant and do not prepare my own tax returns. US capitol gains are classified as long term or short term with short term being taxed as ordinary income and long term taxed (federally) at 20%. I believe the wash rule is applied only to stocks. Index futures traders still benefit from a tax code which does not differentiate them from commodity futures.