ES gap open...wait 15 min. if market goes in direction of gap...place trade 1...stop below open...wait till 11:00...if market keeps going ...move stop up on first trade to break even... Place second trade stop at first trade open...wait till 1:00pm...if market keeps going move stops up to trade 2 entry...place trade 3...stop at trade 2 open...wait till 3:30...close all open positions. When this works it's a 10:1 win:loss. Unfortunately I only see this a couple of times per month.
It varies with the gap. (I've lost more than 20% on stocks that gapped down and felt good about it because they kept going down.) As for trailing stops. I'll use the low of the prior day for a while and if it looks like it might recover (Price gets back to the original stop) I'll leave it until price makes a new higher swing low then place a stop just under that. More of an art than a science. A lot depends on what other opportunities might be available. I don't stay with losers very long. I have a rule that I can't hold a loser in my portfolio. I might bend it for a day or two, but my past experience has taught me that it doesn't usually work out.
I just keep their IPhones and then I drop off the children at the next sign that says "watch for children".
In an ideal world, any event that sinks the market is the perfect opportunity to buy. In reality it's more complicated because it means your portfolio is also plunging if shares haven't been set up with stop losses. Do you trigger the losses expecting a further drop to buy lower? Do you hang on to losers expecting a quick reversal and recovery? How much of a drop do you tolerate.. 2, 5, 10, 20%? How long are you willing to wait for.. 5, 10, 20 or more days? Alternatively, do you hold cash specifically for such instances? My goal this year is to be up 50%... The year started well, +23%, until Trump went nuclear and suddenly I was -22%. Today I'm 1% off from baseline and working to reach positive double digit before the next big dip and, this time, be more ready for it.