where a stop loss might not work?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by eleanorK80, Oct 15, 2023.

  1. eleanorK80

    eleanorK80

    When are situations or market conditions where a stop loss might not effectively protect a position?
     
    murray t turtle likes this.
  2. TheMordy

    TheMordy

    In case of a trading halt, and after back open price starts below your SL.
     
    VPhantom likes this.
  3. TheMordy

    TheMordy

    Massive sell off, SL will get executed, but with lower fill than SL price.
     
    Lou Friedman likes this.
  4. Snuskpelle

    Snuskpelle

    1) Scheduled time gaps (overnight is best example).
    2) Unscheduled but controlled trading halts, e.g. because a company requests its stock to be halted pending a new information release.
    3) Unintended interruptions due to tech stack problems anywhere from the exchange, to your broker, all the way to your own office (e.g. ISP or computer failure).
    4) Too thin liquidity for your order size. Liquidity is inversely related to volatility, so "too volatile markets for your order size" would be another way of saying it.

    If you need guarantees, you can e.g. look into options that make defining exact risk very easy.
     
    VPhantom and murray t turtle like this.
  5. tomkat22

    tomkat22

    The Flash Crash of may 2010 comes to mind.
     
  6. Jzwu2017

    Jzwu2017

    90% of stops will be hit sooner or later. You need to manage your position and get out before that happens, hopefully.
     
    murray t turtle likes this.
  7. Tokenz

    Tokenz

    In very volatile markets you will save more from NOT having a stop loss than having one
     
  8. Jzwu2017

    Jzwu2017

    Probably shouldn’t trade in a volatile market anyway. My current rule is if I cannot comfortably put in a reasonable stop I won’t trade at all.
     
    murray t turtle likes this.
  9. schizo

    schizo

    Exception being that you're trading during a liquidity crisis and the market is nosediving with the VIX going through the roof (circa 2008). In that case, having no stop loss will effectively blow up your account because price ain't coming back up for days, if not weeks.
     
    murray t turtle likes this.
  10. Tokenz

    Tokenz

    BUT....

    Having a stop loss will also drain your account in a volatile market, since there will be a lot of false triggers. Sometimes leaving you in a very bad position.

    With all the money you save in a volatile market on false triggers, you can afford to take a bigger loss. The bigger players also know where most retail stop losses are at and can use it against you.

    Instead of using stop losses I like to use the phone alert system that alerts me when a price has been triggered, this way I can judge whether to sell or buy, which is part of my strategy.
     
    #10     Oct 16, 2023
    murray t turtle likes this.