How do YOU decide where to place YOUR Stop?

[padutrader]

you have to go with your experience

after the market hit my stop a number of times BUT went no further and then went in my direction
i have started to place my stop two ranges or bars away....if the market hits the point i used to place the stop, then i usually add a position, quite contrary to what the conventional wisdom says that do not add on to a losing position.
i have understood that placing tight stops means you should have the capability to consistently sell the high or buy the low.....
A lot of experts advocate tight stops to reduce risk but in that case you may have to re enter 3-4 times something not every body is capable psychologically to do.
however, in the long term the losses you bear are the same...because a tight stop gets hit more often but a wide stop get hits less often but you lose a lot more

as an example see chart: i bought at blue arrow,the natural place is the yellow arrow but after my experience i place at the red arrow

 

[GrowleyMonster]

you have to go with your experience

after the market hit my stop a number of times BUT went no further and then went in my direction
i have started to place my stop two ranges or bars away....if the market hits the point i used to place the stop, then i usually add a position, quite contrary to what the conventional wisdom says that do not add on to a losing position.
i have understood that placing tight stops means you should have the capability to consistently sell the high or buy the low.....
A lot of experts advocate tight stops to reduce risk but in that case you may have to re enter 3-4 times something not every body is capable psychologically to do.
however, in the long term the losses you bear are the same...because a tight stop gets hit more often but a wide stop get hits less often but you lose a lot more

as an example see chart: i bought at blue arrow,the natural place is the yellow arrow but after my experience i place at the red arrow

View attachment 200118

In this regard, do you think stocks and currency work about the same? IOW if you were daytrading stocks, would you do it the same way?

I can definitely see adding to a losing position, but only after tick in the desired direction and with some obvious catalyst, and all logic pointing to the wisdom of the decision to add. I can't imagine adding before it broke back to the good side, otherwise. But again you have given me something to think about.

 

[padutrader]

IOW if you were daytrading stocks, would you do it the same way?

as far as stop placement is concerned yes

but i would trade only in the most liquid of stocks.

but there is one problem with all stocks: they trade only for 5-6 hours and then open with gaps...

forex market's 'day' is 120 hours long.

 

[padutrader]

But again you have given me something to think about.

never think too hard...you will always find good reasons to do something stupid nay absurd.

but if it suggests itself to you often, then take the suggestion.

in my case it used to hit the stop and then take off in my direction, without even going one tick past my stop

averaging should only be done if you are 100% sure of the direction

it is not a horrible thing to do because remember no one can buy the low or sell the high....

but only the experience should even think of doing it and only if there is some experience that screams that you should do it.

in my case my stop was hit and market did not go one tick further too many times....some stocks and currencies, stop run, more than others...

 

[padutrader]

i do not place stops to control risk or have a given risk reward ratio since i am always eventually right about market movements.

the problem is one time i was wrong and my account would be blown...this has happened 10s of time in my ten years of day trading so now i put a wide stop to save my account rather think about traders equation

 

[fibo_trader]

i do not place stops to control risk or have a given risk reward ratio since i am always eventually right about market movements.

the problem is one time i was wrong and my account would be blown...this has happened 10s of time in my ten years of day trading so now i put a wide stop to save my account rather think about traders equation

Where did you place your stop on date with Angelina Jolie?

 

[GrowleyMonster]

My GF would make me put my stop at third base, I think. Just so she could say she managed to snag a man so picky that he wouldn't boink Angelina Jolie but could have.

 

[padutrader]

Where did you place your stop on date with Angelina Jolie?

about 62 years..which is my age now.

 

[fibo_trader]

about 62 years..which is my age now.

Excellent choice. You are a lucky man this year, make the best of it. Your age, 62 is sooooooooo close to the Golden Ratio, 61.8

If you are single/divorced/married but dyin to dip it elsewhere, and there is a young antelope you want to bring down, go for it now, the power of the golden ratio is in your corner.

 

[fibo_trader]

about 62 years..which is my age now.

At a golden ratio derivative, 23.6 years old at a girls' basketball game I brought down this basketball girl, went straight into the locker room and asked her out. There was no way she could turn me down with GR halo around me. She didn't hesitate.

Then ..........


She's fashionably lean and she's fashionably late
She'll never wreck a scene, she'll never break a date
But she's no drag just watch the way she walks
Cause she's a 20th century fox


She's the queen of cool and she's the lady who waits
Since her mind left school, it never hesitates
She won't waste time on elementary talk