A 'stop loss' order is, electronically, a de facto stop-limit order. You are specifying an action to take (buy or sell), the triggering price, the quantity, and a variable range which you can (and indeed should) specify for which the order is to be filled.
So, if I'm long 1 futures contract at 10, and my own personal 'stop-loss' level for that trade is 3, then I can set a SL Sell order at 3 for a quantity of one with a payup tic range of 2 tics. So, if the price 3 prints, then I will sell that one-lot at the best bid down to the price of 1 if necessary. If I miss those prices completely, then USUALLY there is a resting sell order for my one-lot at 1 (missed SL order composition depends on the exchange). If it's a really thin market by nature, you will want to specify a wider SL execution payup tic limit.