Very well put Donna ... I didn't get the chance to post a reply to white yesterday.
Quote from DonnaV:
white...if you are doing straight puts or calls I would tend to agree that you may want a stop loss in place since you are trading directionally the underlying equity or index. However vertical spreads, calendar spreads or other types of option "spreads" by definition have already "stops" built into them. If I do a bull call spread for instance I know exactly the max risk/reward I have going in. If you try to put a trailing stop or really any kind of stop loss you can easily get wipsawed out of your position. You are far better off letting the spread do its thing and only close when you have a pre-defined profit or if you feel situation has changed on the underlying and you were wrong to place the spread in the first place.
Ppl do have different "rules" they follow...but the main thing is consistency and patience in option spread trading.