Quote from mhashe:
Stops are very expensive insurance policies where premium is paid out only when the event that the policy was written for occurs. In this case the event did not trigger, hence the premium was not paid. I've learned for my trading system, it's cheaper to use discretionary stops and actually *wait* till the price bar closes *above* my stop before paying out. Also I set my stops far away enough, otherwise, in the long run, all I'm going to be doing is paying insurance premium instead of cashing in on the trade. I use hard stops overnight (when not trading other overnight markets) or when I feel the market is moving too fast. This year I plan to learn more about options so I can hedge my trades with options and completely eliminate stops. That way I can initiate larger swing positions without worrying about the midnight B.S. or random price spikes caused by scared money.
Exited 2/3 of the posted position @ average 10923. Ave. -18.