Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Your Worst Trading Enemy.. You -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Felix who wrote (52)	1/17/2001 6:52:35 AM
From: shawnwolff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 223

Re: Going back over your records I know someone who had a problem keeping stops, and was skeptical whether or not stops would have really helped them. There are so often times when hindsight says, jeez.. I wish I hadn't have stopped out, I wound up selling at the low.. So they went back over their records and figured where their portfolio would be now if they had kept appropriate stops for each trade. Amazing discoveries can be made from analyzing our journals. We have to remember that all we have to go on is the present. We have to analyze the situation as we see it at the time. We can not let hindsight influence future trades, because for every time one comes back, another one won't. - Shawn

To: Steve Felix who wrote (52)	1/17/2001 10:56:00 AM
From: Fun-da-Mental#1	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 223

"small positions in $3 to $5 stocks" - yes, that's a case where stops may do more harm than good. Even more so for penny stocks. Because those stocks tend to drift down slowly and then suddenly spike up, it's hard to set a stop that won't be taken out. You can set it really low, get stopped out at a big loss, and then next thing you know the stock has doubled or more. This is not just a worst-case scenario, it's fairly normal. In these cases it may be better to set a limit order rather than a stop, and wait for it to be taken out. Or you could set a stop and a limit, but then it's pretty random which gets taken out first. Fun-da-Mental