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Non-Tech : Littlefield Corporation (LTFD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: WallStBum who wrote (6019)	12/26/1997 2:35:00 PM
From: Dale Baker	Respond to of 10368

Yes, trailing stops can get plucked by a good MM. On the other hand, if I tallied up all the stops I set this year which tripped and compared it to where those stocks are today, I can guarantee you they were "right" more often than not. Stops are a way of protecting yourself against your own "better judgment", i.e. your belief that you can outguess the market and the trend sitting there before your eyes just HAS to turn around soon. I could have saved myself $15-20K this year if I had set firm stops and stuck to them. Maybe more. So the risk you take is an eager MM plucking your stop then running the stock up again. Boo hoo, you could have made more money. But in the long run, they will probably save you money. An example: I shorted DDIM the other day after months of trying to get shares. Made a point and a half in one day, then set a stop 5/8 under my entry point. DDIM recovered today and my stop tripped. Maybe I should have sold yesterday but I wanted more profit. Maybe today's runup was false and it will drop again tomorrow. Who knows? I know that I banked a small profit and protected myself against a further surge if the market opens way up on Monday morning. You don't get poorer taking profits. Maybe not as rich, but never poorer. So the MM's will see my stop on their books and pluck it if they can. Fine. Then I'll watch the TA and buy in again when the situation looks ripe. Point is, don't feel welded to a stock just because you like it. Careful trading and low commissions may work out better in what is likely to be a very choppy, uneven market in the coming year. Just one viewpoint. I'll be raising my BNGO stop tomorrow and hopefully every day after that as it goes up. And one word of caution. If BNGO moves up too fast, momentum players will jump on and shorters will slice us off at the knees again. Be prepared for a rough ride. Happy Holidays to all.