Thursday, July 23, 2009

Types of Stop Loss Orders

By Ahmad Hassam

If a trader is to maintain a degree of profitability over time, managing risk and using systems that helps evaluate price changes is critical. You should understand how to select stop orders to limit your potential losses and how to let profits ride.

Managing risk should be your number one job and capturing as much profit as possible from winning trades should be your utmost goal. The descriptions of the types of stops and the pros and cons of each should help you make the right decisions for the different market conditions.

You should know the various types of stop loss orders and where and when to place them. Predetermined stop loss orders help you conquer your emotions. Stops should be part of the trading system and included in your trading rules.

Set a stop objective and weigh the risk/reward ratio before entering each trade. When volatility is low, stop orders can be placed close to the entry level. However, when the volatility is high, stop orders should be placed further from the entry level.

When entering a trade make sure you know where and why to put the stop order. Initially you will form an opinion based on your gut feelings that is substantiated by a trade signal.

However, you will undoubtedly get caught in the news driven price shock events that make the markets highly unpredictable in the short run. These news releases cause price spikes that may make an adverse move against your position.

Stop orders are placed to protect against losses. These orders can also be placed to enter positions. Stop orders that you place online if the market trades at a certain price, then the order is triggered and become a market order to be filled in by the next best price available.

Sell stops are placed below the current market price and buy stops are placed above the current market price. Protective stops are used to offset a position and to protect against losses and against accrued profits.

You can set a daily dollar amount on the loss limit. If you want to risk only $250 per $100,000 standard lot position then your stop loss will be placed 25 pips from your entry point. Stops can be placed on a dollar amount per position.

Traders use 2-5% of the overall account size as their stop loss. Suppose your trading account size is $10,000. You can also use a certain percent of your overall account size as your stop loss. This comes out to be $200-$500.

Swing traders can use the automatic trailing stop. Many traders tend to turn winners into losers as they get in the let it ride mindset. The trailing stop reduces the chance to let trades ride. This makes the decision making process fully automated.

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