How effective is using stop loss?

As a newbie in trading, risk management is the main factor to understand first, before jumping into trading. Stop loss is the phase of risk management. Learning from experiences helps to achieve the goals.

I would never trade without stop loss, I’d rather not trade. I say this because not once but twice I’ve blown up my accounts with my money gone down to 0. Tsk tsk it can hurt so much :confused: even on a serious note, I think not using it is nothing short of a foolhardy attempt. Just my thought!

I suppose, what is critical is to know its right use, as in where should stop loss be used for effective profits. It shouldn’t work as a contradictory mechanism where a trade is exited at a false breakout. And that’s where my concern lies.

If you play without a defence in the premier league you will have a few big wins but by the close of the season will likely be relegated to the lower league.

Having no stop loss is the trading equivalent.

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If you are just scalping, your position wont be closed

That is my reason, I am glad someone mentioned it. More than once it happened that market went below support price and with the drop sl would activate and my position would get closed. Immediately I saw prices soaring high and I have been left feeling like kicking myself or the computer. Why use stop loss when you are sitting in front of your computer?

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Don’t place your stops too tight and you will be alright.

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Yes imagine moving away from your screen for a few minutes and coming back to a 0 balance account!

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Without clear understanding of stop loss one should not even begin to start trading. It is one of the most important aspects of risk management and without properly knowing when and how to use stop loss nobody should step foot in the market. Had it not been for stop loss and nbp I would have been owing money to 3 brokers as of now, Fxview, XM, Pepperstone. And that’s not a good place to be

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So if there is NBP provided by these brokers then why put SL when trading with them.

The problem you refer to is not the problem of having a stop-loss, its the problem of having a stop;-loss in the wrong place.

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I’ve seen random internet people write stuff like that, but it’s contradictory to itself. Why would an experienced trader say such nonsense?

One of the pillars of being a profitable FOREX trader is risk management, without it you can’t really make any profits in the long run. So how exactly implementing a no SL strategy can achieve this is simply baffling to me.

I mean, sue - if you are glued to your charts all day long, and want to manually do that emotionally wrecking process of exiting when you are in minus, then i guess it could work. But, no one is monitoring 24/7 and rare are those can automatically accept their loss by cutting down 5% of your account.

One of the reasons i like the SL (besides risk & money management) is, it just makes the entire process so much easier. If i get hit, well, fine…but if I had to exit the trade manually…boy that would suck…the entire time i would just be hoping that it will turnaround…and that’s how you blow accounts.

Hope this helps…never trade without a SL

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As a matter of fact as per ESMA regulations all the brokers registered with it (not just fxview, xm) are by law supposed to provide negative balance protection. That has nothing to do with stop loss!

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This has been discussed way too many times before I don't use stop losses, do you?

I am actually getting convinced that trading without stop loss is nothing short of foolish. My whole point here was to know what experienced traders think and I believe it’s pretty clear now what maximum of you think.

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I strongly believe in using a stop loss. Mental sl can be something that only expert traders can practice, for rest of us, conventional stop loss is the best way of avoiding losing all our capital.

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Honestly I hate using them but haven’t found any way around them, are a must.

Has anyone ever experienced being thrown out of the market before your stop loss level is hit? Happened with me with Fxview.

Yes, when my combined margin used on other positions (and pending orders) has exceeded the free margin available. At that point the firm closes positions, starting with the oldest first, until enough margin is freed up.

Stop loss should always be outside support and resistance.