Daytraders After Market Lounge 19th May

Originally posted by JPMax ↑

Yes I have done just that a couple of times now. I think I need a tattoo on my forehead so I see it everyday. Lol. Anyway I'm with BOQ trading and I haven't been able to find their stop loss function on line. I don't know what you mean by hard or soft stop losses. They have conditional orders but it seems to be only price indicative rather than percentage. My gut told me to set them but oh no I knew better. I think even if it is a phone call away it would be worth it. I was out of range on my last opportunity so didn't know it was spiking and tanking till I would come back into range but no time to throw the sells in or monitor, research the movements before being out of range again , as we were travelling. Oh dear and ouch is all I can say. Now holding losses and only really have myself to blame. As they say the best lessons are the ones where you lose. I hate learning !!!! Someone posted a wonderful saying. It went something like this. Experience is the hardest as you only learn after the mistake. However learning before a mistake can prevent it from occurring. Very different to what they posted I know but the same gist. Anyway now not trying to get profit but pull back losses. Similar I suppose as A loss recouped is like a profit made in a way, especially when you are down. Thanks heaps gga and we will make a pact from this day forward to never get enamoured with a stock again. It's business so don't take it personally mr stock ok!!! Take care gga. Good luck and thanks again for sharing and caring!!

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Oh sorry:
'hard' means firm stoploss orders placed into the market (ie. with your broker), once the criteria is hit, that's it, the transaction's going through, out of your hands;
'soft' means a 'mental' stoploss that you need to remind yourself of ie. what I do now (increasingly to my detriment, as I increasingly ignore my own exit strategy), ostensibly to stop any 'flash crash' or 'tree-shake' from booting me out of the trade. You can either do that with that Tradestop (or similar) service, or set an alert on your smartphone broker app. [because I'm Captain Caveman and still have my dumbphone, I use an SMS service with my broker to alert me]

Take a squiz at the 2nd paragraph of my post here http://hotcopper.com.au/threads/elo...2514635/page-25?post_id=15311428#.VVsxSpPDHfA and more importantly, at the chart I linked - had I not been kicked out of the trade by a hard stoploss, I'd have missed out on a 2373% gain. Coincidentally, in that book I was discussing with Suzanne, there's an apocryphal tale of a young trader being taught to have a bunch of $100 bills on his desk, and for every pip down that he didn't sell, he was to burn a $100 note with the lighter and watch it go up in flames (still not as drastic as tattooing on one's forehead!). I would suggest you buy a portion of VAR tomorrow, place a rubber band (or two or three) around your wrist, and for every cent down that you don't sell from your exit strategy, pull back HARD on the rubber band(s) and let fly! - I'm kidding! I'm kidding!

"...seems to be only price indicative rather than percentage"? Yeesh, no good. I've been procrastinating for far too many years on getting an Interactive Brokers account with their 'almost every scenario' orders https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=4985#conditional but to not even have % seems too basic. I don't use them (% stops) myself but I know Etrade definitely has % stops.

Oh dear, if you are going to be out of range, I would definitely recommend a hard stop!

"Thanks heaps gga and we will make a pact from this day forward to never get enamoured with a stock again. It's business so don't take it personally mr stock ok!!!"
Will do! Pinky swear! Hence my annotated Signature line from a few days ago.

PS. Learning from your own mistakes is admirable but much better is OP♦ ⇒ OPT (Other People's Time) OPM (Other People's Money (which is what banks do with our deposits), also Other People's Mistakes (which is what I've been doing with my warts n' all posts. Don't be me, me iz stoopid!)

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PPS. 11.23pm now. Ticky Fullerton and MOtley Fool staffer talking about the collapse of BBY on ABC now