Quote:
Originally Posted by Peterw  Go for it, share your experiences. The only reason this thread descended into such a stupour is because someone with 0 experience started trying to give out very very bad advice whcih needed to be corrected for any newbies reading. |
I do not have "zero experience". 99% of all the money I ever earned was earned in finances and it was a considerable amount. This money was lost but for personal reasons, not the failure to use stop losses. My advice to
newbies is:
- Your positions should not be worth more than 2x your balance
- You shouldn't enter or exit these positions in a single trade
- You shouldn't trade against the carry
- You shouldn't sell at a loss, with or without a stop loss order
If a newbie follows these rules he will be better off than if he tries your approach. Those 4 reasons are the 4 biggest reasons traders fail. As you improve your understanding you can start to bend these rules because you can actually understand when it is appropriate to do so. There are times when you should reverse your trade (sell at a loss). But to make that decision based on a stop loss is retarded.