regarding the previous post about stop levels on some of the active trades: first and most importantly, every trader needs to determine what stop level to use on their trades as everyone has different trading styles and risk tolerances. my own personal preference is to normally to use stops based on a candlestick close above that stop level on shorts, below on longs, that is commensurate with the time frame of the chart that trade is based off of. e.g.- if i go long a stock off a move down to a weekly horizontal support level, then i might stop out on a close below that level on friday of the week (final day of the weekly candlestick). on a 60 min chart, i’d want to see a close of the 60 min stick to trigger the stop. again, every trader must decide how and when to place their stops. for those that don’t trade full-time, then you don’t have the luxury of using those discretionary stops like i do. you must then chose an appropriate stop-loss level, enter the trade and walk-away since you won’t be in front of the computer to manually stop out of the trade based on the candlestick close (unless some trading platforms offer this).
however, i’d say that the majority of traders, and to a large extent my self included, are swing traders who most often base trades off the daily charts. if that is the case, then a quick look at your positions 5 -10 minutes before the market closes to determine if you stop parameter has been triggered should give you plenty of time to exit the position. remember, you can always re-enter the position if your exit proved to be premature in hindsight, as market makers will often run stocks below (and above) certain key technical levels to “run the stops” just before the stock makes a powerful move in the other direction. unfortunately that is just part of the game but remember: for every trade that you get your stops clipped out of just before it makes a nice run in the direction that you thought it would, there are a lot more trades that you were stopped out of that would have went on to become much bigger losers had you not had the discipline to stick with your plan and keep your stops in place.