suggestion to both you guys.. It has some draw backs, But doing either an ATM credit spread or a debit spread will give you defined risk. If you go out 30 days or so you have some time and some reaction to a good directional move. Down sides are if it impulsively ramps to our target you may only make 20-30% and or you time out of some of the trades as 30 days isnt enough time.

Mike – you are not the only one with that challenge … myself also; too wide a stop and get creamed when it continues going against you, or too narrow a stop, and get creamed only to see it reverse shortly after. I find stop placements one of the most challenging aspects of trading. Randy often suggests setting stops 1/3 of distance to target; so a 1/3 loss of potential profit. This has sort of being working for me; but depends on if entry is right. Randy often gets positioned in to a trade well before i can, so his 1/3 stop position is often better than mine. Therefore, sometimes i have to take a 1/2 of profit target as the stop loss position without being whipped out.