The risk of gaps when trading stocks

I don't know if this is supposed to be strictly about fx, but I had a question about stocks.

I'm on demo now, and I'm risking 1.5% of my 10,000 account, but if you guys have seen NFLX today, it gapped 60+ points higher.

How do people sleep at night when their positions are subject to such severe moves. Such a move would wipe me out, and I'm noticing a lot of gaps recently on these charts.

Stop orders only get filled at the opening of the gap, yes?. Is there no other way to protect against gap risk?

That moment when you make a stock thread on a forex forum.

[quote=big_pipin;8210216]I don't know if this is supposed to be strictly about fx, but I had a question about stocks. I'm on demo now, and I'm risking 1.5% of my 10,000 account, but if you guys have seen NFLX today, it gapped 60+ points higher. How do people sleep at night when their positions are subject to such severe moves. Such a move would wipe me out, and I'm noticing a lot of gaps recently on these charts. Stop orders only get filled at the opening of the gap, yes?. Is there no other way to protect against gap risk?[/quote]

Nothing you can do to protect against gaps & they happen very often. You can do a little trading in premarket with liquid stocks but still won't protect against "news" events. If you want a better protection from high risk use options. Much less risk & less capital required.
I've been holding option positions 365 days a year for several years & I pay no attention to gaps though I mostly trade commodities & hold for longer periods so a 1 day move isn't significant.

thx srt.

As SRT mentioned above...Options is a better way of trading, or you can just use your own money with no leverage whatsoever and be more of a long-term trader; this way intraday gaps won't freak you out.