Quoting DarkstarDislikedWell, in all fairness I frequently lose 10-30% on a failed trade so that doesn't bother me. I technically have a catastrophic stop too, its called a margin call at 50% loss. What makes it work for me is that a winner nets 30-100% and the wins are far more common then the losses. It's not how most people trade, but I'm ok with that...
I guess it really depends on why your taking the trades you are. If your taking them because of a chart formation or an indicator then by all means you should use a stop incase the formation doesn't pay off. My reasons for taking trades have very little to do with the chart so a stoploss is an arbitrary guess as to how things will play out.
A good part of why this works is because I don't take any random trade. If I don't know exactly what’s going on I hold off until I do. Risking 50% of my account keeps me from gambling on possible winners.
The point I was trying to make was that if your not supremely confident in the trade, you probably shouldn't be taking it. Trading without a stoploss is a testament to how much you really believe in your analysis. If you don't believe in it enough or can't accurately determine what your risking, then maybe you should consider that your analysis needs to be improved. A stoploss in the manner that it is deployed by most is simply a crutch for bad analysis.
PS- I say you, but I don't really me you, just anyone in particular that happens to read this...Ignored
Generally speaking, most should be risking only 1%-2% which would (hopefully) keep them in the game long enough to learn something. I think its important that most understand this and therefore you are the exception to the rule rather than the model of it.
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