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gawdib
2nd January 2004, 07:05 AM
I AM VERY CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT A "INITIAL STOP" IS. i DID A SEARCH IN THE MANUAL, BUT COULD NOT FIND ONE defined.

ON PAGE 51-3 , THERE IS AN EXAMPLE, BUT I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THE EXAMPLE OF (CLOSE-ARC*ATR(PERIOD)) RELATES TO THE PRICE THAT I BEGIN A TRADE WITH (THE TRADE WAS INITIATED BY AN ENTRY TRIGGER MODIFIED BY SLIPPAGE AND MANY OTHER VARIALES). i MAY HAVE ENDED UP IN THE TRADE AT THE OPEN PRICE THE NEXT DAY, ETC. for example, I am hopping to getting in to IBM at 100, and it opens at 101, i buy at 102 and it closes at 1o3. If i use the example given, then, i am ale to say my plan is to lose nomorethan 2* atrs in dollars per share of stock.
In plain English, does this initial stop mean one of many things. and one of these is the amount that ones chooses to be the greatest loss to the money i am putting into a trade..same as the metastock one..a maximum loss stop; However, there are other things implied in the manual that i cannot get a grasp on as to how they are integrated with one another.
THE MANUAL MAKES THE IMPLICATION THAT THIS INITIAL STOP MAY HAVE NO STOP PURPOSE, WHICH FURTHER CONFUSES ME, ABOUT WHY IT WOULD BE CALLED A STOP.

i cannot follow why page 53 refers to using the initial stop to do no stopping but instead to "size trades". Then there is mentioned ussing this initial stop for a pr0tective stop. 'are there other uses too for th e initial stop? trailing stops?

Finally, does one have to put dupllicate numerical values for the initial stop in the place above the records trades section, or below or both?

Thanks very much for your help. Regards, geoffrey

David Samborsky
3rd January 2004, 07:33 AM
On the top of page 53 of the user manual it explicitly states the following.

"Using the Initial Stop as a Protective (Money Management) Stop."

THE MANUAL MAKES THE IMPLICATION THAT THIS INITIAL STOP MAY HAVE NO STOP PURPOSE, WHICH FURTHER CONFUSES ME, ABOUT WHY IT WOULD BE CALLED A STOP.

Correct! You may only want to use the InitialStop to size trades without containing risk in which case you should not enable protective stops. If this is the case your ExitTrigger will be the only mechanism that takes you out of a trade. The flexibility is available to do what you want with it.

Maybe it should have called something different to avoid confusion but the manual points out clearly how to use it.