A stop loss order helps control risk. It gets us out of a trade at a predetermined price or loss amount. A stop loss is actually a “stop” order, which has multiple functions. Most forex brokers call the order a stop loss, which means we just need to input the price we want to get out at if it goes against us.
A stop loss can be mental or physically placed. An example of a mental stop loss is a trader buying the EURUSD at 1.1250 and saying they will get out if the price drops to 1.1225. They are risking 25 pips, but when the price reaches 1.1225 they’ll need to manually exit since an order hasn’t been placed to do this for them.
Mental stop losses are typically used byday traderswho can watch their screens in case the stop loss price is reached, or by long-term traders who can monitor their charts every once in a while and still have time to see when the price is creeping up on their stop loss level.
An example of a physical stop loss is when a trader places an actual offsetting order at the stop loss price. For example, if a trader shorted the AUDUSD at 0.7530 and placed a stop loss at 0.76, the trader is risking 70 pips. If the offer/ask price reaches 0.76 the stop loss will be executed, buying the AUDUSD to close out the short position.
When you place a new order in most forex trading platforms, it will ask you for a stop loss. You can type in the price you want your stop loss to be placed at. Some let you do it in pips, others require a price.
A stop loss in pips is when you input how pips away from the entry you want the stop loss to be. If you input 50 pips, that means the stop loss will go 50 pips away from the entry. If you input a price, the stop loss will go at that exact price.
To Use or Not Use a Stop Loss
Every successful trader knows where they will get out if a trade goes against them. They plan every tradebeforegetting into it.
Therefore, using a stop loss isn’t really a question. As traders, we need to control our risk and losses, especially when using the kind ofleveragethat is available to forex traders.
We need to use stop losses, the only question is whether it will be mental or physical.
If you won’t be watching your screen when your stop loss could potentially be hit, then you should place a physical order. Even if you can watch your screen all day, physically placing stop loss orders is still recommended.
Some traders are scared that if they place a stop loss with a broker the broker will screw them by moving the price to the stop loss level causing a loss. This does happen, but it is no conspiracy. Had your order not been there, the price would have done the same thing. Getting stopped out is just part of trading. It happens to the best tradersoften 50% or more of the time…and yet the good traders still make good money even with placing stop losses and having them get hit often.
I don’t know of a single consistently profitable trader who doesn’t manage their risk and losses. They all use stop losses.
If you’re getting stopped out too much, your strategy needs work. The stop loss itself isn’t the problem. Some strategies win 20% of the time, others win 73% of the time, and others 55%. All can be profitable. The point is that every trader will take losses/have their stop loss hit…a lot.
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Market or Limit Order Stop Loss
In the forex market, most retail brokers only offermarket orderstop losses. That means when the stop loss price is reached, an order is sent to get you out at the best available price at that time.
A market order assures you get out, but sometimes the exit price won’t be exactly the same as the stop loss price you set because markets can move very quickly or gap (no trading occurs between one price and another). This is called slippage. It is common, should be expected in small amounts quite often, and is a cost of trading. A solid trading strategy should factor in slippage and still be profitable.
While stop loss limit orders are less common in the forex retail setting, a limit order means the stop loss will only fill if the price available at the time of the order is within a specific band. For example, if you buy the EURUSD at 1.1175 and place a stop loss limit order with a trigger at 1.1150 and a limit of 1.1145, that means that once the price hits 1.1150 a sell order is sent out. It only fills between 1.1150 and 1.1145, whereas a stop loss market fills at ANY available price.
The limit order controls the exit price with more precision but also means the trade isn’t exited if the price band specified is unavailable. Assume that anews eventoccurs when the price is trading at 1.1160. The moment after the news event the next bid price is 1.1130. A market order will sell at 1.1130. A limit order will keep you in the trade because the price isn’t between the 1.1150 and 1.1145 sell points. If the price keeps dropping the position’s loss increases. The market stop order incurred slippage (a 20 pip additional and unexpected loss), but at least the position is closed and not facing larger and larger potential losses.
Where to Place a Stop Loss
Simply put, a stop loss should be placed where a strategy dictates.See the Double Pump day trading forex strategy as an example.
Every forex trade taken should be based on a well-thought-out and tested strategy.
My guess though, if you’re reading this, is that you’re working on building a strategy. Therefore, I’ll provide a few ideas on where to place a stop loss. Keep in mind that where the stop loss is placed goes hand in hand with your entry technique. Therefore, I’ll also provide a couple of entry ideas as well. This will hopefully get you on your way to generating your own strategies.
Trend Trading Stop Loss Example
Here is an example of how a stop loss could be used when there is a trend in effect. The price has pulled back and is forming a consolidation. A consolidation is where the price moves sideways for at least a few price bars. A trade could then be entered IF the price breaks out of the consolidation in the overall trending direction.
A stop loss is then placed slightly below the consolidation low. Since the price has already started to move higher out of the consolidation, we aren’t expecting the price to drop back below the consolidation. If it does, we want to get out since our premise for the trade has been invalidated.
The following EURUSD daily chart shows an example of this.
Charts fromTradingView.
Here is another example of stop loss placement based on a EURUSD Session High Low Strategy. The price consolidates in an area we are interested in for a trade, and then the price breaks out of the consolidation triggering a trade. A stop loss is placed on the other side of the consolidation.
As you can see, I like to use breakouts from consolidations to trigger my entries, and then my stop loss can go on the other side of the consolidation assuming all the other parameters of my strategy are also present (otherwise, no trade).
If you go long you could also tuck your stop loss below a recent swing low, or below a candlestick pattern you like. If going short, you could put your stop loss just above a swing high or above a candlestick pattern.
Here’s another example of placing stop losses during an uptrend. The EURUSD is rallying higher, then pulling back and forming a bullish engulfing pattern (where an up candle engulfs the prior down candle). IF using a bullish engulfing pattern in this context for an entry, a stop loss could be placed just below the low of the bullish candlestick pattern.
Placing Stop Loss Orders Quickly While Day Trading
Day traders don’t have a lot of time to be placing orders. My day trades often only last a few minutes.
To automatically place a stop loss (and profit target) when day trading in MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5,
right-click on the chart and select “Depth of Market”.
This will produce the window on the right. At the bottom of the window, you can input your position size, in standard lots.
10 is 10 standard lots.
1 is 1 standard lot.
0.1 is a mini lot.
0.01 is a micro lot.
0.67 is 6.7 mini lots.
In the SL field, put your stop loss in fractional pips.
20 means 2 pips.
100 is 10 pips.
The same goes for the target.
50 is 5 pips.
500 is 50 pips.
When you click buy or sell (sends out a market order), a stop loss and target will automatically be sent out. When day trading, you just need to click or buy or sell, make sure your SL, target, and position size are correct, and the rest is done for you.
If your orders appear on your chart (Tools, Options, Charts, Show orders), you can click on your stop loss or target and drag them around to different prices.
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Average True Range Stop Loss Example
Another method you can use is to place a stop loss at some multiple of volatility. A common volatility measurement tool is Average True Range (ATR). It’s an indicator available on most charting platforms.
Use the ATR reading for the time frame you are trading. For example, if you are day trading the USDJPY on a 5-minute chart and the ATR is 0.08, that means the price is moving about 8 pips (from high to low) every 5-minutes.
If you are swing trading the daily EURUSD chart and the reading is 0.0045, that means the price is moving about 45 pips per day, on average.
Let’s say you are taking a short position in the EURUSD at 1.1525. You could place a stop loss 45 pips above, which is 1xATR (based on the example above). Alternatively, you could place a stop loss at 1.5xATR which is 67.5 pips. Or you could give the trade more room by using 2xATR resulting in a 90 pips stop loss.
What multiple of ATR you use will vary depending on how long you want to be in the trade and your expected profit potential. For example, if you use a 2xATR as your stop loss, your expected profit should be greater than 2xATR.This way, your profit (if you win) will be bigger than your loss (if you lose). This is called reward:risk, and is a cornerstone of successful trading.
The ATR stop loss method is nice because it adjusts to volatility; ATR gets bigger when the price is moving lots and gets smaller when the price isn’t moving much. ATR changes over time.
Once you place an ATR stop loss stick with it. Don’t expand it if volatility expands.For example, if you go long the GBPUSD at 1.3025 and you opt for a 1xATR stop loss (assume ATR is 100 pips). Then the stop loss goes at 1.2925, 100 pips below the entry. It stays there, or only moves up, never down. If a few days later the ATR is 110 pips, the stop loss is not dropped to 1.2915 (exposing the trader to an additional 10 pips of risk).
The ATR multiple method can also be used as a trailing stop loss. As the price moves in your favor, the stop loss trails it by the ATR and multiple at the time of the trade. In the example above, the stop loss is continually moved higher as the price moves higher, trailing the highest point in price by 100 pips. If the price reaches 1.3200, for example, the stop loss would be moved up to 1.31. This locks in profit (75 pips so far) as the price moves favorably, but gets the trader out if the price starts moving too much against them.
An ATR trailing stop loss indicator could be used to aid in this. Here is an example of one on TradingView called ATR Stops (type “Average True Range Stops” to find it in the Indicators) set to a 1 ATR multiplier (and 7-period ATR) on the EURUSD daily chart.
With this indicator, when the price is rising the indicator is below the price. When the price reverses more than ATR and closes below the line the indicator flips on top. Exit signals could be taken when the price touches the line or some other variation. No matter how the indicator is used (and it certainly doesn’t need to be, it is just an optional tool), a stop loss should be set to control risk.
Note: The indicator is based on current ATR values, not the ATR value at the time you take a trade (it doesn’t know when you take trades).
Also, check out the “aggressive trailing stop loss” method for an alternative trailing stop loss technique.
Final Word on Stop Losses
There are many different tactics for implementing stop losses. The point is to use them. They help control risk, but they can’t control it entirely. Even if a stop loss is placed there is no guarantee that we will be able to get out at the price we specify.
Getting a different price than expected is called slippage. Small amounts of slippage are common, but big slippage can occur around major news events or in illiquid market conditions. This can be mostly avoided by closing out positionsprior to major news eventswhen the price is close to the stop loss. While slippage isn’t fun when it does occur, it is part of trading. It is better than not using stop losses and facing mounting losses on every trade.
MyEURUSD Day Trading Courseguides you through trading a few common patterns that tend to occur multiple times per day, providing loads of opportunities to capitalize.
By Cory Mitchell, CMT.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this article is personal investment advice, or advice to buy or sell anything. Trading is risky and can result in substantial losses, even more than deposited if using leverage.
