[The Bear]

Originally Posted by GCB »

OSO bracket orders are almost always the way to go. But the method you describe seems next best. Strictly speaking, however, you could still get caught short. Before you enter your matching order your computer could lock. The market could then reverse, hit your stop, then reverse again, and the nightmare scenario is still possible, however less likely.

True that GCB, that happened to me before. I tried to enter the stop before my entry, but the stop got hit somehow, then I got in panic mode when i'm stuck in an unexpected position. I've been in un-wanted positions maybe 3-5 times, and lost only $490.00 (oil) at the most...it could have been way worse, I sent a limit order by accident. The worst thing to do is to panic, even though it's probably humanly possible to not. I immediately needed to find out if it was long or short. Once I had the info, I didn't even look at my charts and I hit the market order....I didn't care if I could get price improvement or not...I just wanted out. It was very nerve racking.

Another time same scenario I made a $160.00 gain by fluke from just hitting that market order button again to immediately get out, not even looking at the charts.

The thing I hate is this feeling I get in my stomach and my heart races. It's a horrible situation.

I couldn't imagine trading without hard stops.