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What is Stop Loss?

Updated October 17, 2026

A stop loss is an order that closes your trade automatically at a set price to cap your loss.

A stop loss is your safety net. You decide ahead of time how much you're willing to lose and the platform handles it.

Without one, a single bad move can drain your account while you sleep.

Every decent trading bot or managed account should use stops. If one doesn't, that's a big red flag.

Example

You buy EURUSD at 1.0850 and set a stop loss at 1.0820, so the most you lose is about 30 pips.

Questions people ask

Where should I put my stop loss?

Somewhere that proves your idea wrong, like below support, not just a random number.

Can my stop loss fail?

It can slip in big gaps or news spikes, so it limits risk but isn't perfect.

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