What is stop-loss?Stop Loss
Automatically closes a position when price moves against you to a preset level, capping your maximum loss.
Animation · stop-loss
Learn “stop-loss” in an animated lesson
- CFDsGoing Long and Short with CFDs
Shorting a CFD is as easy as going long: if you're bearish, sell to open, and profit when the price falls.
- CFDsCFD Risks: Gaps and Slippage
One piece of weekend news, and on Monday the price opens straight past your stop. CFD risk doesn't only come from leverage.
- CFDsMargin Calls and Stop-Out
As the margin level keeps falling, you first get a margin call warning; go lower still and the platform closes your positions automatically.
- CFDsThree Cases: Leverage, Position Size and Risk
With the same $1,000 of margin, losses can differ by 2x; at the same leverage, a position 5 times bigger means losses 5 times bigger.
- Forex: Pending Orders & RiskSizing Your Position from the Stop
First decide the most you'll lose on this trade, then work back to the lot size from the stop distance. That's the heart of risk control.
- Forex: Pending Orders & RiskSell Stop: Selling the Breakdown
A sell order placed below the current price: it automatically sells when the price breaks down through support.
- Forex: Pending Orders & RiskStop-Loss (SL) and Take-Profit (TP)
Set your exit plan when you open the trade: where you admit you're wrong and where you take the win, measuring risk and reward in pips.
- Risk Management & Trading PsychologyPosition Sizing: Risk Only 1% per Trade
How much you buy isn't about how much is in your account; it's about where your stop is. Decide the most you'll lose first, then work back to the position size.
- Risk Management & Trading PsychologyWhere to Put Your Stop: ATR and Structure Stops
A stop that's too close gets swept by everyday noise; too far and your position gets tiny. Place the stop by volatility (ATR) or chart structure, then use position size to fix the risk at 1%.
- Stock Trading: Next StepsStop-Loss and Take-Profit
Decide in advance how much you'll lose before you get out and how much you'll take when you're up. Let discipline make the call.
- Technical Analysis: Candles & ChartsClassic Candlestick Patterns
Hammers, shooting stars, engulfing patterns, dojis, morning stars: the mood of buyers and sellers revealed by one candle or a few.
- Oscillators & MomentumDivergence
Price makes a new high but the indicator doesn't. Divergence is often an early warning that a trend is tiring, but it needs price to confirm.
- Indicators in Practice & BacktestingBacktesting a Moving Average Strategy
Test your rules against historical data: return, win rate and maximum drawdown, and you can't skip any of them.
- Indicators in Practice & BacktestingPosition Sizing and ATR Stops
Even the best signals lose sometimes. Deciding how much to lose per trade matters more than finding the perfect signal.
- Trend IndicatorsParabolic SAR
Dots below the price mean an uptrend, dots above mean a downtrend, and when the price crosses the dots, they flip.
- Volume & Volatility IndicatorsAverage True Range (ATR)
How much does a candle move on average? ATR doesn't judge direction, only volatility, and it's most often used to set stops.
Related terms
See how “stop-loss” works for yourself with an animation you can drag and play.
Go to “Going Long and Short with CFDs”