So might be a bit of a noob question but Im wondering - whats the purpose of placing a buy or sell order in advance? (or a sell order).

For example: the price is at say $14. You place a sell order @ $14.50. But why do this if you think maybe the price is going to jump to $15? This will only mean you have to buy back at a higher price if the price doesnt fall back below $14.50 right? Why not hold your $$ and wait for the price to hit $15, then sell when you get an indicator is going to drop again?? IMO it could go higher = more profit when you sell??

I'm wondering if the reasoning here is that the price may go to $15 but will then fall back to say $14.30 (at least temporarily) so you can then buy back @ $14.30 and watch the price jump back to $15 - is this the logic behind this?

Same with placing a buy order below the current price. Why not buy at the current price if you think the price is going to go up?

Cheers