My first stop loss took my entire account out. that's because I set no stop loss and saw an over 60% move south. Ever since then, I have learnt the hard way to always place a stop-loss, no matter how sure I am about the trade. It took a long time for me to realize the fact that to be a professional trader, you must learn to make the stop-loss your friend. why? because it's what will literally save your account. Learn to be sincere here, no one can say for sure what will happen to the markets. we can only make intelligent analyses and stick to the winning side. but for us to allow our greed to overtake us and not set a stop-loss will always keep our account in jeopardy. that is not the quality of a professional trader. My first stop loss, as i said, was horrible. Because of that, ever since then, I seldom set up a trade without my stop-loss. And, I'll be sincere, that style helped my account a lot.