fully agreed, stop loss is a good defensive tool. but it could also be a damper of your profits too, which makes it a poor tool. sometimes the market may move just below your stop loss and start moving up again. if u have put a stop loss then your trade will close at that point where as if u have not put a stop loss u stand a chance to earn profit instead of a loss or end up with a lesser loss. there are pro's and con's to having a stop loss so one must calculate the range of the market and apply stop loss carefully if one must.