My first newb mistake....

[adolume]

I bought 100 shares of CNXT at 1.85 a few weeks back based on a Cramer recommendation. I figured this would be a good cheap stock to start with, since I'm fairly new to trading stocks.
After watching it do nothing for weeks it finally started moving today. I currently trade with Scottrade which charges a $7 commission to buy and sell, so I figured the stock would have to go to at least 1.99 to really break even. After watching the stock go to 1.99 I tried to put in what I thought was a limit order to protect any profit I might have made.
So I did a sell stop limit at 1.99, only to log back on a couples hours after and see that it SOLD at 1.99. So I have a few questions:

1. Should I have used a trailing stop with preset points?
2. How do you guys protect your profits?
3. Does this also work in reverse to not extend losses?

TIA

N.

[agemuwoy]

One question for you? Do you know where any of the major support/resistance areas are for CNXT? If the answer is no then just stop trading in real $$$ until you learn how to establish where support and resistance areas are. You can always practice at a trade simulator like the free site einvesting.com offers. You can't set proper stops or sell limits if you don't know where the support/resistance areas are, just that simple. Don't waste your time investing/trading unless you know or you will most certainly lose over time. Good luck to ya!

[aijorpidadf]

Cramer does not believe in stops, and whether it amounts to anything or not, I agree. You are going to kick yourself when you get stopped out on a slight retreat, then it goes on up without you. You should always use limit orders to buy or sell. On one stock,WLS, I put a buy limit a few dollars below and just let it ride , and it came in. Then I immediately put a sell limit up a few dollars, and it sold. I did this 3 times before it stopped working. Limit orders work, they usually get you in cheaper and get you out higher. Frustrating when you are missing a ride because your buy limit was too low, though.

[AlfredKa]

[akivojuqerupe]