Yes, Kiklo, you can lose a bazillioin dollars if you have no idea how to use a stop loss order. That's why people that have no idea what they're doing shouldn't use margin. Traders like it for a few reasons. It allows you to use the asset itself as your core position instead of fiat for collateral, which most people say is a bad idea, but if you believe it's going to increase in value while your fiat isn't, hey, why not. It allows you to make money when volatility is low as well. It also gives you more margin of error to dollar cost average trades that don't go your way.
You could technically call this "throwing good money after bad", but it usually works. I was doing some small trades in BTC earlier just scalping a few bucks. I had one trade not go my way and put me down a few hundred dollars. So what do I do? Just make my position bigger while being near the right side of the market. Now my bigger trade on the right side has canceled out my smaller trade on the bad side and I basically break even even though my original pick wasn't correct.
Margin in altcoins is ridiculous though. There's not enough liquidity, so people on the buy side receive no benefit from being able to place larger orders, while on the sell side, it just makes it too easy to implode markets where nobody will want to go near them.
Worshiping at the Altar of Stop Loss Orders also has issues like below.
It is still a rigged game, in favor of the exchanges.
Worst thing is people like the guy below explain why you should not use them at all, which places the original danger right back in play.
http://www.swing-trade-stocks.com/stop-loss-orders.htmlThink stop loss orders will protect you? Think again. This page shows why I quit using stop loss orders after the Nasdaq changed the rules.
I used to always put in stop loss orders.
It was just part of the trade. I would enter a trade and then immediately put in a stop loss order. It was second nature. I didn't even have to think about it.
Then I noticed that I was getting stopped out more often than usual. And, I was getting very frustrated.
Well, one day I logged onto my computer to check a stock that I was in and was pleased to see that it was going in my desired direction and my stop loss order had not been hit.
At least I thought it had not been hit.
When I logged into my brokers website, I was stunned to see that my stop loss order had been triggered! I couldn't believe my eyes. How could that be? The price for the day didn't even come close to hitting the price of my stop loss order!
So, how did my stop loss order trigger?
Apparently, in 2007, the Nasdaq changed the rules. Stops can trigger at the bid or ask price! That is how my stop loss order got triggered. So, if that is the case, then what is the point of a stop loss order? Your order could get filled at just about any price!
FYI:
Unless you are Hillary Clinton with insider info, expect to Lose:http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940330&slug=1902853Hillary Clinton Invested $1,000, Netted $100,000 Through Trading