Entering With Buy StopsHere is one of the stocks I am watching and have an order in to purchase it if it breaks upward, out of the current 90 day trading range: VNBC Now this is not a pretty chart like I normally want, but it was a pretty chart when I first placed the order. Once I place a trade, I am more lenient with the chart. On this chart you can see the highest high is $48.75 and lowest low is $33.70. Back when I first placed the trade the low was $32.50. I pick my range as a little bigger than the highest high and a little lower than the lowest low so my personal range is $49 and $32 in this instance.
I don't enter trades with a market order, instead I prefer to let market activity get me into the trade. The stock must break-out and prove to me that it's going up. I place a Good Til Cancel Buy-Stop order at $49. A buy-stop is NOT a limit order. The buy stop becomes a market order once the target price has been touched. It looks like I may get into this trade in the next few days. The public jumped off banks a few weeks ago and that is what sent the price down. Some banks have recovered nicely.