From my limited understanding... stop loss orders are a way to limit the amount of money you're going to lose by selling the stock at the lowest value that you're comfortable with.

ie... you tell your broker that $x.xx is the lowest amount that you're willing to sell at. Sell the stock at that value so you don't lose any more money.

Does anyone know why stop loss orders are a vital component of trading success and investment software systems?

Precision747