Would and how would you secure cash for an investment in 9 months?

[PhilMongoose]

@octomore

I wonder why everyone isn’t putting a trailing stop limit on every ETF/stocks in case of a big crash, especially now that the market is crazy high.

I just put one on every stock I have, like 5% to 10% below actual value depending on the volatility of each asset.

Because this triggers a sale, without you being in control of the timing or price. e.g. you have a stock with value $100. You set a stop loss at, say, $90. One day, there’s some bad news and the stock opens at $60. Your stop operates and you sell at $60. It turns out it was an over-reaction an the stock quickly recovers to $95.

Some people have a mis-conception that with a stop loss, you will always sell at the limit you sell the stop at. This is not correct.

I think many have a strategy to buy and hold so they are not thinking of selling.

[jmp]

@PhilMongoose

Some people have a mis-conception that with a stop loss, you will always sell at the limit you sell the stop at. This is not correct.

Yes, for a stop loss order, a market order is placed when the stop price is met, and it may execute at a price much lower than the stop price.

To avoid that, there is the stop limit order : when the stop price is met, a limit order is placed; in your example, with a stop at 90 and a limit at 89, the order would not be executed at 60, but it would be executed at 89 when the price rebounds (or it could remain open for a long time while the price remains below 89).
Nothing is perfect and immune to all possible undesirable scenarios…