David Fuller's view Ranging markets create havoc with stops but I have been emphasising risk control in this latest round of trades because precious metals have seen a good bounce since their February lows. However an opportunity risk is also present since these markets may not provide another technically oversold buying opportunity before rallying to new recovery highs. Leveraged trading is tricky, to state the obvious, but can be very rewarding when one has the good fortune to participate in what proves to be a very consistent trend. The challenge during the interim is to avoid too many confidence-sapping losses during whipsaw environments. Unleveraged investors in the precious metals do not have to worry about stops or bear markets while their long positions trade to the left of rising 200-day MAs. Similarly, they do not have to worry about bull markets when short positions trade to the left of declining 200-day MAs.

This morning, my platinum stops were triggered at $1581, $1578 and $1570 for the April contract, against long positions purchased at $1578.9, 1575.6 and 1530, on 5th and 2nd March, and 22nd February, respectively. Consequently I am currently out of platinum futures. This afternoon, 60% of my gold futures longs were stopped out at $1113 against my purchases at $1097 on 26th January. These prices include all spread-bet dealing costs.