Terrydean,
This is just my opinion, hopefully others might add some insight, but if you read through these forums you'll notice a lot of posters setting stops 15 to 30 pips away, it's almost universal. Traders are people and people are creatures of habbit. Large even numbers i.e. 25, 50 100 attract alot of stops, the recent swing high/lows, trend lines and support/resistance levels..... alot of traders are looking at the same charts placing stops in the same general areas off these TA points......when enough money pools up in one place be sure someone big will come in and take it.
Just a poor Bears thoughts
Have a Great Weekend
Might add again,your stop shouldn't be some arbitrary number ( like I want to make 50 pips, so I'll set my stop at 25) while risk to reward ratios are important, your stop should be in a place that will tell you that your analysis of your trade is wrong.
So for example If I think Price is going long I'll look for a place on the charts below that will tell me that the price is short and not just noise or making a quick correction. Once that place is determined I have to balance that with the posible reward.
Ideally this should be no less than 1.5 or 2 to 1, so if these two don't balance, or the stop is too large, don't take the trade. Also, it's better to enter closer to your stop as possible. Once you have your trade setup planned wait and see if price will back up and give you a better entry closer to your stops giving you a better risk/reward, or you can scale into your position if your using multiple positions. Also important is moving your stops up as the trade goes your way, once you can get your stops to breakeven while giving your trade enough room to move, your risk is ZERO let that baby run for your target. Adjust stops to lock in profit.
All in all you need to plan a trade, carefully, once you have it all in place, pull the trigger and hang on for the ride!!!!
Time for Bear to get off the soap box
Good Trading