stop-loss

[ stop-laws, -los ]

adjective

1. designed or planned to prevent continued loss, as a customer's order to a broker to sell a stock if its price declines to a specific amount.

stop-loss

adjective

1. commerce of or relating to an order to a broker in a commodity or security market to close an open position at a specified price in order to limit any loss

Word History and Origins

Origin of stop-loss¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Crypto addicts often need help setting boundaries, such as time limits for trading and stop-loss limits, orders with instructions to close out a position when it reaches a certain price, to guard investors against excessive losses.

From BBC

Probably the most significant part of Putin’s speech was his decision to issue what the U.S. military would call a “stop-loss” order preventing already serving soldiers from leaving the army after their terms of service expire.

From Washington Post

Desperate to maintain or increase troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military instituted the "stop-loss" policy that arbitrarily extended active-duty contracts.

From Salon

He had always used stop-loss orders — instructions to sell when a stock dropped to a certain price — to prevent disastrous declines.

From New York Times

Tatum, Carolin and Rodriguez have been collaborating, and grappling with the effects of war, since Kimberly Peirce’s 2008 film “Stop-Loss,” in which Tatum co-starred, with Reid producing and Rodriguez serving as a military consultant.

From Los Angeles Times