Soft Stop Order

A stop order involves telling your broker to make a transaction. You say, "If shares of AAPL get to $195, sell all my shares."

A soft stop order is more informal. It's not a hard, specific number. Also known as a mental stop, it's more of a signpost. Like, "You know, if Apple gets to $195, I should really consider selling."

So, when shares reach that level, the transaction doesn't happen automatically. You can make a decision based on events. Re-evaluation. "You know...I can probably wait to see if it gets to $200 and make the decision then."