Wyckoff trading method, page-480

Stop placement is a seriously big subject......
The setting of your stop would depend on the timeframe you are trading in, and the level of your entry, generally the shorter your timeframe the tighter the stop, although quite a few still operate with a wide "hard stop" (one used to save your account), but continually monitor trading with a "mental stop" (a manual stop level where you would sell at a certain level, this level is continually variable).
And the longer your timeframe, generally the wider your stop (depending on your entry price).
For instance, momentum traders would (or should) have sold on the gap up high volume bar, or at least moved their stop right up.
--if it was me (if I was trading as a momentum trader), if I hadn't already sold (which I should have at the first sign of the weakness), I would have slid my top up to just below that bar after the high volume daily bar, and would have been shaken out on the Monday.
Whereas a swing trader may leave more room, depending on their entry level.
And the placement is also an issue, do you use price structure to sit behind, where the pro's know many will be sitting......or perhaps a few pips wider than the average true range for a certain period......

Actually four days of declining volumes (the first day of you five was actually higher volume).
It really depend of what price actually did on those volumes.
The first bar of the four tried to rise on less volume (like trying to drive up a hill in your car, without pushing down any further on the accelerator), this will work OK briefly, but eventually momentum will fail.
the second bar initially tried to keep rising, but momentum was lost, and price eventually closed lower with a fairly average spread.
Then the next bar also tried to rise (those retailers are an optimistic bunch aren't they....), but also closed lower, and spread was fairly average again.
and the last bar shouldn't really count, as the stock only traded for a short period of the session, and when it did, it was on announcement....

does that help.......

cheers