Stops are generally defensive orders (hence "stop loss"). You place a stop sell order on a security you own at a price below the current market price. That way, you protect against backsliding too much. (If you're looking to buy a security, you place a stop buy order above market price, so that you catch the trend before it runs away from you.)
The problem is that a jolt to the market could cause a sharp, temporary downward spike. That would trigger your stop order, but because the market was moving rapidly, your sell order could execute at a price well below your trigger price. Then the jolt subsides, the stock price recovers, and you're out a pretty penny. Stop limit orders address this situation. Perhaps that's the kind of order entry you're seeing at Firstrade?
Schwab: Mastering the Order Types: Stop-Limit Orders
https://www.schwab.com/active-trader/insights/content/mastering-order-types-stop-limit-orders
Firstrade stock trading screen:

With regard to free, or even $4.95 trades not being profitable, surely you've heard the old punchline: we lose money on every trade but we make it up in volume.

FYI: Applying religious screens to mutual funds and ETFs is sometimes compared to investing with one hand tied behind your back, but that's just fine for a large and growing number of investors.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=lRRdXY2hBMuosgXmqoyIDg&q=+Investing+Faith-based+funds+attract+loyal+investors+&oq=+Investing+Faith-based+funds+attract+loyal+investors+&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i299.8802.8802..10138...0.0..0.149.240.1j1......0....2j1..gws-wiz.6j-rvgiB9gI&ved=0ahUKEwjNv77a2JPkAhVLlKwKHWYVA-EQ4dUDCAc&uact=5

FYI: Our guest on the podcast today is Rob Arnott. Arnott is partner and chairman of the board of Research Affiliates, a firm he established in 2002, following stints at First Quadrant and Salomon Brothers. He also runs several prominent mutual funds, including PIMCO All Asset. In addition to these duties, Arnott is an accomplished thought leader, having published more than 100 articles in professional journals. Among other plaudits for his work, he has received seven Graham and Dodd Scrolls, awarded by the CFA Institute to the top financial analyst journal articles of the year. An innovator, Arnott popularized the concept of fundamental indexation, which some refer to as smart beta.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/943058/arnott-dont-sleep-on-value-investing-especially-emerging-markets-value

@wxman123 Hello. How does Firstrade manage NOT to charge any commission at all on standard stock trades? I just opened an account. I see that electronic statements are the norm. Paper statements through the mail incur a charge. But are not all such companies required still, to send official tax documents by snail-mail? They wanted a phone number, so I gave them 111-111-1111. The wonderful system gave me no arguments. I've not funded it, yet.

I'm not sure but I've been with FT for many years and never had a problem. Very secure, I get an email with every login. The website is basic but easy to use. You also need to download quicken files to update if you use Quicken BUT they do offer free MS and still use the older (usable) format. I don't think brokerages earn much charging 4.95 a trade. The free trades is probably a loss leader. They pay almost nothing on idle cash so you will need to buy a cash equivalent fund/etf.

@davidmoran: I already stuck it !
Regards,
Ted :)
M*: Want To Test Your Managers' Mettle? Ask Them To Work Backward: (VCHOX):
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/52169/m-want-to-test-your-managers-mettle-ask-them-to-work-backward-vchox#latest
M*: How To Lose A Lawsuit: (MWTIX) - (FKUSX)
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/52171/m-how-to-lose-a-lawsuit-mwtix-fkusx#latest

and this:
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/943057/want-to-test-your-managers-mettle-ask-them-to-work-backward

Cool.. In 25 yrs most of us will eat veggies because of global warming

Updated:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915802/000139834419014680/fp0045254_497.htm
497 1 fp0045254_497.htm
FINANCIAL INVESTORS TRUST
RiverFront Asset Allocation Income & Growth
RiverFront Asset Allocation Growth
SUPPLEMENT DATED AUGUST 20, 2019 TO THE SUMMARY PROSPECTUSES,
PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
DATED FEBRUARY 28, 2019,
AS SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME
This Supplement updates certain of the information previously provided in the supplement dated June 13, 2019.
At a meeting held on June 11-12, 2019, the Board of Trustees of Financial Investors Trust (the “Trust”) approved Agreements and Plans of Reorganization providing for the reorganization of RiverFront Asset Allocation Income & Growth and RiverFront Asset Allocation Growth, each a series of the Trust (each, a “Target Fund” and collectively, the “Target Funds”) into RiverFront Asset Allocation Moderate and RiverFront Asset Allocation Growth & Income, respectively, each a series of the Trust (each, an “Acquiring Fund”) (each, a “Reorganization” and collectively, the “Reorganizations”).
Shareholders of each Target Fund as of the close of business on August 20, 2019 will receive more information about such Target Fund’s Reorganization in a separate information statement. The Reorganizations do not require shareholder approval and therefore no action is being requested of shareholders. The closing of the Reorganizations will occur in the 3rd quarter of 2019 with an expected date of on or about September 9, 2019.
As a result of the Reorganizations, shareholders of each Target Fund will become shareholders of the corresponding Acquiring Fund. Shareholders of each Target Fund will receive shares of the corresponding Acquiring Fund with an aggregate value equal to the aggregate value of their shares of the Target Fund held immediately prior to the Reorganization. After the Reorganizations are complete, the Target Funds will be liquidated and terminated. Each of the Reorganizations is expected to be a tax-free, therefore shareholders should not realize a tax gain or loss as a direct result of the Reorganization. The expenses incurred in connection with the Reorganizations will be paid by ALPS Advisors, Inc.
Purchases with respect to the Target Funds have been disallowed since the close of business on June 21, 2019.
INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

Yay! Let's all put all our faith in AI; that way we won't have to be bothered to think for ourselves any more. Let's just use whatever tools are available to us without understanding their inherent limitations, or the assumptions that are baked into them. The little discussion surrounding Monte Carlo methods was a good example; it's one possible means to an end.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always been one to check my assumptions when someone's version of reality doesn't jive with mine. WRT VG's calculator, what I would have done (even before consulting the calculator) was laid out an expected set of annual expenditures- a tentative spending plan of sorts. It doesn't become my 'budget' until I decide to adopt it and control my spending to conform to it. If my spending plan says that I need $190K/yr despite some automated thing telling me that I need $225K/yr, I say WTF? One of us clearly doesn't understand the problem. If I decide to go ahead with an annuity, and there is going to be a shortfall of $TBD, it's incumbent on me to revisit my spending plan and make adjustments. You know, cash-flow management.

Oooh, now you've done it ...
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/51886/m-when-vanguard-s-retirement-income-calculator-stopped-making-sense

Stocks are easy. Payment for order flow, spread, lending (stocks are registered in street name), etc. See, e.g. WSJ, Why ‘Free Trading’ on Robinhood Isn’t Really Free While this article is about Robinhood, it addresses your question of how any brokerage could make money on zero-commission stock trades.

Robinhood makes money, in part, by sending customer orders to high-frequency traders in exchange for cash. It's a controversial but legal practice in the brokerage industry called payment for order flow. ...
The upshot: When you buy or sell shares on Robinhood, the app is likely executing your trade at a slightly worse price than another broker would, market veterans say. ...
Robinhood charges a monthly fee for its margin-lending service, Robinhood Gold. And if you want to move your account from Robinhood to another broker, you must pay $75. ...
What if the broker demands a big payment from the market maker? That reduces the market maker's profit, forcing it to quote a wider spread. And the customer gets less price improvement.

(Lots more, but I'm trying to stay within fair use bounds.)
From IRS Pub 1179:
If you are required to furnish a written statement (Copy B or an acceptable substitute) to a recipient, then you may furnish the statement electronically instead of on paper. This includes furnishing the statement to recipients of Forms 1098, 1098-E, 1098-F, 1098-MA, 1098-Q, 1098-T, 1099-A, 1099-B, 1099-C, 1099-CAP, 1099-DIV, 1099-G, 1099-INT, 1099-K, 1099-LS, 1099-LTC, 1099-MISC, 1099-OID, 1099-PATR, 1099-Q, 1099-QA, 1099-R, 1099-S, 1099-SA, 1099-SB, 1042-S, 3921, 3922, 5498, 5498-ESA, 5498-QA, and 5498-SA.

When Vanguard's Retirement Income Calculator Stopped Making Sense
"Try Harder!
The president of the American Finance Association, Dr. David Hirshleifer, noticed something peculiar about Vanguard's Retirement Income Calculator. By its reckoning, a hypothetical 55-year-old investor who saved at the tool's highest possible rate, earning the highest possible return, holding the highest possible current retirement assets, and willing to settle for the lowest possible income-replacement rate … would fail. Her projected monthly income would fall short of the projected goal."
Click here for more

From the article:

Now, if your local library system doesn’t provide this access, you can also look at state libraries, university libraries, or other libraries in the region for which you are eligible.

For example, the NYPL is free to anyone in NYS. (Years ago, you had to live or work in Manhattan to get a card.) And it has the Morningstar Investment Research Center.
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/12/05/breaking-news-morningstar-available-nypl-home
So if you live in Buffalo, you're all set.
New Mexico residents qualify for a free library card to the public library of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County . That gives them access to the Morningstar Investment Research Center.
Look around. Your friendly library doesn't have to be local.

You can find all the Fidelity Advisor® funds on Fidelity's advisor site:
https://institutional.fidelity.com/app/item/RD_13569_41600/fidelity-mutual-funds.html?pos=T
Advisor funds, whether at Fidelity or elsewhere (e.g. T. Rowe Price advisor class shares) have fee structures designed to compensate advisors. That may mean a front end load (e.g. FACDX), increased 12b-1 or added marketing fees (e.g. FHCCX), or a combination of both (e.g. FACTX).
Even if a share class doesn't have an explicit front end load, those extra fees can be so high (e.g. the 1% 12b-1 fee on FHCCX) that FINRA forces the companies to admit these fees really are loads - the shares cannot be sold as noload funds.
https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answersmffeeshtm.html
Regardless of how the fees are larded on, they're there to pay one's advisor. Usually one pay these extra fees regardless of whether one uses an advisor. So why not go through an advisor and get the services one is already paying for? Sure one can buy through a discount brokerage but that just sends those fees into the brokerage's pocket.
Alternatively, one can often buy a retail equivalent for less. Fidelity offers clones of many of the Advisor® funds with no loads and lower fees, e.g. FSPHX instead of the A, C, M classes of Fidelity Advisor® Health Care given above. Though it does not appear to offer a clone for FAGOX.

FYI: Pimco group chief investment officer Dan Ivascyn’s Pimco Income Fund, the largest actively managed bond fund with assets of more than $130 billion, is lagging 93 percent of its category so far this year, according to Morningstar data as of Saturday.
Several macro trades have hurt the fund’s performance so far this year: its underweight position in Treasuries and corporate credit risk and its heavy exposure to mortgages.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-funds-pimco-ivascyn/pimco-income-fund-run-by-dan-ivascyn-whipsawed-by-big-bond-rally-idUSKCN1V9045
WSJ Article:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/market-tumult-stings-the-new-bond-king-11566151500
M* Snapshot PONAX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/ponax/quote
Lipper Snapshot PONAX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/ponax
PONAX Is Ranked #3 In The (MSB) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/multisector-bond/pimco-income-fund/ponax

@John N:
1 Toe:
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/52116/chuck-jaffe-the-latest-pricing-glitch-spooked-vanguard-shareholders#latest
2 Toes:
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/52042/vanguard-funds-appear-to-lose-half-their-value-as-company-blames-pricing-glitch#latest

FYI: It’s the active-passive paradox – almost every investor agrees that it’s nigh impossible to beat the market, and almost every investor tries to anyway.
Regards,
Ted
http://money.com/money/5651576/vanguard-active-funds-performance/

By the way in my account with Wellstrade , VWALX has a $0. minimum. I opened the position with way under 50K. This could be available on some members brokerage platforms also.

VWALX, yes. But the $50,000.00 minimum for entry, I suspect, deliberately prevents "small money" from getting in, probably because it would make them want to raise the rock-bottom ER. $50,000 is a big enough wall for me, so that I just would not seriously consider it. "Hi Yield munis? MUNIS? I suppose that fact would reduce risk?

Gotta mention PTRMX. ... dividends are .... extraordinary for a tax-free fund. N'est pas?

Good, but not extraordinary. Look at the price - $25+. The yield's only in the mid-2s.
I've looked at it off and on, being familiar and happy (as you are) with PTIAX, but have never bought in.