My 2 cents - You can put a stop loss on CFD's and most probably on shares also. To me the biggest real "loss" is the tax implications. Although you can write your losses off against your profits. So I'm in two minds about that. The one massive component when trading derivatives like cfd's, you must be an active trader and not a passive trader. You have to monitor it all day like the traders that work for the big companies do. You can't buy and walk away.
When you start trading cfd's or any other geared instrument, that becomes your day job. It is crucial that you understand that. Prepare yourself to sit in front of the screen for 8 hours straight. I can warn you. It is emotional draining. You will reach a stage where you think that the time spend in front of the screen is crazy, although you are making money. I have seen guys that make big profits, and I mean big profits, walk away. Your work (trading) life balance goes right out the window. Most traders nail it down to say 4 hours per day and then they walk away.
Working in a nuclear silo, is nothing compared to trading with derivatives