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Trading Psychology

Why You Hold Losers Too Long

Losers are held too long because taking the loss makes it real, and moving the stop keeps it a number on a screen. This paper shows you a real euro trade from 28 July 2025 whose 25-pip stop was moved down 25 pips each time the price reached it, seven times in thirty hours, to a 198-dollar loss still open; the idea as a dead plant kept on the sill and watered in case; the stop as a staircase on the fifteen-minute chart; the stop as an hourglass turned over each time it runs out; and the Journal tab on your platform, where every move is logged with its time.

Difficulty
Beginner
Reading time
5 min
Pages
8
Reviewed by
Saman Rahbar

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The stop that walked

A loser is held too long because taking the loss would make it real. The euro against the dollar was bought at 1.17166 at 10:00 on 28 July 2025, at 0.10 lot, where 1 pip is 1 dollar. The plan's stop was 25 pips down at 1.16916, and the price reached it at 10:30. The stop was moved down 25 pips to give the trade room; the price reached that one at 12:30. It was moved again, and reached again, seven times in all by 09:45 the next morning, and at 16:00 that afternoon the price touched 1.15190 with the trade still open, 198 dollars down against a planned 25. Every move was made to avoid taking the loss before it, and every one made the next loss bigger.

A plant kept on the sill

Picture a plant on a windowsill, grey since the spring, still watered every morning in case it comes back. Throwing it out would mean admitting it is dead. Watering it means it might not be. So it is watered, and the sill has a dead plant on it for a season. A losing trade is the plant. Closing it is the bin, and it makes the loss a fact in the account. Moving the stop is the morning's water: it costs nothing today, it keeps the question open, and it is what a person does who cannot yet say the word. The plant does not mind either way.

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