Almost all traders go through a phase.

When your account experiences a significant loss for the first time, you tell yourself:
“I need to make it back.”
It sounds reasonable.
Losing money and wanting to recover it seems like the most normal thing.
But there is a very counterintuitive rule in the market:
When your goal shifts to breaking even, your trading begins to distort.
Breaking even itself is not the problem.
The problem is—
Breaking even changes your sense of time.
Originally, trading was about waiting for opportunities.
And when you're eager to recover, you're no longer waiting for opportunities, but for results.
You become more anxious.
When the market moves slightly, you want to jump in;
When the price just rebounds, you start fantasizing about a trend reversal.
You no longer ask:
“Is there an advantage at this position?”
You only ask:
“Can it help me recover quickly?”
At this point, the logic of trading has already been replaced.
It used to be:
Opportunity → Action
Now it becomes:
Loss → Anxiety → Action
So you start trading frequently.
Your positions also gradually become larger.
Not because the signals are better, but because your emotions are stronger.
The market is best at exploiting this state.
When you're eager to recover, you're especially prone to believe in two things:
“This bounce will definitely rebound.” “This time, I see it very clearly.”
But in reality, you're not smarter.
You're just more anxious.
And anxiety is the most costly emotion in trading.
Many accounts are not lost at the very beginning.
They are completely shattered during the “recovery phase.”
Because at this stage, trading