The most painful losses in the market often stem from a simple habit: stubbornly holding on.

The price of the currency starts to decline, and most people's first reaction is not to stop the loss, but to keep convincing themselves – just wait and see, a rebound will come.

On the first day, there was no rebound and I didn't sell. On the second day, it dropped again, and I still did nothing. The reason has always been the same—"It's still a bit short of my psychological price point."

The market exhausts people completely in this cycle of repeated compromises. It’s bearable to drop two points, but when it drops five points, regret sets in. It’s only when it gets cut in half that one realizes: not only has the account's profit disappeared, but even the principal is tightly trapped.

This is not the market's fault; the problem lies in your trading logic being wrong from the very beginning.

Those who trade steadily have a completely opposite mindset. At the moment they place an order, they have already thought through: what will I do if I’m wrong? Once the price moves in an unexpected direction, they immediately exit the position decisively, never engaging in a debate with the market about who is right or wrong. In their eyes, there is only one absolute indicator - whether the account can survive to the end.

If you take a close look at those who have persisted in this market for several years and are still making money, almost all of them share one characteristic: they never hesitate to cut their losses.

What does losing a little bit matter? The key is not to let a single misjudgment swallow all the previous efforts and gains in one go. This is not being stingy; it's a respect for survival.

Of course, there are indeed exceptions. If the logic itself hasn't changed, you have ample funds and a long enough time frame, then the strategy of "buying more as prices drop" may be valid.

But to be honest, the vast majority of people who can't name those operations in their hands don't really qualify as value investments; at most, they are just unwilling to admit that they were wrong.

The essence of trading is not about who can predict the market more accurately, but about who can get back up after making mistakes. As long as you give up on stop-losses, even the highest profits will be completely given back during a pullback.

The good news is that the market is always here, and opportunities never truly disappear. What you need to do is leave yourself an exit strategy before every move. Don’t wait until it falls to dream of a rebound — that’s not called a strategy, that’s called gambling.

To stay in this market for a long time, one must first learn how to acknowledge mistakes with dignity.

It's not that you lack opportunities; what you lack is the courage to cut losses and admit mistakes.