The Fear of Taking a Loss

Why is taking a small loss sometimes harder than watching a trade go against you?

When a trade approaches its stop, your mind starts searching for reasons to keep it open.

You tell yourself that support is nearby, that sellers are getting exhausted, or that price will probably reverse.

Sometimes it does reverse. But that doesn't justify abandoning your risk plan.

Before entering a trade, I want to know where the idea becomes invalid and how much I'm willing to lose.

Once the trade is active, I follow the predefined rules rather than negotiate with the market.

Taking a controlled loss is part of trading.

Allowing fear to turn it into an uncontrolled loss is a different problem.