🧱 Stubborn Holding — When You Refuse to Close a Clearly Losing Trade
🎯 The Lesson
You enter a trade.
It starts going against you.
Stop loss is right there… but instead of accepting the loss, you think:
“Let me give it some space.”
Then:
“It will come back.”
Then:
“I’ll just widen the stop… once.”
This is stubborn holding — the habit of staying in a losing trade long after logic has left the chart.
🧠 What Really Happens
Your brain treats taking a loss like admitting you were wrong.
And humans hate being wrong.
So instead of closing the trade, you start negotiating with the market — even though the market never negotiates back.
You hold because:
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You want to avoid pain
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You hope the chart will reverse
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You’re emotionally attached
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You don’t want to accept responsibility
But stubborn trades rarely return.
They usually grow, sink deeper, and take a piece of your confidence with them.
💡 The Fix: Accept Small Losses Early
A stop loss isn’t an insult — it’s a safety valve.
Closing a losing trade quickly is not weakness.
It’s emotional maturity.
Professional traders keep losses small not because they never get it wrong — but because they never stay wrong.
Ask yourself:
“If I wasn’t already in this trade, would I enter it right now?”
If the answer is no — close it.
Right away.
🔑 Practical Rule: The 1× Rule
If price hits your stop-loss level — even mentally — you exit.
Not widen.
Not wait.
Not pray.
Execute the plan as written.
This single rule saves more accounts than any indicator ever will.
🚀 Takeaway
Stubbornness feels strong in the moment but weak in the results.
Successful traders don’t protect their ego — they protect their capital.
Cut the loss. Clear the mind. Move on to the next clean setup.
👉 Join my MQL5 channel for daily trading psychology insights:
https://www.mql5.com/en/channels/issam_kassas
