This is the first in a short series on the seven trading sins behind my blown accounts. Each post covers one: what it looked like for me, why it costs so much, and what actually helps.
What it looked like
A loss. A bit of annoyance. Five minutes later, another trade. Not because the setup was there, but because I wanted the money back.
And it was often bigger. A bigger trade felt like the quickest way back to breakeven. Looking back, that second trade was rarely one I would have taken with a clear head.
Why it costs so much
Losses are not symmetrical. The deeper the hole, the harder the climb out:
- A 10% drawdown needs +11.1% to get back to where you were.
- A 20% drawdown needs +25%.
- A 50% drawdown needs +100%.
Revenge trading pushes you down that table at exactly the wrong moment. You size up to recover faster, and doubling size while chasing a 20% drawdown is how 20% becomes 40%.
There is a quieter cost too. After a loss, standards drop. Setups you would normally skip suddenly look good enough.
What helps
None of this is new, but it only works if you decide it before the loss, not after:
1. A fixed cool-down after every losing trade. Long enough to stand up and leave the screen.
2. Size never goes up after a loss. If anything, it goes down.
3. A daily stop: after a set number of losses, or a set amount lost, you are done for the day.
4. Write these rules down before the session starts. In the moment, you will always have a good reason to break them.
How Seven Sins handles it
Wrath is one of the seven rules Seven Sins watches. You set your own cool-down (30 minutes by default). It starts after any losing trade on the account, including one your EA closed.
Open a new trade inside that window and a card appears on your charts: how many minutes after the loss you traded, and the cool-down you set yourself. Then the one-liner: "Revenge is a dish best not traded." Your clean-day streak goes back to zero.
It never blocks the trade. The decision is still yours. It just makes sure you can't pretend you didn't notice.
Your turn
Do you have a cool-down after a loss? How long is it, and do you actually keep it? Tell me in the comments.
Seven Sins is free on the MQL5 Market:
New to it? Here is the two-minute setup:
Trading involves risk. Seven Sins does not trade and does not promise any change in results; it reminds you of the rules you set yourself.
