Mistakes and psychology

⚠️ Risk warning: CFDs and leveraged forex are complex instruments with a high risk of losing money rapidly. Most retail accounts lose money. This content is education only, not investment advice or a recommendation.

Most trading mistakes are not analysis mistakes. They happen after the analysis, when a loss, a fast move or a run of wins changes how you act. You cannot switch emotions off, but you can set rules in advance that limit what they can do.

The usual patterns

Revenge trading: re-entering straight after a loss, often larger, to "win it back". There is no setup, only the wish to undo the loss.
Fear of missing out (FOMO): chasing a move that has already happened, far from any level, with a stop that is either huge or missing.
Moving the stop further away when price approaches it, turning a planned −1R into a much larger loss.
Freezing: after a few losses, skipping the next valid setup, which is often the one that would have paid.
Overconfidence after a run of wins: raising the size or loosening the rules.

Rules that protect you

A fixed risk per trade, decided before the session, with the size calculated from the stop (see entry, stop and target).
A pause after a loss: for example no new trade until the next candle on your setup timeframe has closed.
A daily loss limit in R. When you reach it, you stop for the day.
Stops only move toward profit, never away from it.
Write down how you feel before each trade in your journal, so the review can link feelings to mistakes.

Worked example: gold (XAU/USD), H1. The figure uses drawn prices. Trade 1 is a planned buy at the 3,926–3,932 support zone; price breaks lower and the stop is hit, a loss of 1R, as planned. Three candles later comes trade 2: a buy at double the size, with no setup, just to win the loss back. It is stopped too, and at double size the loss is 2R. The two trades together cost 1 + 2 = 3R instead of the planned 1R. Later, a valid setup forms (a higher low above the 3,900 low), but after two losses it is skipped. A pause after a loss and a daily limit would have stopped trade 2.

Common mistakes

Treating discipline as willpower instead of as rules written in advance.
Trading to recover a loss rather than because a setup appeared.
Increasing size after wins without a written rule for it.

This lesson is educational and is not psychological or financial advice. If trading is causing you stress or losses you cannot afford, stop and seek help.

🛠️ Practice task

Use a real chart. This is for practice, not for placing a trade.

Write three rules: your risk per trade, the pause after a loss, and a daily loss limit in R.
Go through your journal or last demo trades and mark any revenge trade, chase or moved stop.
For each one, write what happened just before it and how you felt.
Total the R lost on those trades compared with the planned losses.
Put the three rules where you can see them while trading, and check them in your next weekly review.

🎯 Mark this chart

Study the drawing, pick the letter, then check. This exercise does not count toward your progress; the quiz below does.

EUR/USD H1: find the revenge trade Illustrative chart: drawn data, not real prices.