What to do after a losing streak in trading
In short: Stop: after two or three losses in a row, end trading for the day. Then use the journal to check whether the trades followed the plan. If yes, it is a normal streak that every strategy has. If not, the problem is discipline, not the market.
What not to do
Increase size to win back faster. Change strategy after every bad week. Trade while frustrated — that is tilt, and it costs more than the streak itself.
How to come back
Restart at reduced risk — say, half your usual — until you have several trades strictly by plan.
A plan for the first 72 hours
Day 1: close the terminal, no new trades. Day 2: write out the losing trades — entry, stop, reason, what you felt. Decide whether it was an analysis error or a rule violation. Day 3: write one rule that would have prevented this loss and add it to your trading plan. Only then come back, with reduced risk.
An example review
Three losing trades in one evening. The journal shows: the first followed the plan and the stop worked — a normal loss. The second came 10 minutes later, with no liquidity grab, "to win it back". The third was double size. Conclusion: the problem is not the strategy but the missing rule "after a loss — pause". Two of the three trades should never have existed.
How to come back without another breakdown
The first 10–20 trades — on a virtual account or at half risk. The goal is not money but following the plan in every trade. Mark in your journal whether you followed the plan, and look at the curve of on-plan trades separately. When it rises again, return to normal risk.
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Trading on financial markets carries a risk of losing money. This material is educational and is not investment advice.
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