Trading Reflection: Learning to Accept Losses That Are Inevitable

On the long term trading journey, the most important question is not how to make money, but how to properly recognize the unavoidable losses. Because most losses in trading do not stem from mistakes, but are an inevitable consequence of adhering to the system. When you trade according to the plan: Confirm the trend in the appropriate time frame Enter the trade in the retracement area according to the strategy Or be decisive according to the breakout … but the market adjusted deeper than expected, or faked a breakout and then reversed to sweep stop-loss — that loss is not a failure, but rather a “loss within the system.” This is a type of loss that has been accounted for right from the time the strategy was designed. It is the cost of experimentation, the price to pay for the long-term probability to have a chance to be effective. Long Term Performance Is Not Determined By A Few Trades The transaction results are not simply the arithmetic sum of short-term wins and losses. In the short term, random factors have a very strong influence: A single “buying at the bottom” can just be luck. A single stop-loss, even if the process is followed correctly, can still happen. In terms of each individual transaction, these two results do not have any greater or lesser value compared to each other. Therefore: Don't be quick to doubt yourself just because of a few consecutive losses. Also, don't be too complacent because of a few winning trades due to luck. They are just the inevitable fluctuations before the long term probability speaks up — like the breath of the trading system itself. The Real Threshold Point Lies On The Capital Curve The real turning point only appears when you look at the long term results. If after going through enough market cycles: The capital market is not sustainably growing but continues to be eroded. The issue now is no longer about right or wrong in each command, but has become a question about the performance of the entire system. When the System Loses Balance In most cases, it is difficult to simply conclude that: “This strategy is bad” or “The market is not suitable” In reality, it is often much more complicated. It could be: Your risk tolerance no longer aligns with market volatility. Long-term pressure distorts the psychology of executing discipline. Or the strategy has gradually lost its effectiveness in the new context, but you didn't realize it in time. At this point, what needs to be reviewed is not a single point, but the entire trading ecosystem: from awareness → rules → execution → feedback. The Measure of a Mature Trader A mature trader always has a very clear ruler in their mind: One end: to measure and fully accept the losses that are part of the plan, seeing them as necessary tuition to get closer to the truth of the market. The other end: always vigilant against losses outside the system — arising from emotions, from breaking discipline, or from disorder in the trading structure. The ability to clearly distinguish between these two types, and only fix the part that needs to be fixed, is the boundary between a long term trader and one who is eliminated by the market.