Recently reviewing my trading records, I found a very painful issue—despite setting stop-losses, why do I keep falling into the vicious cycle of chasing losses?

My stop-loss standards are not aggressive: 2% for top-tier coins like BTC, and 3-5% for altcoins. But the problem lies here. After taking a loss, you'll often see the subsequent trend move in the expected direction. Then you start to get stubborn: if I hold on a bit longer, I can recover the losses, right? So you keep adding to your position and holding on. As a result, some coins (like a few I recently held) have accumulated losses that are several times the initial stop-loss amount.

This isn't a problem with setting the stop-loss, but a psychological issue. Every loss feels like resetting a "mental price level"—I must recover from here. But the market won't turn just because of your psychological capital. The most frustrating part is that sometimes it does come back a little, which reinforces the illusion of "just hold on a bit longer."

Looking back now, the real risk isn't whether the stop-loss percentage is low enough, but how you manage your mindset after a stop-loss. Stop-loss should be just that—stopping losses—not becoming a new reason to re-enter the market.