《You're Not Bad at Trading, You Just Die on 'Reluctance to Lock in Profits'》
A novice may blow their account 99 times, and 50 of those times might be due to a wrong direction, but the remaining 49 times are likely because:
You clearly had floating profits, but stubbornly held on until it turned into a loss.
Why?
Reluctance to reduce positions and lock in profits.
They always think the market will give them a bit more, thinking 'locking in profits will lead to being washed out', thinking 'let's wait a bit longer to exit' —
But the market has its own temperament; it doesn't pamper you.
I've seen too many novices with a position showing 20% or 30% floating profits, only to end up at -50%.
Some even have their positions showing double the profits but don't adjust their stop-loss, and in the end, the market reverses, and their profits vanish.
The most ironic part is, they aren't incapable of judging direction,
but rather too 'confident in themselves', thinking the market will always obey them.
However, the cryptocurrency market excels at one thing: counter-killing.
Locking in profits is actually a demarcation point of fundamental trading logic.
It's not about whether to preserve profits, but whether you can admit a fact:
You cannot fully control the market.
When a trade enters the floating profit stage, if you still stubbornly hold on like you're gambling,
it's highly likely that the next sharp drop in the market will take away both your confidence and your capital.
Locking in profits, even if it eventually 'washes you out', just means you didn't earn as much,
but not locking in profits might mean you lose your entire capital in the end.
Which one is more unfair?
Of course, locking in profits shouldn’t be done recklessly; doing it haphazardly can easily lead to being shaken out right after leaving the cost.
The key is to know when the market has given you enough time to react and when to decisively protect yourself.
If you're still in the stage of 'not wanting to exit when profitable and not daring to cut losses',
to put it bluntly: you're not really trading; you're playing cards with your emotions.
How to accurately judge the timing for 'locking in profits'?
How to reasonably adjust stop-losses in conjunction with position size and volatility?
These things, if no one guides you, you'll really need to incur losses dozens of times to slowly realize.
(I used to be stuck at this step too, and it was only after someone pointed out a phrase to me that I woke up.)
