Don't fall in love with a trade, even when it's winning
Been trading forex for a few years now, primarily $EURUSD and $GBPUSD. One mistake that hammered me early on, and still occasionally tries to trip me up, is getting emotionally attached to a winning position. I'd be up a solid R, watch it climb, feel like a genius, and then refuse to take profits because 'it could go higher'. More often than not, the market would retrace, sometimes taking all my paper gains and then some, leaving me with a tiny profit or even a loss from what was a perfectly good winner. Learned the hard way that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Now I scale out, protect gains, and always remember that the market doesn't care about my feelings or my potential for 'more'. Take what it gives you, then look for the next setup. Simpler, less stressful, and a lot more consistent.
This is such a tough one, especially when you're feeling good about a trade. How do you decide when to take profits without feeling like you're leaving money on the table, or worse, cutting a winner too early?