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First post — Lesson: the cost of moving stops
Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. Decided to finally jump in. One of my most painful lessons early on was moving my stop. I was long $SPY on what I thought was a clear breakout, set my stop just below the prior resistance. Price pulled back, hit within cents of my stop, and I moved it down 'just a little' thinking it was a shakeout. Then it broke the next support, and the next, and I kept moving it, convinced it would reverse. Ended up taking a 5R loss on what should have been a 1R trade. The discipline of respecting your original stop, or at least exiting gracefully, is something I now preach to myself daily.
2 comments · 10 points
This is such a common trap, especially when you're just starting out and every movement feels like a personal attack from the market. It's tough to stick to your original plan when emotions take over.