The pain of moving stops on growth stocks

Looking back at the last couple of years, one of my recurring mistakes was moving my stop loss down on high-growth stocks that had already seen a significant run-up. The thinking was always some variant of 'it's a great company, it'll bounce back, this dip is temporary.' I'd find myself rationalizing away perfectly valid technical breakdowns, turning what should have been a small, manageable loss into a much larger capital sink.

The real kicker was missing out on re-allocating that capital into stronger setups or simply preserving cash for better opportunities. Holding onto a losing position because of sunk cost fallacy and a belief in the narrative, rather than the price action, really taught me the importance of sticking to the original plan, especially when the market turns. It's tough to admit you were wrong, but far tougher to recover from extended drawdowns on positions that break their trend.