Despite so many reminders and advice, the common habit among investors is still not to quickly recognize losses and avoid significant losses when facing unfavorable trading situations. Rationally speaking, an investor may recognize the importance of stop loss, but in actual trading, they often cannot achieve it. The problem seems not as simple as I imagined.

Firstly, stop loss strategy is only a protective measure taken by investors in the event of market misjudgment, to prevent significant trading losses from occurring. However, when an investor's total trading profit is less than the loss caused by a series of stop losses, that is, the investor does not have the ability to earn enough profit in market trading, strict stop loss measures only slow down the speed of capital reduction and cannot change the ultimate fate of the investor's failure.

Secondly, stop loss is closely related to investors' trading philosophy.

For a long-term trader, due to their limited trading frequency each year and thorough research before entering the market, they can confidently determine their exit position in case of trading failure. The stop loss point is very clear and relatively easy to execute.

For a short-term trader, especially a intraday trader who operates based on market fluctuations, they frequently enter and exit the market every day. Faced with rapidly changing market movements, they can only rely on certain instincts and feelings to make buying and selling decisions. Sometimes, I have to trade more than ten times a day, and a trade may only take a few seconds from start to finish, making it difficult to accurately determine the stop loss level before entering the market. From entering the market to stopping losses, everything depends on the highly personalized market experience of the operator, and it is difficult for bystanders to intervene.

In the early days of trading, I was purely a short-term trader. I thought that asking two assistants to help me with stop loss operations could prevent large losses. In fact, my short-term trading style naturally rejects this seemingly clever cooperation, and from beginning to end, I must make independent decisions and bear the consequences of trading independently. What can my two assistants do if I lack sufficient self-control and cannot retreat decisively when the market trend is inconsistent with my judgment? In the end, our cooperation came to an abrupt end and was left unresolved.

Like the ultimate solution to impulse trading, it was only in recent years, with the transformation of trading concepts, the improvement of self-cultivation, and the elevation of market conditions to a new level, that the stop loss problem was easily solved, and I no longer feel troubled or confused about it.

Now, when trading is unfavorable, I can easily exit the market without the pain, despair, and frustration that I experienced during stop loss operations. Because I know that this is the most normal phenomenon in trading. The market will always experience unexpected changes, and one person's judgment cannot be 100% accurate.

As long as the profit you earn from market trading far exceeds the loss caused by stop loss, it doesn't matter whether your specific trade is profitable or not. Losing small money and making big money is the simplest principle of thinking that must be adhered to in trading. As long as you keep following the right path, you will eventually reach the other side of success.

So it seems that stop loss is no longer a problem for me.

People cannot step into the same river twice

Day after day, year after year, the market movements seem familiar, as if they are simply repeating themselves, as if there is a pattern behind them that we do not know exists. As long as we strive to explore and persevere, one day we will discover the patterns of market movements, and our investment career can enter heaven.

Actually, it's not like that. This is a dead end.

Modern science has made significant progress in both micro and macro research. The exploration and understanding of the Earth, the universe, and genetic engineering in biology by humans were unimaginable hundreds of years ago. However, once a missile expert, an engineer researching a Mars probe, or a Nobel Prize winner in science enters the investment market, is there anything clever about market prediction, price judgment, actual trading, and many other aspects compared to a scoundrel and gambler in the Japanese rice futures market hundreds of years ago? No, it's not very clever at all.

In 1998, the bankruptcy of Long Term Capital Management, an investment fund led by two Nobel economists, once again proved the powerlessness and sadness of science in the investment field with cruel facts. In short, as investors, we are facing an uncertain world. There is never a simple method that can be easily mastered by most people to achieve success here.

Trading skills and knowledge can be learned, market experience can be accumulated, and investors need to cultivate mature psychology and be able to act quickly. This is a long-term process of cultivation, pursuit, and understanding.

Some people say that trading is a combination of science and art. My viewpoint is that in the face of market uncertainty, a philosophical worldview and values, as well as an abstract thinking model of philosophy, may be more effective in helping investors grasp the context of market movements and understand the secrets of successful market transactions.

The cultivation and realm of a wise investment master are often on the same level as those of philosophical family members. As a friend online said, "The competition between experts in the trading market is not a competition of technical level, but a competition of investment philosophy, mentality, and realm.