Why I Deal With Losses Before They Even Appear📉 Mastering the mindset that most traders avoid
There’s a moment that happens in every trader’s journey — not during a win, but during a loss.
A frozen moment where your mind screams, “It shouldn’t have gone this way!”
You look at the screen, your stop is hit, your equity drops, and your brain starts the negotiation:
“What if I held a bit longer?”
“Maybe the stop was too tight.”
“I need to make this back. Now.”
But the problem didn’t start with that loss.
It started long before you placed the trade.
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💡 The Biggest Lie in Trading: “I’ll Deal With It When It Happens”
Too many traders operate from a place of reactivity.
They focus on the chart, the breakout, the “R:R,” the indicator... but they forget the only thing that actually matters:
❗️ What if this trade fails — and how will I handle it?
That’s not a pessimistic question.
It’s the most professional one you can ask.
If you only accept the possibility of a loss after the loss happens, it’s too late.
You’ve already sabotaged yourself emotionally — and probably financially, too.
So here's the core principle I apply every single day:
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🔒 I Accept the Loss Before I Enter
Before I click "Buy" or "Sell," I already know:
✅ What my stop is.
✅ How much that stop means in money.
✅ That I am 100% okay losing that amount.
If any of those don’t align, the trade is dead before it begins.
This is not negotiable.
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🚫 Don’t Touch the Stop. Touch the Volume.
One of the biggest mistakes I see — and I’ve done it too, early on — is this:
You find a clean technical setup. Let’s say the proper stop is 120 pips away.
You feel it’s too wide. You want to tighten it to 40. Why?
Not because the market structure says so — but because your ego can’t handle the potential loss.
❌ That’s not trading. That’s emotional budgeting.
Instead, keep the stop where it technically makes sense.
Then reduce the volume until the potential loss — in money, not pips — is emotionally tolerable.
We trade capital, not distance.
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🧠 This Is the Only Risk Model That Makes Sense
Your strategy doesn’t need to win every time.
It just needs to keep you in the game long enough to let the edge play out.
If your risk is too big for your mental tolerance, it’s not sustainable.
And if it’s not sustainable, it’s not professional trading.
The goal isn’t to be right. The goal is to survive long enough to be consistent.
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📋 My Framework: How I Deal with Losses Before They Show Up
Here’s my mental checklist for every trade:
1. Accept the loss before entering.
If I’m not okay losing X, I reduce the volume or skip the trade.
2. Set the stop based on structure, not comfort.
If the setup needs a 150-pip stop, so be it. It’s not about feelings.
3. Adjust volume to match my comfort zone.
I never trade “big” just because a setup looks “great.” Ego has no place here.
4. View trades as part of a series.
I expect losses. I expect drawdowns. One trade means nothing.
5. Be willing to exit early if the story changes.
If price invalidates the idea before the stop is hit (or the target), I’m gone.
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🧘♂️ If You Can’t Sleep With the Trade, You’re Doing It Wrong
Peace of mind is underrated.
If a trade is making you anxious — not because it’s near SL, but because it’s threatening your sense of control — something is off.
And that something is usually your risk size.
Professional trading isn’t built on adrenaline.
It’s built on calm decisions, repeated for years.
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🏁 Final Thoughts: Profit is Optional. Loss Management is Mandatory.
If you want to become consistent, start every trade with a simple, brutally honest question:
“Can I lose this money and still feel calm, focused, and in control?”
If the answer is no, you’re not ready for the trade — no matter how good the chart looks.
Profit is a possibility.
Loss is a certainty.
Master the certainty. The rest will follow.
🚀 Keep learning, keep growing.
Best of luck!
Mihai Iacob
