the green day that went red at 3:40

[Shadow Trader]

Up 14 pips on the day, session almost over, and the setup on the screen is a B at best. Still, there's a tiny voice saying one more small winner and the day finishes at a nice round 20.

So the trade goes on. The stop is a bit wider than usual because the setup is mediocre and needs room. Price chops, tags the stop by two ticks, then runs exactly where the entry wanted it to go. Classic.

Now the day sits at plus 6 instead of plus 14. Not a disaster. But the next ten minutes get spent staring at the chart trying to win back the difference, and "finish green" has quietly turned into "finish at 14 again".

Funny thing is the day was already green. Green was never in danger. The only thing missing was a round number, and a round number is just something the brain happens to like.

Has a trade taken purely to hit a figure ever worked out for you, or does it nearly always go the way of the story above?