"Just this once" is how stops get deleted
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 8:27 am
Moving a stop a couple of pips further away looks harmless on a scalp. The setup is still valid, price is only probing, so why take the loss on noise? The first time it works, because price reverses and the trade wins. The brain records that as a good decision.
What it actually did was change the risk after entry without new information. Over a few weeks the average loss grows from 3 pips to 5 or 6, while winners stay the same size. The reward-to-risk drops quietly, and the win rate needed to break even climbs without anyone noticing. Then comes the one trade that gets moved three times and becomes a 25 pip loser.
Mechanical ways to make it harder:
- place the stop as a real order at entry, never a mental level
- if the platform allows, set it so stops can be tightened only, not widened (some bridge or EA setups can enforce this)
- count each widening as a logged violation with its own tag, then check the tally weekly
Seeing "stops moved: 14 this month" next to a negative expectancy number is more persuasive than any rule written in a journal.
Anyone willing to share how many stop adjustments show up in their logs, and what happened to the average loss once those stopped?
What it actually did was change the risk after entry without new information. Over a few weeks the average loss grows from 3 pips to 5 or 6, while winners stay the same size. The reward-to-risk drops quietly, and the win rate needed to break even climbs without anyone noticing. Then comes the one trade that gets moved three times and becomes a 25 pip loser.
Mechanical ways to make it harder:
- place the stop as a real order at entry, never a mental level
- if the platform allows, set it so stops can be tightened only, not widened (some bridge or EA setups can enforce this)
- count each widening as a logged violation with its own tag, then check the tally weekly
Seeing "stops moved: 14 this month" next to a negative expectancy number is more persuasive than any rule written in a journal.
Anyone willing to share how many stop adjustments show up in their logs, and what happened to the average loss once those stopped?