The price paid becomes a mental anchor that has no market value
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 9:11 am
After entering a trade, the entry price takes on weight it doesn't deserve. The market doesn't know or care where the position was opened. Its next move is independent of that number.
Yet decisions get bent around it. A trade that is down a few pips gets held "until it gets back to breakeven," which turns a planned exit into a hope. A trade that is up a few pips gets closed fast, because the gain feels fragile, even though the original target is untouched.
A related effect shows up after a stop-out. Price drifts back to the old entry level and the urge to re-enter at the same price appears, as if that level had earned something.
One way to cut through it is imagining the position doesn't exist. Looking at the chart cold, with no entry price in mind, what would a fresh decision be? If the answer is different from what is currently happening, the anchor is steering the trade.
Another is moving stops and targets into an automatic setup at entry, so the number on the screen matters less.
Anchoring is old research and well documented in many fields. It just has an unusually short loop in scalping, where a new anchor is set several times an hour.
Has the entry price ever been the reason a trade was held too long or closed too soon?
Yet decisions get bent around it. A trade that is down a few pips gets held "until it gets back to breakeven," which turns a planned exit into a hope. A trade that is up a few pips gets closed fast, because the gain feels fragile, even though the original target is untouched.
A related effect shows up after a stop-out. Price drifts back to the old entry level and the urge to re-enter at the same price appears, as if that level had earned something.
One way to cut through it is imagining the position doesn't exist. Looking at the chart cold, with no entry price in mind, what would a fresh decision be? If the answer is different from what is currently happening, the anchor is steering the trade.
Another is moving stops and targets into an automatic setup at entry, so the number on the screen matters less.
Anchoring is old research and well documented in many fields. It just has an unusually short loop in scalping, where a new anchor is set several times an hour.
Has the entry price ever been the reason a trade was held too long or closed too soon?