Trading losses are not the most painful part; the real harm comes from starting to doubt yourself.

Recently, I saw a trader complain in the community: "I was right about the market direction, and @ZEC@ did indeed catch the right rhythm when it started, but I was so eager to exit after just taking a little profit. Watching it surge all the way up, that feeling was really tough."

Many people have experienced this—analyzing the right direction, making a solid plan, but failing to hold the position. You enter the trade with some profit, rush to exit, and end up missing the main upward move. Sometimes, you can't resist chasing in, only to be shaken out repeatedly during the volatility. The most heartbreaking part is falling into endless self-doubt: Am I really not cut out for this?

This psychological toll is far more damaging than account drawdowns.

**Why is it easy to fall into a cycle of self-doubt?**

Simply put, it's being hijacked by emotions and forgetting to execute your strategy. When the market fluctuates slightly, your mind starts playing all kinds of scenarios. FOMO makes you impulsively chase highs, fear causes you to easily get shaken out, and greed turns winning trades into losing ones.

I've stepped into these traps myself. When overly confident, I really thought the market was like an ATM, only to be hit with a heavy blow back to square one. After losses, I rush to recover, falling into a vicious cycle of revenge trading, losing more and more, becoming increasingly anxious.

Only later did I realize that the key issue is using the outcome to deny the process.

**Turning point for change**

The quality of a trade isn't about whether you end up with profit or loss; it's whether you followed your strategy strictly. The market is full of uncertainties—even with a perfect strategy, you might suffer a few small losses. If you deny yourself entirely after a few setbacks and keep changing trading systems, that's true confusion.

The correct approach is to record every trade, review whether your execution was disciplined, rather than just looking at the final P&L. Often, your direction is correct; you just need to adjust position size or entry and exit timing. This is experience accumulation, not a lack of ability.

Self-confidence isn't blind optimism but built on thorough review and continuous iteration.