Steps
- You submit an order in a fast move.
- It’s requoted/rejected or filled late.
- You feel “robbed” and escalate urgency.
- You chase with market orders and larger size.
- Fills worsen; losses accelerate.
Intervention points:
- Cut size at the first sign the chain is forming.
- Pause when you start “fixing” the last loss with a new trade.
- Stop trading when execution quality degrades.
Antidote
- Hard rule: after a requote/reject, pause (30–120 seconds).
- Switch to limits or skip the move.
- If rejects are frequent: execution stack issue, not discipline issue.
- Stop the sequence: one loss is information, two losses is a warning, three losses is a system failure. Have a hard cut.
- Reduce degrees of freedom: fewer pairs, fewer timeframes, fewer discretionary choices.
- Re-enter only after reset: calm state, checklist passed, size reduced.
Notes
Deep dive
Requotes and rejects are not just “technical issues.” They are emotional multipliers, because they block the trader at the moment of urgency.
Field checklist
- Measure spread before entering. If it’s abnormal, you’re trading the wrong product at the wrong time.
- If volatility expands, reduce size first. Don’t “solve” it by widening stops with the same size.
- Avoid the predictable liquidity holes: rollover, session open/close, first minutes after data.
- Assume your stop may fill worse than your entry. Price the worst-case, not the brochure.
- If you cannot explain where liquidity comes from, trade smaller.