Tight Stop → Noise Stop-out → Re-entry → Tilt

1. You set a tight stop to keep risk ‘small’.
2. Normal noise tags the stop, even though the thesis is intact.
3. You re-enter because ‘it was right’ and you don’t want to miss it.
4. The next stop-out feels unfair, so you widen stops or add size.
5. Tilt turns a technical mistake into a survival problem.

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.

• Define invalidation first, then place the stop where invalidation happens.
• If you get two stop-outs from the same idea in the same session, pause. That’s regime information.
• Use a max-attempt rule: the market can be right even if your thesis is good.

• 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.

Variants merged

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Field checklist

• If you feel urgency, you’re likely late. Late trades pay the spread twice: once in price, once in behavior.
• After a loss, add a cooldown. Your brain is now biased toward revenge sizing.
• If you’re negotiating rules mid-trade, you’re already off-plan.
• Use a checklist to prevent story-trading.
• Stop when your decision quality drops, not when your account hits zero.