#2026年比特币价格展望 Why have many traders been stuck in the same place after years of trading?

A very painful phenomenon: when making small profits, they are especially diligent; when facing big losses, they can tolerate it quite a bit.

You’ve probably seen this situation — they want to run as soon as they see a slight floating profit, but refuse to cut losses when they’re losing. The final outcome is: countless small profits, but one big loss that wipes it all out. This is almost normal among beginners.

The root cause is actually very straightforward: people are too obsessed with the win or loss of a single trade.

Our brains are naturally nearsighted. When we lose, we’re unwilling to accept it and think about how to turn things around; when we profit, we get timid, fearing the profit will fly away. Over time, a deadly pattern forms — the more you lose on a trade, the longer you hold it; the more you profit, the faster you exit.

But the market doesn’t care about your individual gains or losses. What truly determines your long-term success is the overall profit and loss ratio of hundreds of trades. And human nature, unfortunately, is least capable of thinking with this long-term perspective.

How to break the cycle? There’s only one way: use data to counteract emotions.

Before placing each order, you must ask yourself three tough questions:

1. If I’m wrong, what’s the maximum I could lose? (This is your stop-loss point)

2. If I’m right, how much could I theoretically earn? (This is your target profit level)

3. Is this risk-reward ratio worth it?

As long as the risk-reward ratio isn’t balanced, no matter how good the feeling, you must give up. This is the most basic and easiest-to-overlook screening criterion.

To outperform most traders, do these three things:

• Always set a stop-loss for every trade, with no exceptions.

• The take-profit space should be at least equal to the stop-loss distance.

• Never exit early before reaching the set take-profit level.

As for the specific numbers for risk-reward ratio, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer; it depends on the current market temperament. In trending markets, you can be a bit more aggressive; in choppy markets, lower your expectations—survival is the most important. Personally, I usually aim for about a 1.5x ratio — not to chase maximum gains, but because this number is easiest to implement and least likely to mess with your mindset.

One last crucial mental shift: true trading masters never indulge in the gains or losses of a single trade. They focus on the expected value derived from the combined win rate and risk-reward ratio over the entire cycle. When you can shift your focus from ‘this one trade’ to a broader perspective, you’ve truly entered the door. The rest is just time to test and prove it.