New to the trading market, almost everyone has heard this saying: Stop-loss is crucial, take-profit should be left open. It sounds reasonable, as if this way you can automatically achieve the goal of losing less and earning more.

But in practice, following this approach often results in disappointing account returns. It's not a single big loss, but being gradually eaten away by the market.

Where is the problem? To put it simply, stop-loss points are set too close, so even slight price fluctuations can wipe you out; take-profit points are set too far, making the actual hit probability pitifully small. The result is frequent losses accumulating, while the big market move you’re hoping for never comes.

It seems like risk control, but in reality, it’s just repeatedly making low-probability trades. The market naturally fluctuates with ups and downs, everyone knows that. But many people can't even handle normal volatility, and getting shaken out is only a matter of time.

What’s more painful is that your stop-loss and take-profit levels are often the same as most people’s. When the market swings, everyone gets cleared out together, which is why prices always turn at key levels.

Some think that setting a farther take-profit point increases value, but often what they get is not a market move, but luck. Many times, the price hasn’t even really risen, and they’ve already exited.

Those who survive longer in the market tend to have a simple and straightforward mindset: endure normal fluctuations, don’t rush to take profit; settle for some gains and don’t expect to hit the jackpot overnight. Trading is never about one big turnaround, but about surviving each time.

If you’re still repeatedly losing small amounts while stubbornly waiting for that big win, maybe it’s not that your operation is wrong, but that your initial approach has been off from the start.