How to Avoid Giving Back Trading Profits After a Big Win

by Justin Bennett  · 

October 29, 2022

by Justin Bennett  · 

October 29, 2022

by Justin Bennett  · 

October 29, 2022


Forex trading piggy bank with lock

Putting on a profitable trade isn’t that hard. With a 50/50 chance of being right, the initial odds of coming out ahead are quite favorable.

What is difficult, however, is holding onto those profits.

How many times have you had a big winning trade only to give all your profits right back on the next one?

Sometimes, the losses you incur on the very next trade exceed the gains from the previous one.

It’s time to end this boom and bust cycle. If you want to build your account and become a consistently profitable Forex trader, you have to learn how to protect your profits.

That’s where today’s post comes in. By the time you finish reading this lesson, you will have a three-step process that you can implement to help protect your gains.

Ready to get started? Let’s do this.

What is a 'Big Win'?

This is obviously very subjective. What I consider to be a big win will likely be different from your interpretation.

It’s also important to use percentages when discussing this topic. After all, a $100 profit will seem much more significant to someone with a $500 account than to someone with a $10,000 account.

Every trade I take has a 3R potential. That means for every one pip at risk, I stand to gain three pips.

However, I also look for opportunities that allow for pyramiding. If all goes well, I will often make two or three entries along the way to the final target.

Even if I’m only risking 1% of my account balance per trade, that can often amount to a 5% to 10% profit. Again, this assumes that everything plays out according to plan.

For me, anything in that 5% to 10% range is considered a big win. It may not sound like much, but with a larger account size, even 5% amounts to a considerable sum of money.

Step 1: Immediately Update Your Records

Woman updating records on computer

The very first thing you should do following a big win is update your trading records.

Whether you use a paper journal, spreadsheet or a more sophisticated online journal, it’s imperative that you add your latest win as soon as possible.

This may seem a bit trivial at first. After all, why would it matter when you add the latest profit to your journal?

But here’s the thing…

Large profits can often occur quickly in this business. It isn’t that rare to make 5% to 10% within a week or less, even if you’re only risking 1% to 2% of your account balance.

It can also seem too easy in some cases. We’ve all had those trades that we put on and then take off for a massive profit in disbelief that it went so smoothly.

By documenting what just happened, it helps solidify the win. It gives some meaning to the intangible event that just occurred.

It’s no longer something that just happened, but rather a trade that you put on because of specific criteria.

Documenting the win right away will also help convince you that those gains are now yours.

How often have you earned a significant profit only to give it right back on the next trade?

One reason that happens is because of something called the “house money effect”. More on this in the next section.

Step 2: Take a Break From Trading

Break from Forex trading

This is perhaps the most overlooked step in this process.

After a big win, most traders want to put that freshly minted capital to work. So instead of taking some time off, they jump right back in another trade.

A common justification for this behavior is that the trader is now using “house money”.

The house money effect is the tendency for a trader to take more and greater risk when using trading profits.

Let’s assume for a moment that you have a $10,000 account. You just exited a trade and earned a profit of 10% or $1,000. This brings your new account balance to $11,000.

The house money effect states that you are now prone to taking on more risk.

Why?

From your perspective, you just found $1,000. Also, since you just earned it a few minutes ago, it still feels like disposable capital.

Said differently, you haven’t accepted the $1,000 as part of your new account balance.

If you’ve been in this situation before, I’ll bet you know what happens next. Most likely you will put on a new trade immediately only to see it go the wrong way.

Even if you do win the next one or two trades, the inevitable losing position that wipes out all recent gains is just around the corner.

So how can taking a break from trading help solidify those gains?

Simply put, a break will allow your emotions to settle.

We’re all human. No trader is void of emotions. In fact, it’s more important to listen to your emotions while trading rather than to suppress them.

By taking a break, you have time to collect your thoughts and process any lingering emotions from your big win.

How long to make your break is up to you. It could be as short as a day or as long as a week, or even two.

Personally, I like to avoid placing new trades for at least 24 hours after a big win. If it’s a considerable enough amount, I won’t even look for new opportunities for two or three days.

It’s not always easy to take breaks. As traders, we feel it’s our job to trade.

However, anyone can place a trade. There’s no skill in that.

Therefore, we can say that a trader’s job isn’t just to trade, but rather knowing when not to trade. That’s what will separate you from the pack.

Step 3: Restart With Half-Sized Positions

Reducing trading risk

At this point you’ve updated your records and have taken a break from trading. Once you feel that you’re ready, it’s time to get back to business.

Now, instead of just charging back in with full-sized positions, you should consider cutting your size in half.

If there are any lingering emotions from your last win, you’d rather they affect a smaller position size, right?

I’ll be honest, though. This is not something I always practice. In fact, it’s quite rare that I use half-sized positions after a big win.

However, years ago this technique was incredibly helpful. It’s also much more useful if you aren’t taking a break from trading like I discussed in step two.

Although this step is optional, you should seriously consider reducing your position size after a considerable win. This is especially true if you are still struggling with controlling your emotions.

Final Words

One of the most costly mistakes I see traders make is thinking that they’re trading with house money after a big win. That type of mentality keeps the boom-bust cycle going, and prevents the trader from growing their account.

The very first thing you should do following a big win is to update your trading records. Whether you use a notepad, spreadsheet or an online database, it’s important to update those records immediately to help solidify your recent profit.

You should also consider taking a break from trading. It could be as short as a day or as long as a week, but some sort of hiatus can go a long way. The last thing you want to do is give back those profits due to a feeling of overconfidence from your big win.

Once you’re ready to trade again, consider cutting your usual position size in half. This is especially true if your break is 24 hours or less. By reducing your position size, you can further protect yourself from the overconfidence that may stem from your latest gains.


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63  Comments

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  1. Justin: As always, your comments are well taken and appreciate. It keeps alert. I also herd, that one should not increase the number or the size of the lots after a big win or winning streak. Thanks for your comments.

  2. What has been said is just always lingering on my mind,whenever i win..it goes back..and eventually at the end of the day became a looser…well i should not had consider it win because i isn’t mine it yet…Justin has enlightened me and answers all of my questions in my mind….a Big HOW to become consistently profitable trader.Again…. Thank’s Justin for your patience and advice..appreciated much.

  3. Never had this opportunity as yet……all I do is help my broker build his accounts and make them richer and richer……it is shameful sometimes! Thanks Justine for your advice…

  4. Sir, I always enjoy reading your article because I know I will learn 2 or 3 things. this is really helpful and that’s what I was doing, after big win I will jump back to market and loose all the profit. With you I know I will be best trader. After I have made enough money, I must fly to meet you in person. God bless you and may He increase your wisdom, knowledge and understand about trading.

  5. One of your best blogs on mindset and changing a habit. I will be keeping this one next to my trading spreadsheet. Thank you Justin

  6. informative wish I had read about this before my profits were wiped out last week, thanks Justin for always making sure we better our trading skills. GOD BLESS, you are the best!

  7. Great post
    Really needed this today
    WTIUSD did it to me just yesterday
    Actually, I did it to myself
    😫😫😫😫

  8. i just blew my acc n after this… i learnt that actually after doing some small accounting i made alot of profit i was just too excited

  9. Wise words from a knowledgeable man. Your state of mind is clearly critical to your success. My only challenge with your advice is that I look to make 10% per day on short duration day trading and certainly don’t use 3R – scary.

  10. It happens to the best of us,we all love trading and winning,develop big heads in the process,you nailed it with this article,with a lot of practice and losses we will comply so do not tire advising us,thanks

  11. thanks justin for this golden advice . i wish i got this advice before. i bellow my account recently and shamefully i dont have more money to put in market so i decided to go back to demo account and when i have enough money first i buy daily price action course then start live account

    1. you should read all the articles on this website, just take a few weeks to do it. i did and there is a wealth of knowledge here that Justin has written.

  12. You have just described my problematic trading behaviour in one take…i am a newbie to trading but have struggled with this situation until now that is…because you have provided me with the panacea to eliminating nuisance quagmire

  13. Thanks so much Justin for the setup, i want to ask you something mybe you have an idea, I am using breakout strategy, i want to know how to find out that the market will go back to retest after breakout and how to find out if the market will not retest.

  14. Thats whom i find in the game,,,, am always lost half or all of what i trade per day or even a week,,, today its ending up, i am new now! thanks Bennett

  15. But after reading this I still had an issue..
    After raising my acct from 10$ to 135$ I never closed the trade,beforeeee I knew it I landed at $50 back,because I never closed…How do I over come it and prevent it from happening again?

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