Fighting a Losing Streak

Every trader hits this wall eventually: you open your platform and it’s just red, red, red, five, six, sometimes eight losers in a row. Your account is shrinking, confidence is gone, and suddenly every candle feels personal.

The market isn’t trying to break you.
Your reaction to the streak is what does the damage.

A losing streak is inevitable. A blow-up is optional. Here’s how to understand what’s happening and exactly how to stop the bleeding.

What a Losing Streak Actually Means (and What It Doesn’t)

A losing streak is just maths. Even with a 60% win rate you’ll hit five losers in a row roughly once every 13 sequences. It will happen, whether you like it or not.

It does not mean:

Your system is broken

You suddenly became a bad trader

You need to double size to “earn it back”

It usually means one (or more) of the following:

The market regime shifted (trend → chop, high volume → dead zone)

You drifted from your rules (size creep, forcing entries, ignoring triggers)

Pure variance (unexpected headlines, liquidity games, random chaos)

Understanding this is the difference between a normal drawdown and total self-destruction. Most traders turn a standard cold streak into a disaster through revenge trading, system-hopping, or trading with no system at all. Nothing nukes an account faster than going on tilt and inventing trades that aren’t there.

A Rule System to Fight a Losing Streak

1. Immediate 24–48 Hour Break

Shut it down. Charts off. Gym, walk, sleep, anything except trading. Distance resets your decision-making.

2. Full Trade Review (Zero Cherry-Picking)

Grade every losing trade A/B/C/D/F:

A = executed perfectly

F = full rule violation

Everything C or below gets a note on what failed. This is exactly what your CoinMarketMan journal is designed for.

3. Run the Stats

Review the last 30 days: win/loss rate, average R:R, max consecutive losers. Then check the last 6–12 months.

If your stats are within historical norms → variance.

If they’re degraded → strategy or discipline leak. Fix it.

4. Cut Risk in Half (The 0.5% Rule)

Drop size to 0.5% per trade, or less, until you hit five clean wins. This protects capital and stabilises psychology.

Worried about “missing the move”? Don’t be. Markets will hand you another opportunity tomorrow, next week, next month. That’s guaranteed.

5. Daily Equity Check-In

Write one sentence every night:
“Today I followed my plan: Yes / No.”

Five straight “Yes” days = size back to 0.75%.
Another five = size back to 1%.
This rebuilds confidence the right way: through behaviour, not hope.

Final Thoughts

Every losing streak gets its own page in my journal. That’s why a journal matters. When you’ve been through this before, you know exactly how you climbed out.

Losing money hurts, but it’s part of the job you chose. Every consistently profitable trader has fought through a streak that nearly broke them. They survived it. Now it's your turn.

DeadCatBounce