The patterns that wipe out accounts are predictable: oversized positions, no stop-loss, moving stops further away, revenge trading after losses, overtrading, holding losers and cutting winners, ignoring correlation, and trading without a written plan. Most blow-ups are not bad luck — they're a recognisable pattern. For deeper material on each, see on out Education portal or nomo.academy.
1. Oversized positions
Risking 10–20% (or more) of the account on a single trade. One adverse move ends the account or causes such damage that recovery becomes mathematically improbable. The fix: stick to 1–2% risk per trade, every trade, no exceptions.
2. Trading without a stop-loss
"I'll watch it." Then the position moves against you, the loss grows, you can't bring yourself to close, and a small loser becomes a catastrophic loss. Stops are not optional. Use them on every trade.
3. Moving the stop further away
Your stop is about to be hit, so you slide it further. Now "a small loss" becomes "a medium loss with more risk". Then it gets hit again, and you slide it again. The fix: never widen a stop. If the trade idea is wrong, close the trade.
4. Revenge trading
You take a loss, get angry, and immediately enter a new (often oversized) trade to "win it back." Almost always loses again. The fix: after a loss, walk away from the platform for at least 30 minutes. Come back when emotions are gone.
5. Overtrading
Placing too many trades, often out of boredom or fear of missing out. The cumulative spread cost alone bleeds the account; the bad decision quality compounds it. The fix: if your strategy says one trade today, take one trade. Patience is a position.
6. Holding losers, cutting winners
The opposite of what works. You let a small profit run into a large loss because you don't want to take "a small win." The mathematical fix: predetermined stop-loss and take-profit, with at least 2:1 reward-to-risk on every trade.
7. Ignoring correlation
Long EUR/USD, long GBP/USD, long AUD/USD all at the same time? You're not in three trades, you're in one — short the dollar. If the dollar rallies, all three lose at once. Diversification only works if positions are actually independent.
8. No written plan
Trading by feel, with no rules for entry, exit, position size, or what to do when stopped out. Without a plan, every decision is made under emotional pressure. The fix: write your trading plan. "I will trade EUR/USD only in the London session, with 1% risk per trade, with stops at recent swing levels, with 2:1 reward-to-risk minimum." Then follow it.