The hallmark of mature trading: it's not about knowing how to buy and sell, but learning these two types of restraint!

Why do many traders keep losing money? It's not because their skills are lacking, but because they don't understand the two most valuable words in trading—restraint. The people who can truly survive in the market are those who make money with these two 'counterintuitive' abilities.

1. Restrain frequent trading: the truth that being too active leads to losses

90% of retail investors fall into the trap of being 'itchy':

• 80% of those who trade more than 3 times a day are losing money—transaction fees eat up 20% of the principal, and they are repeatedly harvested by the market;

• When a certain asset moves by 1%, they want to trade, resulting in being shaken out in 7 out of 10 trades, missing the next 10% of the main upward trend.

In simple terms, frequent trading is investing with a 'gambling mindset', thinking that 'the more you do, the more you earn', but forgetting that the essence of trading is 'waiting for opportunities', not 'finding opportunities'.

2. Restrain the mindset of 'proving oneself': the more you want to recover losses, the more you get trapped

Too many people fall into a vicious cycle after losing money:

• When holding a position, they think 'I can't believe it won't rise', resulting in small losses turning into large losses;

• Just as they break even, they rush to increase their position, wanting to prove 'I can earn it back', only to step into a new pit.

There was a trader who, after losing 30%, practiced with a demo account for 3 months and found that 60% of their live trades were 'to prove they were right', rather than actual trading signals.

3. The trial-and-error rule of mature traders: exchange 'low cost' for experience

Trial and error does not necessarily mean using real money to withstand:

• Practice on a demo account: zero cost to test strategies, a trader tested their strategy 200 times on a demo account and found that their moving average strategy failed in a volatile market;

• 1% position for trial and error: with a principal of 100,000, only use 1,000 each time, losing it does not affect their mindset, but can verify the genuine win rate of the strategy;

• Observing empty positions: recording the trends of 3 assets each week, not trading can also cultivate market feel, which is 10 times better than blind trading.