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Almost every trader has done it: the price approaches the stop, and the stop quietly moves a little further away. This article looks at why that happens, what it does to the maths of a trade, and how I use my journal to notice it. It describes my own experience and is educational only.
The stop is a decision made in calm conditions
A stop-loss is defined before the trade because that is when judgement is clearest. Once real money is exposed, the same level feels different. Moving it is rarely a fresh analysis — it is usually an attempt to avoid a loss that has already been accepted on paper.
If the reason for moving a stop is “I don’t want to be wrong yet”, it is an emotional decision, not an analytical one.
What it does to risk
Suppose the planned risk is 1R. Moving the stop to double the distance turns it into a 2R risk, while the target stays where it was. The reward-to-risk ratio that justified the trade no longer exists, but the position still does.
Entry 100, stop 98, target 104 is 2R of reward for 1R of risk. Move the stop to 96 and the same target now offers 1R of reward for 2R of risk.
How a journal helps
Recording the planned stop and the actual exit for every trade makes the pattern visible. If my actual losses regularly exceed my planned ones, the problem is not the strategy — it is execution. I mark those trades as strategy deviations so they do not hide inside the statistics.
Tracking “planned versus actual” turned a vague feeling of undisciplined stops into something I could count and work on.
Trading involves substantial risk. Nothing here is advice to place, widen or tighten a stop on any trade.
Conclusion
Moving a stop is understandable and common. Treat it as information about your process, record it honestly, and decide your risk before you are exposed to it.