Deciding when to stop

Separate from what to do about any one position is the question of whether to keep trading at all. The second question sometimes matters more, yet it rarely gets considered in advance. Deciding to stop while prices are moving is hard, which is exactly why writing the conditions down while calm is worth doing.

One commonly cited trigger is a change in where the money comes from. What started as spare money is now coming out of living costs. Funds are being raised on a credit card cash advance or a consumer loan. Money is moving out of an account without the household knowing. Regardless of size, the original premise has collapsed. Borrowed money is worse still: the obligation survives a falling price, so the loss and the repayment arrive together.

A second is a change in how you trade. Position sizes growing to make back a loss. Frequency rising. Checks you used to perform getting skipped. These are well-documented patterns of trying to recover losses, and they have repeatedly been reported to produce larger ones. They are hard to see from the inside, which is another reason keeping records helps.

Changes in your life are evidence too: not sleeping because of prices, work or household tasks going undone, avoiding conversations with family, lying to conceal what is happening. At that point the effects have moved beyond money into health and relationships. If that describes you now, you do not have to handle it alone. In Japan there are public services — consumer affairs centres for debt and contract problems, mental health and welfare centres for problems with dependency, and Houterasu (the Japan Legal Support Center) for legal questions — and most consultations are free. Your local government office can also point you to them. This site gives no medical or legal advice, but it will tell you that places to talk to exist.