“All losses must be reviewed in depth.” It sounds like responsible advice — and reviewing your trades is absolutely essential. But in practice, not every single loss deserves a deep dive. Some losses are simply the cost of doing business — they followed your plan, met your criteria, and just didn’t work out. The key is to know which losses require investigation — and which don’t. Let’s explore how to review trades with purpose, so you improve without wasting time or spiralling into over-analysis.

Trading is a game of probabilities — not perfection

Even high-probability trades will lose. If you have a 60% win rate, 4 out of 10 trades will fail — and that’s expected. Reviewing every one of those trades as if something went wrong is:

• Time-consuming
• Emotionally exhausting
• Likely to lead to over-adjusting your edge

Losses that followed your plan and met your rules don’t need deep analysis — they need acceptance.

Which losses should you review deeply?

You should zoom in when the loss was due to:

• Breaking your rules (e.g., overleveraging, moving stops)
• Poor execution (late entry, hesitation, premature exit)
• Misreading market context (trading against major news or trend)
• Emotional triggers (fear, FOMO, revenge trading)
• Systemic flaws (e.g., your strategy underperforms in current volatility)

These reviews help you identify patterns and prevent avoidable losses in the future.

Losses that follow the plan are feedback, not failure

If a loss followed:

• Your entry rules
• Your risk management plan
• Your trade plan and exit conditions

Then it’s a valid trade — even if it didn’t pay. Reviewing these should be quick:

• Did I follow my system?
• Was this a statistically expected loss?
• Any sign I misjudged context?

If the answer is “no issues,” move on.

Over-reviewing leads to system doubt

If you analyse every single loss deeply, you may:

• Begin tweaking your system unnecessarily
• Doubt valid setups
• Abandon a good edge during normal drawdowns

This creates inconsistency — the very thing reviews are meant to eliminate. Review with intent, not emotion.

Use a structured review process

To avoid spiralling, use a checklist like:

1. Was this a clean setup?
2. Did I execute according to plan?
3. Was risk managed properly?
4. Was the loss part of normal strategy behaviour?
5. If not — what can I learn?

This helps you differentiate random variance from real mistakes.

Conclusion: Must all losses be reviewed in depth?

No — not all losses need a deep review. Only those that stem from rule-breaking, poor execution, emotional decisions, or strategy flaws warrant detailed attention. Losses that follow your plan are part of the game — accept them, log them, and move forward.

Smart review isn’t about analysing more — it’s about analysing better.

Build a review system that sharpens your edge with our results-driven Trading Courses, designed to help you learn from the right losses — and let go of the rest.