“You must avoid all drawdowns.” It’s a common misconception — the belief that professional traders avoid losses completely, and that drawdowns are a sign of failure. But in reality, drawdowns are an unavoidable part of trading, even for the best in the world. The key to success is not avoiding them entirely, but understanding, managing, and recovering from them with discipline and control. Let’s explore why drawdowns are not only inevitable, but essential for growth — and how you can navigate them without damaging your long-term performance.

Drawdowns are part of every profitable system

All trading strategies have periods of underperformance due to:

• Market regime changes
• Random distribution of outcomes
• News volatility or low liquidity
• Emotional lapses in execution

A 60% win rate still means 4 losses out of every 10 trades. Drawdowns are built into the math — not a sign that something’s broken.

Trying to avoid all drawdowns leads to bigger problems

Traders who fear drawdowns often:

• Over-optimise strategies to avoid losses
• Close trades too early out of fear
• Skip high-probability setups after a loss
• Jump from system to system without consistency

This creates inconsistency, emotional fatigue, and underperformance — not safety.

The real skill is in managing drawdowns

Professional traders accept drawdowns and focus on:

• Sizing down when conditions change
• Sticking to risk parameters even during losing streaks
• Analysing whether the drawdown is structural (edge decay) or statistical (normal variance)
• Journaling and reflecting without panic
• Rebounding with process — not revenge trades

This turns drawdowns into feedback loops, not fatal errors.

Drawdowns teach emotional resilience

Experiencing a drawdown:

• Reveals your emotional triggers
• Tests your commitment to process
• Strengthens your ability to detach from outcomes
• Builds confidence that you can handle setbacks

These are the traits that separate professionals from amateurs. Resilience is forged in drawdowns — not in winning streaks.

Your worst drawdowns often lead to your biggest breakthroughs

Many traders report that their most painful drawdowns:

• Forced them to re-evaluate strategy flaws
• Led to better journaling and data tracking
• Improved their patience, selectivity, and risk tolerance

Trying to skip this phase may deny you the growth needed to level up.

Conclusion: Must you avoid all drawdowns?

No — you don’t need to avoid all drawdowns. You need to plan for them, manage them, and learn from them. The mark of a skilled trader is not avoiding pain — it’s thriving through it with structure, patience, and control.

A drawdown is not the end of your edge — it’s a test of it.

Build your drawdown resilience, risk strategy, and trading confidence with our performance-focused Trading Courses designed to help you trade like a pro — even when the market doesn’t go your way.