The Psychology Behind Winning Trades & Stop Loss Secrets

In this Market Mondays clip, Rashad Bilal, Ian Dunlap, and Troy Millings dive into the nuanced world of trading futures, options, and equities, sharing hard-earned wisdom about stop losses and trading psychology. Ian explains why setting a stop loss that's too tight can sometimes hurt you more than having none at all—citing real examples where traders missed big gains due to overly cautious exits. Troy shares practical insights from his own options trades, discussing thresholds, volatility, and adjusting your strategy based on the company you’re dealing with, whether it’s Nvidia or Microsoft. Together, the hosts talk about the importance of having a clear plan before entering any trade—knowing your entry point, exit, maximum loss, and profit target. They emphasize that trading isn’t just about numbers, but also about mindset: comparison, fear of missing out (FOMO), and the psychological impact of watching others post their wins on social media. Rashad weighs in on running your own race and reminds us not to let other people’s gains dictate our strategy. Tune in for relatable stories, actionable tips, and that signature Market Mondays mentality: focus on your goals, your education, and your own long-term vision in the market. Don’t let fear or comparison ruin your trades—trade smarter, not harder. 👇 Drop your thoughts and trading strategies in the comments! Have you ever experienced a stop loss regret or let FOMO influence your decisions? Let’s discuss! **Hashtags**: #MarketMondays #FuturesTrading #StopLoss #OptionsTrading #TradingPsychology #InvestingTips #RiskManagement #IanDunlap #RashadBilal #TroyMillings #FinanceEducation #RunYourOwnRace #TradingPlan #StockMarket #OvercomingFOMO

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (00:43):
So starting off with trading, what's a futures trading tip
of the week.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
I don't know if I went over this in for
detail before, but to my futures traders, having too type
of a stop loss is almost worse than having no
stop loss at all. A lot of times when we're
looking to get into a move, we're looking to protect
our account, and both of you can speak at us
from the options perspective, but sometimes you can have a

(01:14):
stop loss that is so tight that you don't even
give yourself room to be able to let the move
fully mature.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
So I know somebody.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Last Friday who probably miss out on like sixty grand
having a stop loss at twelve hundred bucks.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Like, I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
If you're trading a bunch of contracts, you want to
have protection, but you need to put your stop loss
in places where the brokerages and competition won't hit your
liquidity sweep zones and stop low zones and hunt there.
And also too, like we were talking to one of
our good friends before this, you have to know the
exit before you get in.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
So if you're going to lose.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Six thousand bucks but the upside is sixty grand, why
cut it off.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
At twelve fifty?

Speaker 3 (01:56):
You go into it knowing put this in chat, go
into it knowing what your maximum loss will be and
what your maximum profit target will be. But having too
tight of a stop loss, damn, there is worse than
having those stop loss at all.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
It's a terrible feeling, it really is. It's a terrible feeling.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
For to go down and then go where you knew
what it was going to go.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Oh my god. Yeah, it's tough. I think that's why
a part of that plan we always talk about having
a plan is figure out what that threshold is. I
know some people don't have a strong threshold, so it
might be a twenty percent pullback, but especially when you're
talking about equities, that's a I mean, that's a correction, right, Yeah.

(02:37):
When you talking about futures and options, that could be
that's a minute, right like that that could be in
five minutes, and so you got to take that into account.
How voltile that these assets moved or these derivatives move,
and so twenty percent it feels like all right, depending
on the company, that feels like it's safe. But you know,
like I've said, I've depended on the company and video

(02:58):
I've done. I've taking a stop loss of because I
understand the company, I understand how the market moves now,
I understand the long term vision for it, which is
why we always buy time. So if you don't have
time in it, right and you're having these you're gonna
lose out. So putting that ThReD I like, and I
know you we've gone back and forth. When I'm doing
an option called thirty to forty, I feel like is

(03:23):
a safe space now depends Like I said, depend on
the company. That'll change my company. Probably. I've changed that
for Microsoft. I've changed that for but like super Micro, right,
once it hits a threshold, I gotta go, I gotta go.
I don't love right. I'm not in love with the

(03:44):
option trade right. It makes sense and I feel like
it can make money. But if it's not making money,
then there's there's another opportunity where we can put that capital.
So have a plan before you enter any position. We
can say it, but most people still don't do it right.
Like we talked about our close friend made money and
now let's trying to figure out what should I do.
I have to know the exit.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
You got to have a planter yep, because you can't
figure out how to assemble a plane on the way down.
I know they love to say that in Silicon Valley,
like figure out how to build a plane on the
way down.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
It doesn't work that way in our life.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
You're gonna crash out every time. And also to even
with the asset they were trading the ees Mini, the
s and P five hundred, I'm like, if you knew
the market was falling, why have such a tight stop
And we've been falling.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
But it's fear. It's fear.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
A lot of it is not knowing your entry, not
knowing your exit when you're going to profit. And then
the other part that isn't talked about enough is you're
doing so many different things when you're trading, you end
up getting confused on how this is going to pan out.
That's why I say trade one way in, one way
out all the time, so you can have a huge
data set to know what the outcome is going to be.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
There's that psychology, and we were like talking about it before,
but it's that psychology. The fear comes because of the
lack of education and preparation, which is underst Annibal. What
is the other side of that? When you see people win, right,
Like if you're like you're watching people, especially when you
watch people on social media, it's like, man, they've have
percentage gains, they've had percentage gains. Psychologically, do you think

(05:14):
that works as a detriment or is it more advantage
to say, oh I should be involved. I often wonder
like how people do that?

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Maybe both were shot?

Speaker 1 (05:24):
What you think?

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, for sure, I think it psychologically definitely plays a
bar as far as investing is concerned, because no one
wants to lose money, and then no one wants to
have somebody make more money than them. So it's a
catch twenty two because you don't want to lose money,
but then the risk of making money, so you you
constantly kind of you know.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Run ways yeap, Yeah, keep your eyes.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
On your own paper. I think that that's a bar
right there, the risk of making money, like you already
that the rest of making money, which is like damn,
that just sounded crazy just.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Now, but that's way I because you're seeing other people
post their games but not always their losses. And on
top of that, when you start to have too much comparison,
that's when the fomo and the overtrading and the over
leveraging really kicks in. It really kicks in. Just focus
on your race.

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