Quote from metromotor:
The biggest problem I see in traders is to let losers run and cut winners short. This was my biggest problem for years.
profits come from luck, small losses come from skill...
I would say that cutting losers short is required if one is going to be one of the survivors. But not all survivors become superstars.
To be a superstar, one must do something that is harder than cutting losses short, and that is letting profits run.
Learning to cut losers is stage one trading. Those who do not learn it might make money, but they will not be able to keep it. I have been trading for almost twelve years, and I remember the times I rode down losers. Boston Chicken, pre-bankruptcy (I got out before, but way, way too late). I don't do that anymore. The pain was too great, and I don't want to go through that again.
Holding on to winners (or getting back in to a position after having already just gotten out of it) is much more difficult. It goes against the cognitive bias of loss aversion. Cutting losers is comparatively easier, since taking losses reinforces the fear that most traders have, deep, deep inside: that they are losers.
But winners have enough faith in their abilities to find winners, and enough confidence in themselves to believe that they deserve to be winners. They also believe that their best trades are in front of them, not behind them, so the losers have to go.
But winners in all areas master what is most difficult, and can perform when the pressure is the greatest. In trading, what is most difficult and what involves the most pressure is one and the same: holding onto winners (or increasing one's exposure when a winner has been found).