Revenge trading is taking a trade to win back a loss rather than because the setup is there. Everyone knows it is a mistake. Nearly everyone does it, because from inside the session it does not feel like revenge — it feels like opportunity.
It is much easier to see afterwards, in the record of what you did.
What tilt looks like in the data
Look at the trades that came right after a loss, and compare them with the rest:
- Size goes up. The trade after a loss is bigger than your normal size, to get the money back faster.
- Time between trades shrinks. Re-entry within minutes of a stop-out, often in the same direction.
- Stops get wider or vanish. The next trade has no stop, or one placed further away "to give it room".
- Averaging down. Adding to a losing position instead of exiting it.
- Trade count spikes. A session with three times your usual number of trades is rarely three times as many setups.
- Results get worse, not just more frequent. The trades after two or three losses in a row have a lower average R than your baseline.
If two or three of these show up together after losses, that is the pattern.
Why willpower is not the fix
The urge arrives exactly when judgment is weakest: after a loss, while the adrenaline is still up. A resolution made the night before is competing with that and usually loses. What works is a decision made in advance that does not need to be remade in the moment.
Rules that interrupt it
- Maximum consecutive losses. After N losses in a row, stop for the session. Pick N from your expected losing streak, not from how you feel — losing streaks are math has the table.
- Maximum daily loss. A hard floor for the day.
- Require a stop on every order. Removes the "no stop this time" trade.
- No averaging down. Adding to a losing position is not allowed.
- Maximum trades per session. Caps the spike.
- Fixed maximum risk per trade. Keeps the trade after a loss the same size as the one before it.
Backcandle's discipline rules cover all six. Each can be set to warn — the order goes through and the breach is recorded — or to block the order outright. Exits are never blocked, so a rule cannot trap you in a position. At the end of each session the report card shows a discipline score and which rules were broken, so the pattern becomes visible across sessions rather than only in the moment.
Practise the stop, not just the setup
Tilt is a response to losses, so it can only be practised with losses. Replay sessions over volatile periods — a crash like FTX is a good one — produce plenty of them. Running those with the rules in "block" mode first and "warn" mode later is a way to build the habit of stopping before it is needed with real money.