Never let a profitable trade turn into a losing one. Your bottom line must rise step by step as your profits grow. This isn’t just about stop-loss. Think of it like climbing Mount Everest. You can’t just rush to the summit in one go. You need to reach Camp 1, then Camp 2. If the weather suddenly changes, you don’t need to retreat all the way back to base camp—you just need to fall back to the previous camp to stay safe. Trading works exactly the same way. For example, you buy an asset at $10, and your initial stop-loss is set at $8. If you’re lucky and the market moves in your favor, the price rises to $13. At this point, most beginners are fixated on hitting $15 or even $20, already fantasizing about how much money they’ll make and what car they’ll buy. But their stop-loss is still sitting at $8. That’s where the trouble begins. If the market suddenly turns and the price drops from $13 to $11, their mindset collapses. They think, ‘I didn’t sell when I was up $3, so selling now would mean I’m losing out.’ So, they hold on stubbornly. When it falls back to $10, they think, ‘It’s bound to bounce back, right?’ Eventually, it breaks below $8, and they’re forced to sell in despair. What would a smart trader do? When the price hits $13, they would have quietly moved their stop-loss up to $11—or at the very least, to their breakeven point at $10. That’s what zero-cost trading looks like.