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Trading Without a Stop: What It Really Costs

Trading without a stop can give you a very high win rate, right up to the day one loss wipes out weeks of small wins. Here's the arithmetic.

Written By

Karolina Hansen

Updated 26/10/2026 · 5 min read

ForexGold

Key Takeaways

With no stop, you tend to hold losing trades until they come back, and that pushes the win rate up.
The ones that don't come back turn into very big losses.
Even at a 90% win rate, a few big losses can wipe out a long run of small wins.
If you keep moving the stop further away after entry, you might as well not have one.
Keep track of how many of your trades had a stop at entry, and how the ones without a stop turned out.

Some traders skip the stop because they're sick of being 'stopped out and then watching price turn'. Others tell themselves they'll close it by hand if it goes wrong. Either way, it often looks fine for a while. The win rate is high and the account creeps up. Then one or two trades arrive that don't turn, and the loss can be bigger than everything the wins made.

Why No-Stop Trading Feels Fine

Losers get a second chance

When a trade goes against you, you can sit in it until it comes back.

Small wins pile up

Lots of trades close with a small profit, and it feels like it's working.

One trade does not come back

Then nothing is there to stop the loss.

Your win rate tells you how often you won. It doesn't tell you how much you lost the times you didn't.

Ten Trades, With and Without a Stop

Illustrative example. A trader takes ten gold trades with no stop. Nine get held until they're in profit and closed at +$40 each. The tenth just keeps going the wrong way and finally gets closed at −$500.

Illustrative example: ten trades with no stop ($)

Trade 1+$40

Trade 2+$40

Trade 3+$40

Trade 4+$40

Trade 5+$40

Trade 6+$40

Trade 7+$40

Trade 8+$40

Trade 9+$40

Trade 10−$500

Illustrative journal data. Win rate 90%. Total: 9 × $40 − $500 = $360 − $500 = −$140.

Now take the same ten entries with a stop that risks $50 on each. Say two of the nine winners dipped through the stop before recovering, so they become −$50 losses. The big loser gets capped at −$50 too.

	No stop	Stop risking $50
Wins	9 × +$40 = +$360	7 × +$40 = +$280
Losses	1 × −$500 = −$500	3 × −$50 = −$150
Win rate	90%	70%
Total	−$140	+$130

Total for the ten trades (worked example)

No stop, 90% win rate−$140

With stop, 70% win rate+$130

Worked example. The stop cut the win rate and still finished with the better total, because it capped the one big loss.

The Win Rate You Need

How often you need to win just to break even comes down to the size of your average win and your average loss. Break-even win rate = average loss ÷ (average win + average loss).

Win rate needed to break even (worked example)

No stop: win $40, loss $50093%

With stop: win $40, loss $5056%

500 ÷ (40 + 500) ≈ 92.6%. 50 ÷ (40 + 50) ≈ 55.6%. Without the stop, even winning 90% of the time isn't enough.

Moved Stops Count Too

If you place a stop and then drag it further away every time price gets close, you've got the same problem as having no stop. You planned to risk $50, you keep widening it, and the real loss ends up at $100, $150 or worse. Moving a stop closer to lock in profit is a different thing. That takes risk off the table.

Stop moved away

Widened after entry

Puts more money at risk
Usually done in a panic, with price a few points away
Turns the loss you planned into a bigger one

Stop moved closer

Tightened or to break-even

Takes money off the table
Can be written into your plan
Will stop you out early on some winners

Checking Your Stop Discipline

How many of your trades had a stop in place when you entered?
How did the trades without a stop do in total? Not how often they won, but what they added up to.
How many times did you move a stop further away, and what did those trades end up losing?
Look at your five biggest losses. How many had no stop, or a stop you moved?

A stop won't always fill at the exact price. In a fast market, or when gold gaps over the weekend, you can get slippage. It still limits the loss far better than having nothing there.

Your TradersGrowth Journal tracks this in the Stop discipline card. It shows how many trades you entered with a stop, how the ones without a stop did, and how often you moved stops.

See how your trades actually did with a stop and without one.

Open Your Journal

Frequently Asked Questions

Not really. A mental stop only works if you act at the right moment, and that's hardest to do when the trade is going badly. A stop sitting with your broker works even if you've gone to make a cup of tea.

Usually it's a few big losses outweighing lots of small wins. Compare your average loss with your average win, and check whether the big losses came from trades with no stop.

You can, but until it's in, nothing limits the loss. Put the stop on as part of the order and that gap disappears.

Educational content only, not financial advice. Examples are illustrative arithmetic and exclude costs. Trading involves risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results.

Continue learning

Price Action Trading: Reading the Chart Without IndicatorsThe basics of price action trading. How to read the market without indicators and base your decisions on what price is actually doing.

Also worth reading: Risk Management Basics: Decide What You Can Lose Before You Trade · What Is Liquidity in Trading?