The TradLyt Blog

Deep dives on trading behaviour, exit quality, and the leaks that quietly cost Indian retail traders money.

• Behaviour beats the chart: what thousands of trades told us about winning — We split thousands of swing trades two ways — by how the trader behaved, and by how strong the stock's setup was. Behaviour swung the loss rate by roughly 6×. A strong stock never rescued a bad trade. Here's why TradLyt puts your process, not your pick, at the centre.
• The money your exits leave on the table (and how to measure it) — Most Indian traders spend 90% of their prep on entries and almost none on exits — yet your exit, not your entry, decides your P&L. A complete guide to measuring exit quality with MFE, MAE, exit efficiency and the frameworks that fix it.
• Expiry gambling: the lottery ticket that feels like trading — Buying cheap far-OTM NIFTY, BANKNIFTY and SENSEX options on expiry day feels like a smart asymmetric bet. It's a lottery ticket — and buying one every week is a reliable way to bleed. Here's the psychology, the math, and a framework to stop.
• Inconsistent sizing: when your biggest bets are your worst ideas — If your position size swings with your mood instead of your risk, one impulsive trade can undo weeks of good ones. A complete guide to why consistent, risk-based sizing quietly beats being right — and how to build it.
• The afternoon collapse: why your P&L bleeds after lunch — Many Indian traders make their money before noon and give it back after 1 PM — not because the market turned, but because fatigue, boredom and tilt did. A complete guide to spotting the afternoon collapse in your own data and building the rules that stop it.
• Overtrading: when activity feels like progress — More trades feel like more chances to win. Usually they're more chances to pay brokerage and make tired decisions. A complete guide to telling your edge-trades from your boredom-trades — the myths, the psychology, the real cost, and a framework to cap it.
• Ignoring your stop-loss: the rule you keep renegotiating — A stop you move, widen, or never place isn't a stop — it's a suggestion. Why the discipline breaks exactly when it matters most, and a framework to make it hold: real orders at entry, tighten-only, size from the stop, a daily loss cap.
• Averaging down: adding good money to a bad trade — Lowering your average by buying more as it falls feels like conviction. Usually it's a losing trade you haven't admitted to yet. Here's the psychology, the real math, and a framework to tell a planned scale-in from a panic rescue.
• Paper hands: cutting winners before they pay you — The mirror image of holding losers — bailing on winners the moment they turn green. Why it feels smart, how it quietly caps your upside, and a rule-based framework to fix it without round-tripping.
• Holding losers: hope is not a stop-loss — Refusing to cut a losing trade is the single most expensive habit in retail trading. Why 'it'll come back' feels safe, what it really costs, and a framework — hard stops, max-loss caps, a 'would I buy it today?' test — to break it.
• FOMO entries: why chasing the move usually pays the worst price — Entering after a stock or option has already run is the most natural mistake in Indian retail trading — and one of the costliest. Here's the psychology of the chase, the math that makes it a losing bet, and a framework to catch it before you click.
• Revenge trading: the ₹ you lose trying to win it back — The trade you take right after a loss — to 'get it back' — tends to be your worst. Here's the psychology behind revenge trading, how it quietly compounds your losses, and a concrete framework (cooldowns, daily-loss stops, pre-committed size) to break it.