No if you did nothing, more people actually end up dying like what the trolley problem illustrates. Whatever excuses that you come up with do not exonerate you from the consequences due to your inaction. This is what this video is trying to illustrate. I think what we traders are facing is even tougher. We are actually expected to make decisions based on unknown outcomes. At least in the trolley problem, the outcomes are known and with 100% certainty. If you don't switch the tracks, 5 people will be dead and if you do, only 1 person will die and the deaths will be for certain. There is no possibility of these people somehow being able to get off the tracks at the last minute or somehow superman or Ironman will swoop in and get them off the tracks at the last minute. But for us traders the outcomes of our trades are not 100% certain. One of the scenarios that we traders most frequently face that resembles the trolley problem is whether to cut losses when facing a losing trade. If we don't cut losses, the losses would be bigger but they are all paper losses but if we do cut losses, the losses would be smaller but it would be an actual realized loss but the problem is the probability of the magnitude of the losses is unknown because there is always a chance that the loss could be all reversed back into a profit so if we really do cut losses we would be stuck with a real loss when we could've been in a profit if we had toughed it out and not cut loss. In other words, using the trolley problem situation, when the train is fast approaching the 5 people standing on track 1, there might be a chance that Superman or Ironman could swoop in at the last minute and get those five people off the tracks so if we didn't switch the tracks, we could've saved everybody with no sacrifices but if we switched the tracks from track 1 to track 2, we would've caused the death of this 1 person on track 2. Yes the loss of life is smaller but it would be an actual death whereas if we had waited for Superman or Ironman we would've had no deaths; everybody gets to live. But the problem is we don't know what's the possibility of Superman or Ironman showing up. They might show up or they might not show up at all or they show up late (in that case we end up with all 5 people dead which is the equivalent of us sustaining a much bigger loss because we didn't stop-loss). So for us traders, we not only have to deal with the dilemma of the trolley problem by making split-second decisions but we had to make those decisions with unknown possibilities which further complicates the trolley problem that the video didn't really explore. I guess the next time when we didn't make the best decision in hindsight, we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves.
I think you are over analysing, a trader can (and should) set a stop loss when they enter, either fixed or trailing. No need for moral dilemmas or high stress decision making under pressure about exiting a position to take a loss.
Still not negating the true nature of the dilemma and the consequences of our decisions as well as its difficulty.
Trading is hard work and requires traders to follow a strict discipline and calmness to understand and follow the rules. Most of the traders find it difficult to follow these rules and eventually make trading hard.
trading is too hard above all for beginners level , because there is no one who can predict the real faction of this market with certainly.
Buy1Sell2 has a Journal that he talks about his trades in ES. I peek in from time to time and he seems to be pretty successful.