Hedging
Taking an offsetting position to reduce a specific risk — trading away some potential upside in exchange for protection against a particular loss.
Hedging is buying a form of insurance against a risk: holding an asset or position that tends to rise when the thing you own falls, so the two partly cancel. Gold or defensive positioning can play this role at times.
A hedge is rarely free — it usually costs a little return in calm periods in exchange for a cushion in stressed ones. The aim is not to remove risk entirely, which is impossible, but to shape it into something an investor can live with.