Salience theory predicts that individuals regard assets with salient upsides (downsides) appealing (unappealing) in the financial market. In this paper, we find that the salience effect is reference-dependent. The salience effect is strongly significant among stock groups with previous capital losses. We explain our results by the framework of reference-dependent preference: among previous losses, investors tend to break-even and engage in risk-loving behavior, which lead them to prefer high-salient stocks to low-salient ones. Our finding is pronounced among stocks with low institutional ownership, consistent with individual investors’ behavior. The results are amplified during states of high investor sentiment, high market volatility, and high market uncertainty, which provides the reference-dependency of salience theory.