Risk management is the single biggest differentiator between traders who survive their first year and those who don't. Before thinking about entries or indicators, professional traders define exactly how much of their capital is exposed on any single idea.
The 1% rule is a simple starting point: never risk more than 1% of your account equity on a single trade. With a $10,000 account, that means your maximum loss per position — from entry to stop — should not exceed $100. This keeps a losing streak survivable and removes emotional pressure from individual trades.
Position sizing follows directly from your stop distance. If your stop is 50 pips away and your risk budget is $100, your position size is whatever makes 50 pips equal $100. The platform's built-in risk calculator does this automatically for every instrument.
Finally, track everything. A trading journal that records your planned risk, actual outcome and the reasoning behind each trade will reveal patterns in your behaviour that no indicator ever will.
Put it into practice
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