Risk & Position Sizing
Different phase, different risk. Get this wrong and even a good model blows the account.
Evaluation Phase
If — and only if — you genuinely trust your model, you can be more aggressive here to pass fast: around 1%, sometimes 2–3% on a high-conviction setup. No real trust yet? Keep it slow at ~1%. Futures evals usually have ~4% drawdown (room for about four losses), forex ~10% (about ten losses).
Funded Phase
Once funded, tone the risk down hard — 0.3–0.6% per trade. That’s roughly seven or eight losses in a row on futures, or twenty-plus on forex, before you’re in trouble. Statistically you shouldn’t blow it unless you hit a genuinely brutal streak.
Contracts, Lots & Limits
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Futures use minis or micros — one mini = ten micros. For an eval, one mini or ~7–8 micros is plenty.
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Forex uses lot sizes — use a lot-size calculator to size off your stop.
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One to two trades per day max — one if you can. Win the first, you’re done; don’t give it back.
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Lose the first? One more only if drawdown allows. Two down on the day — quit. No exceptions.
Real Money
- Treat the demo balance like it’s real money. The capital is simulated — the leverage, and the payouts, are not.
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