📊 Position Sizing — The Secret Weapon Behind Consistency
🎯 The Lesson
Two traders use the same strategy.
One grows 10% this month.
The other blows the account.
The difference isn’t luck — it’s position sizing.
Your entry doesn’t matter if your size is wrong.
⚙️ The Math Behind Every Trade
Position size = how many lots you open per trade.
The rule is simple: risk a fixed percentage of your capital per trade — usually 1% or 2%.
Example:
-
Account: $10 000
-
Risk per trade: 2% → $200
-
Stop loss: 50 pips
👉 Position size = $200 / 50 = $4 per pip
On a USD pair (where $1 per pip ≈ 0.1 lot):
→ $4 per pip = 0.40 lot
So your position = 0.40 lot.
That’s your max exposure.
No guessing, no emotion — just math.
🧮 Why It Matters
Without consistent sizing, you destroy your risk-to-reward balance.
Risking 5% on one trade and 1% on another makes your strategy’s statistics meaningless.
You can’t measure or improve what you can’t standardize.
Professionals don’t think in wins or losses — they think in R-multiples:
-
Risk = 1R
-
Profit = 2R, 3R, etc.
Keep the “R” constant, and you’ll instantly see whether your edge is real.
🔑 Practical Rule: The 1-2-3 Formula
1️⃣ 1% risk per trade (max 2% on high-probability setups)
2️⃣ 2R minimum target → twice your risk
3️⃣ 3 trades per day max → keeps exposure controlled
Follow this and your account curve will look like a staircase, not a roller coaster.
🚀 Takeaway
Trading isn’t about how many pips you catch — it’s about how much you keep.
Control your size, and you control your business.
📢 Join my MQL5 channel for more trading & risk-management insights:
👉 https://www.mql5.com/en/channels/issam_kassas
