📐 How to Use Risk Per Trade to Control Long-Term Growth
🎯 The Lesson
Most traders think growth comes from catching big moves.
Professionals know growth comes from one thing:
👉 controlling how much you risk per trade.
Your risk per trade determines your drawdown, your recovery time, your confidence, and your long-term performance.
If you master this one number, your entire account becomes stable and predictable.
⚙️ Step 1: Choose a Fixed Risk % (The Foundation)
Professional risk ranges:
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0.5% per trade → safest, slow growth
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1% per trade → ideal balance
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2% per trade → aggressive but acceptable
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3%+ → too risky for long-term consistency
The biggest mistake retail traders make is changing risk based on “how they feel.”
Consistency comes from fixed risk, not fluctuating emotions.
🧮 Step 2: Calculate Lot Size After Picking Risk
Always calculate position size after deciding the risk.
Example:
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Account: $5,000
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Risk: 1% = $50
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Stop loss: 25 pips
Lot size = $50 ÷ 25 pips = $2/pip = 0.20 lot
This is professional sizing.
Safe, controlled, consistent.
📉 Step 3: Protect Your Drawdown Curve
The deeper the drawdown, the harder the recovery.
If you risk 1% per trade:
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Worst-case 5-loss streak → –5%
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Recovery needed → 5.26%
If you risk 5% per trade:
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5-loss streak → –25%
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Recovery needed → 33%
Same streak.
Different outcome.
Risk per trade controls how quickly you return to profitability.
📊 Step 4: Control Monthly Growth Through Risk, Not Targets
If your system produces +5R per month on average:
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With 0.5% risk → +2.5% monthly
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With 1% risk → +5% monthly
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With 2% risk → +10% monthly
Your growth rate is simply:
👉 (Monthly R) × (Risk %) = Growth %
You don’t force more trades to grow faster —
you adjust your risk percentage.
🎯 Step 5: Build a Risk Ladder (Professional Method)
Use this progression:
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Risk 0.5% when below last equity high
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Risk 1% when at or near peak equity
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Risk 1.5% when equity curve is stable
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Risk 2% only after several profitable months
This prevents account destruction and allows controlled scaling.
🚀 Takeaway
Your risk per trade is the engine of your trading business.
It decides whether you survive long enough to let your edge work.
Master this one variable — and your long-term growth becomes inevitable.
📢 Join my MQL5 channel for more trading & risk-management insights:
👉 https://www.mql5.com/en/channels/issam_kassas
