Everyone wants the entry. Almost no one wants the risk lesson — which is exactly why most accounts die. This is the unglamorous math that decides whether you're still trading next year.
Risk a small, fixed percentage per trade (we treat 0.5–1% as the ceiling). The goal isn't to maximise a good day; it's to guarantee you survive a bad streak. A genuine edge at small size compounds; the same edge over-leveraged blows up before it can pay off.
Every trade needs a price that says 'I was wrong' before you enter — a hard stop, not a hope. If you can't define where the idea is invalid, you don't have a trade, you have a gamble. The stop isn't a suggestion; it's the whole risk model.
A 50% drawdown requires a 100% gain just to break even — losses hurt asymmetrically. That's why controlling the downside matters more than chasing the upside. Position sizing is the single biggest lever over your long-term equity curve, bigger than your entry method.
Most courses skip this because it isn't sexy. We lead with it because it's the only part that guarantees you're around long enough for the edge to work. Risk first, entries second.