Position sizing — how much you risk on each trade — is the most underrated skill in trading. Your edge decides whether you win over time; your sizing decides whether you survive long enough to see it. Most blown accounts are sizing failures, not strategy failures.
Risk a percent, not a lot count
The professional standard is fixed-fractional sizing: risk a small, fixed percentage of your account per trade — often 0.5% to 1%. Because it scales with your balance, it shrinks your bets after losses and grows them after wins, which is exactly the behaviour that protects you.
Why 1% feels small and works
At 1% risk, a brutal ten-loss streak costs about 10% — recoverable. At 5% risk, that same ordinary streak costs 40% or more, and you may never come back. Small per-trade risk is what makes a normal losing run survivable instead of terminal.
Size from your stop, not a fixed lot
Correct sizing works backwards from your stop: given the dollars you are willing to lose and the distance to your stop, the position size falls out. That way every trade risks the same amount regardless of how wide or tight the stop is.
Get the size right every time
NEXALIONE includes a lot-size and risk calculator so every position risks exactly what you intend. Start free.