Most traders risk too much capital on individual trades, even when they're profitable. Kardec Trader shows how journaling reveals dangerous patterns: risking $20,000 to make $20,000, or $500 to make $200. Without proper position sizing and stop placement, a winning streak can still blow up your account.
Risking $20,000 to make $20,000.
A $30,000 or $40,000 day.
Risking $500 to make $200.
Based on my stop and based on what I was going to risk on this trade, I was risking 20,000 to make 20,000. That's not sustainable. That's not a good trade. Even though I made 20 grand, it's not a good trade. And we have to be honest with ourselves with these type of things. So I highly recommend journal all your trades, look at where your stops were, look at if you were wrong, do those stops make sense? And if they do make sense, then look at the outcome of the trade. Do that with all your trades and you start seeing patterns. Right? Because I see traders, they come in, they have three or four weeks of profitability and they make a lot of money. One week wipes it all out because they're on this three week journey or period where they're risking 500 to make 200. And then when that risk catches up to them, they lose it all. And there's a lot of times, guys, for myself, I've had days where I literally had a 30 or $40,000 day. And I go back to that trade and I journal and I recap and I go, well.
