Institutions don’t “buy the dip.

4 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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Kosta Ouzas delivers a short monologue advising realistic expectations for trading systems: a well-designed, risk-controlled system typically yields about 3–5% per month (not every month and not smooth). Returns substantially above that sustained level usually reflect excess risk, which tends to reveal itself later. He emphasizes that to reach a dollar target (e.g., $10,000/month) the practical first question is capital sizing: how much capital is required so that a 3–5% monthly return equals the target, rather than chasing higher percentage returns.

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So from everything I've seen running my own capital, running client capital, and observing six and seven figure accounts over time, the realistic range for a well designed risk controlled trading system is about 3 to 5% per month. Not every month, not perfectly smooth, but consistently over long periods. Anything meaningfully above that on a sustained basis usually comes from one thing, and that's excess risk. And excess risk always, always shows up later. So if the goal is $10,000 per month, the first step isn't to ask how do I make more percent? The second, the first step is to ask a much more boring but more important question. How much capital do I need so that 3 to 5% equals $10,000?