In partnership with
Three years ago,
I thought I'd found "the one."
Beautiful. Flawless. Everything I'd been searching for.
I was so convinced this was it that I went all in.
Risked everything I had.
Put my entire future on the line.
Then,
She betrayed me.
Took everything and left me with nothing.
Here's the thing though...
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Now lets find out who she was
The One That Destroyed Me
She looked perfect.
Daily bias was right. Liquidity was right. Sweep. FVG.
EVERYTHING.
So I did the unthinkable.
I risked my ENTIRE ACCOUNT on that one trade.
NO STOP LOSS.
Instantly fell in love with her.
And guess what?
The first candle on the 5-minute chart that tagged me in wicked me out.
Account blown.
Again
This was personally a low moment for me.
But a necessary one.
The Unsexy Truth Nobody Talks About
It taught me something unsexy.
Risk management.
You see, you can do everything right and still lose.
Welcome to trading.
So even if you have everything - the bias, the sweep, the entry - you still need risk management.
Most traders think they're smarter than the market when they hit a few winners.
They start increasing position sizes.
"This one's different."
"I can feel it."
"The setup is too obvious."
Sound familiar?
I was that guy.
Getting cocky after a string of wins. Thinking I'd cracked the code.
But the market doesn't care about your confidence.
It doesn't care about your perfect analysis.
It cares about liquidity. And sometimes, you become the liquidity.
What Changed Everything
After that disaster, I implemented one simple rule:
I NEVER risk more than 1% per trade.
Ever.
Doesn't matter how "perfect" the setup looks.
Doesn't matter if my grandmother could spot the liquidity sweep.
1%. That's it.
Sounds boring?
Ya it is
Here's what's not boring tho, I haven't blown an account since.
Same setups. Same analysis. Same institutional understanding.
The only difference? I stopped trying to get rich in one trade.
The Real Edge
The edge isn't in finding the perfect setup.
The edge is surviving long enough to find multiple good setups.
When you risk 1%, you can be wrong 20 times and still have 80% of your account.
When you risk 50% (like I did), you can be right 19 times and wrong once, and you're done.
The math is brutal.
But at least it's honest.
Unlike her,
Why This Matters More Than Your Strategy
I've seen traders with terrible strategies make money because they had discipline.
I've seen traders with perfect strategies go broke because they got emotional.
Risk management isn't sexy. It doesn't get views on YouTube.
But it's the difference between trading for 6 months and trading for 6 years.
It's the difference between blowing accounts and building wealth.
It's the difference between hoping and knowing.
The Lesson I Wish Someone Told Me
Your job isn't to be right all the time.
Your job is to be wrong in small amounts and right in big amounts.
Every trade you take should assume you're going to lose.
Not because you're pessimistic.
Just, realistic.
The market will always find new ways to surprise you.
New fundamentals. New algorithms. New liquidity patterns.
But risk management? That never changes.
1% risk.
Always.
No matter how beautiful she is
Because the market will test your discipline before it rewards your analysis.
And I never want another divorce.
Talk Tuesday
Atif
P.S. In case you missed it, we go over risk management to its fullest extent in my free training, A vital skill I wish someone would have shared with me when starting out, check it out here.
