Risk Management Basics 95% of Traders IgnoreWhen traders try to improve their results, they often jump straight to indicators, new setups, or refined entries.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Most traders don’t fail because of their strategy — they fail because they don’t control their risk.
Let’s break down the two fundamentals that separate professionals from the 95%:
1️⃣ The 1% Rule: Your Built-In Survival System
Most beginners risk 5–20% per trade.
Professionals risk a maximum of 1%. Why?
Because the goal isn’t to win every trade — the goal is to stay in the game long enough for your edge to play out.
Risking only 1% means:
✔ A losing streak won’t destroy your account
✔ Your emotions stay stable and rational
✔ Your system has room to unfold statistically
✔ You avoid the #1 account killer: overexposure
Here’s the key mindset shift:
Risk management is not about fear — it’s about increasing your probability of long-term profitability.
2️⃣ Positive Expectancy: The Math Behind Winning Traders
Most traders judge a setup based on the last one or two trades.
Professionals evaluate it based on expectancy — the average profit per trade across a large sample.
Here’s a simple example:
Win rate: 40%
Average win: +60 pips
Average loss: –30 pips
Expectancy =
(0.4 × 60) – (0.6 × 30) = +6 pips per trade
Meaning:
You can lose more trades than you win — and still be profitable.
This is the principle beginners never understand.
A system with positive expectancy + 1% risk per trade becomes extremely powerful.
You stop caring about individual losses and start thinking in probabilities, not emotions.
The Truth Most Traders Miss
➡️ Risk management is the strategy.
➡️ Expectancy matters more than your win rate.
➡️ Risking 1% won’t make you rich fast — but it will prevent you from blowing up.
➡️ Trading becomes easier when you remove the illusion of certainty.
If traders spent more time understanding expectancy and risk instead of chasing “perfect setups,” half of their frustration would disappear overnight.
Thanks for reading — and have a disciplined start to your trading week!
If you found this post valuable, let me know in the comments.
I might create a full series on applied risk management and expectancy modeling.
Jonas Lumpp
Speechless Trading
Disclaimer: This tutorial is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Its goal is to help traders develop a professional mindset, improve risk management, and make more structured trading decisions.
Speechlesstrading
The Anatomy of a Good Trade: Focus on Decisions, Not ResultsLet's find out - what is a good trade?
Most beginners answer: a trade that makes money.
But in professional trading, a good trade has nothing to do with the outcome.
It has everything to do with the quality of the decision.
1️⃣ A good trade starts with an A-Setup:
An A-Setup is not a feeling — it’s a repeatable pattern with structure and logic.
✔ Clear market context
✔ Direction aligned with market structure
✔ Liquidity levels identified
✔ Entry trigger confirmed
✔ Risk defined before the trade
If one of these is missing, it’s no longer an A-Setup — it’s hope.
2️⃣ A good trade has positive expectancy:
Winning one trade means nothing. Winning a sample size of 100 tells you everything.
A positive expectancy means your setup:
loses small - wins bigger - and performs consistently over time
You don’t need to win every trade — you need a system where the average outcome is in your favor.
3️⃣ A good trade follows process, not emotion:
A professional doesn’t judge a trade by profit or loss. They judge it by one question:
“Did I execute my plan without breaking the rules?”
If yes → it was a good trade. Even if it ended in a loss.
Because long-term success comes from repeatable behavior, not from chasing single outcomes.
The Truth:
➡️ A good trade is not defined by green or red.
➡️ A good trade is defined by discipline, structure, and execution.
If beginners understood this idea, half of their frustration would disappear.
Thanks for reading, and have a great start to your trading week!
Let us know in the comments if you found this post valuable - and we might create a full series on applied trading psychology.
Jonas Lumpp
Speechless Trading
Disclaimer: This tutorial is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Its goal is to help traders develop a professional mindset, improve risk management, and make more structured trading decisions.
Start Thinking Like a Trader – Not a Gambler.Most people don’t lose in trading because they lack knowledge — they lose because they think the wrong way.
They chase signals, follow the noise, and react emotionally to every candle. They trade out of fear when the market drops, and out of greed when it rises. They believe the next trade will finally make everything right.
But real trading doesn’t work like that.
A real trader knows: the market owes you nothing. Every trade carries uncertainty. You can’t control outcomes — only your decisions.
That’s why traders think in probabilities, not certainties. They understand that a single trade means nothing, but consistent execution over time means everything.
Professional traders don’t rely on luck.
They plan every move before entering:
-> They define their entry and exit.
-> They set a stop-loss to protect their capital.
-> They accept that losses are part of the business, not a reflection of their skill.
Risk control is the foundation — without it, even the best strategy will fail.
Because the goal is not to win every trade. The goal is to stay in the game long enough for your edge to play out.
Think like a trader:
-> Focus on the process, not just the result.
-> React to what you see, not what you feel.
-> Stay calm, even when the market tests your patience.
-> Be consistent, even when emotions push you off balance.
-> Keep learning — the best traders are lifelong students of the market.
Trading isn’t gambling. It’s a business built on discipline, strategy, and mindset.
And once you truly start thinking like a trader, you’ll realize: you don’t need to predict the market — you just need to prepare for it.
Thanks for reading, and have a great start to your trading week!
Let us know in the comments if you found this post valuable - and we might create a full series on applied trading psychology.
Jonas Lumpp
Speechless Trading
Disclaimer: This tutorial is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Its goal is to help traders develop a professional mindset, improve risk management, and make more structured trading decisions.


