How much should I risk per trade?

The classic answer is 1–2% of account equity per trade, and it survives scrutiny: at 1% risk, a brutal streak of 10 straight losses costs about 10% of the account — recoverable; at 10% risk the same streak is a 65% hole that requires tripling your money to climb out of. Position size is what turns a losing streak from an annoyance into a funeral.

Risk-per-trade means distance to your stop, not position value: risking 1% with a stop 5% away means position size = 20% of equity. Our position-size calculator does this arithmetic, and backtests can enforce the rule automatically so the tested strategy and the traded one size identically.