In our last post, we discovered how expectancy works like a compass — giving us direction and helping us see the road ahead of our trading account. But a compass alone won’t move you forward. To actually get anywhere, you need an engine. And that engine is risk management. Many traders spend years looking for the “perfect” trading system, only to ruin it by stepping too hard on the gas. They don’t blow up because their strategy was flawed — they blow up because their risk was. Risk per Trade: The Accelerator and the Brake Think of risk per trade as the pressure you put on the accelerator. Risk too little, and your system barely moves. Risk too much, and you spin out of control. When you risk a fixed fraction of your account, every trade slightly changes the size of the next one. This creates compounding — the same principle that builds fortunes when handled with care, but wipes accounts when abused. The key takeaway is simple: risk is the throttle of your system. Push it wisely. Drawdo...