This module is not pleasant to read. It is meant to shock you, to stay with you, and to keep you from becoming a statistic. 89% of retail traders lose money. This module exists so that you are not one of them.
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01 The figures, as they are
Let's start with what the public data says, without softening it or dramatizing it. These figures are not here to discourage you — they are here so that you know what you are signing up for, which is what nobody bothers to tell you before you have deposited.
European brokers are required to display the percentage of their retail clients who lose money. Each broker calculates that figure on its own client base and publishes it under regulatory obligation. It generally sits between 74% and 89%.
Read it properly: it does not say that 80% of people are bad at this. It says that over a given period, roughly four accounts out of five are losing money. Some of those accounts belong to beginners who will give up; others to people who are still learning.
What you hear
What the data says
"90% of traders lose"
74 to 89% of accounts are losing over the period measured (AMF, ESMA)
"All you need is a good method"
Studies on real data point above all to position size and frequency
"The pros win all the time"
Professional fund managers aim for a few points above an index, not for multiples
"You can live off trading in 6 months"
No public data supports that claim
Sources: publications on CFDs from the AMF, France's financial regulator, and from ESMA, the European securities regulator, together with the mandatory disclosures of regulated brokers in Europe.
Why this module exists
The four previous modules gave you vocabulary, calculations, methods. None of that will protect you against the three things that actually make accounts disappear: a well-built scam, an emotional mechanism you did not see coming, and burnout.
Those three causes have one thing in common: knowledge does not defeat them. You can understand revenge trading perfectly well and still do it that same evening. That is why every chapter ends with a physical constraint rather than with a piece of advice.
What these figures do not say. They do not say that succeeding is impossible. They say that most people fail, which is a different statement — and that the causes of that failure are largely known and avoidable. Almost everything that follows in this module describes situations you can see coming. That is exactly why it is worth reading beforehand, and not afterwards.
Worth remembering
Between 74% and 89% of retail accounts are losing money: that figure is published under regulatory obligation.
The three main causes of an account disappearing have nothing to do with technique.
They are neutralized by physical constraints, never by knowledge alone.
Put it into practice
Look up your broker's figure
1Open your broker's website and look for the regulatory disclosure giving the percentage of losing accounts. It has to be there.
2Write that figure down. It is the population you are joining.
3Before you go any further, write down the amount you could lose in full without it changing anything at all in your life.
4That amount is your absolute deposit ceiling, across all accounts combined.
02 Recognizing a scam
Trading scams are an organized industry, with their scripts, their conversion funnels and their sales teams. They do not target the naive: they target people in a hurry, people who are alone, and people who have just lost money. Here is how they work, in detail.
The typical sequence
Almost all of them follow the same progression, because it has been optimized. Recognizing it at step 2 saves you steps 3 to 6.
1The contact. An ad on a social network, a private message, or a call from an "adviser". The pretext varies; the opening line always mentions an unusual return.
2Social proof. Screenshots of gains, testimonials, lifestyle. All of it can be manufactured in a few minutes.
3The small deposit. You are invited to start with €250. The amount is calibrated to be painless.
4The first win. Your account shows a quick profit. Sometimes you can even withdraw a small sum — that is the scammer investing in your trust.
5The escalation. You are encouraged to deposit more, often with a "bonus" that contractually locks your withdrawals.
6The block. Withdrawal becomes impossible: unexpected fees, tax to be paid up front, a verification that never completes.
7The second scam. Months later, someone contacts you to "recover your lost funds", for a fee. It is the same team.
The signals that never lie
The one habit that really protects you. Before any deposit, look up the company's name in the public register of the regulator it claims to be authorized by — the official register, not the company's own website. In France, the AMF publishes a list of unauthorized sites, and a number to call to check. That check takes three minutes and rules out very nearly every scam.
What should make you walk away
They contact you; you asked for nothing
A specific return is promised or implied
A "personal adviser" follows your account
A bonus is offered on deposit
You are rushed: limited offer, a place to grab
Withdrawal requires a payment first
What a real broker looks like
You went looking for it; it did not find you
No promise of return, ever
No personal sales handling
No bonus, ever
No urgency: the markets will still be there tomorrow
Free withdrawal, back to the source account, within a few days
What makes these scams work
It needs saying plainly: the victims are not naive. These setups exploit ordinary psychological mechanisms — the reciprocity created by the small win you are allowed to take, the step-by-step commitment that makes walking away costly, the shame that stops you telling the people close to you.
That shame is in fact the scammers' main ally: it delays the report and makes the second scam easier. If this has happened to you, it is neither a lack of intelligence nor a flaw of character — and reporting it is still useful, even late.
The script barely ever varies. Recognizing it at the second step costs three minutes of checking; recognizing it at the sixth costs the whole deposit.
Worth remembering
The sequence is always the same: unsolicited contact, small deposit, first win, escalation, block.
A real broker does not cold-call you, promises no return, and hands out no bonus.
Check the regulator's public register before any deposit. Three minutes, and most of the risk is gone.
Put it into practice
Check, and report
1Check your current broker right now in the official register of the regulator it claims to be authorized by.
2Look at the blacklist published by the AMF to make sure it is not on it.
3If you are currently in touch with an "adviser" who approached you, cut contact without negotiating. Negotiation is part of their script.
4If you have already deposited with an unregulated operator, report it to the AMF and file a complaint. Never send more money to "unlock" funds.
03 Leverage, in detail
The Basics module introduced leverage as a multiplier. This chapter goes further and shows the precise mechanism by which it destroys an account — the margin call — which many people discover on the day it fires.
A reminder: leverage lets you control a position larger than your capital. It changes neither your analysis nor your expectancy. It changes one single thing: the distance between your current position and liquidation.
Margin and liquidation
When you open a leveraged position, the broker sets aside a fraction of your capital: the required margin. As long as your unrealized losses stay moderate, all is well. When your available capital falls below a threshold — often 50% of the required margin — the broker automatically closes your positions.
This mechanism is not a punishment: it protects the broker, and it protects you from a negative balance. But it has one formidable consequence. Liquidation comes at the worst moment, on a violent move, and you leave the market exactly when volatility is at its highest — often just before price comes back.
Leverage
Margin on a €10,000 position
Move before a margin call
How often such a move happens
1:5
€2,000
≈ 10%
a few times a year
1:10
€1,000
≈ 5%
several times a month
1:30
€333
≈ 1.7%
almost every week
1:100
€100
≈ 0.5%
several times a day
1:500
€20
≈ 0.1%
constantly
Calculations for a single position, with the margin call at 50%. The frequencies are orders of magnitude on a major currency pair.
The last column is the only one that counts. At 1:500, a 0.1% move is enough — that is the market's ordinary noise, the kind that happens several times an hour. An account at that leverage is not exposed to market risk: it is exposed to the randomness of the next few minutes.
Why some brokers offer 1:500. High leverage mechanically produces fast liquidations and frequent new deposits. That is a business model, not a service. Regulated brokers in Europe are capped at 30:1 on major pairs — not out of excessive caution, but because the regulator observed the link between high leverage and the destruction of retail accounts.
Leverage does not change your analysis: it changes how far you are from a forced exit. At 1:500, that distance is shorter than the market's ordinary noise.
Worked example
The same trade, two levels of leverage, one night
Two traders take exactly the same position on EUR/USD, with the same capital and the same analysis. A surprise release moves price 1.2% against them overnight, before it comes back the next day.
Inputs
Capital
€5,000
Analysis and entry
identical
Trader A — leverage used
1:5
Trader B — leverage used
1:50
Adverse move
−1.2% overnight
The next day
price returns to its starting point
Calculation
A — position: 5,000 × 5 = €25,000
A — unrealized loss: 25,000 × 1.2% = €300, or 6% of capital
A — capital left: €4,700 — no liquidation
B — position: 5,000 × 50 = €250,000
B — unrealized loss: 250,000 × 1.2% = €3,000, or 60% of capital
B — liquidation threshold crossed: positions closed automatically
The next day price comes back: A gets their capital back, B has lost €3,000
ResultA: capital intact · B: €3,000 lost on a move that was undone the next day
The most important point is the last line. Both traders' analysis was correct: price did come back. B did not lose because they were wrong, but because they could not afford to wait to be proved right. That is exactly what leverage does: it turns a failure of patience into a permanent loss.
Worth remembering
Leverage does not change your expectancy: it shortens the distance between your position and liquidation.
At 1:100, a 0.5% move is enough to trigger a margin call — and that is the market's ordinary noise.
You can be right and be liquidated anyway. Leverage takes away the time you need to be proved right.
Put it into practice
Bring your leverage down to the minimum
1Check the maximum leverage set on your account, in your broker's settings.
2Bring it down to the lowest level offered. This does not limit your positions: the position size calculation already takes care of that.
3For your typical position, work out the adverse move that would trigger a margin call.
4If that move is smaller than 3%, your leverage is still too high to sleep easy.
04 The need to win it back
This is the mechanism that empties accounts fastest, and the most universal one. It is not a flaw of character: it is a documented reaction to loss, one you can see coming and defuse — provided you have set the constraint in advance.
The sequence is always identical. A loss happens. It is felt not as a planned cost but as an injustice. The urge to "get it back" appears, with a very distinctive sense of urgency. The next position is taken faster, bigger, with looser criteria. It fails more often than average — and the spiral speeds up.
This mechanism has a name in psychology: loss aversion. We feel a loss about twice as intensely as a gain of the same size. That imbalance cannot be corrected by willpower; it is built into us.
The warning signs
Urgency. You feel you have to act now, before the close, before tomorrow.
Justification. You explain to yourself why this trade is different.
The shortcut. You skip a step in your routine — the size calculation, the check on the market regime.
The increase. You take a bigger size than usual, "just this once".
The silence. You would not record this trade in your journal if you could avoid it.
The most reliable signal there is. If you catch yourself thinking "I have to win it back", stop immediately. That precise thought, in those words, is the best stop signal in the whole course. It is not up for negotiation and not for analysis: it closes the platform.
The constraint that works
No resolution holds up in that state. What holds is a constraint set while you are calm and made physical. Three that work, in order of effectiveness:
The compulsory break. After any loss, thirty minutes away from the screen. Timer running, platform closed. It is the simplest and the most effective.
The daily limit. Three losses or 3% of capital: the session stops, no discussion. We saw it in the Risk Management module.
The automatic cut. After three losses in a row, size is halved until two wins in a row. That slows the fall at the exact moment it is speeding up.
The first three losses belonged to the job. The next three belong to something else — and they cost four times as much.
Worked example
A session that goes off the rails, in figures
A trader who has been disciplined for two months takes three losses in the morning. They decide to "get it back before the close". Here is what follows, with the sizes actually taken.
Inputs
Capital
€10,000
Normal risk
1% → €100
Morning losses
3 × €100 = €300
Trade 4 — size taken
2% (€200)
Trade 5 — size taken
4% (€400)
Trade 6 — size taken
6% (€600)
Calculation
After the 3 disciplined losses: 10,000 → €9,700 (−3%)
Trade 4 lost: 9,700 − 200 = €9,500
Trade 5 lost: 9,500 − 400 = €9,100
Trade 6 lost: 9,100 − 600 = €8,500
Total loss for the session: €1,500, or 15%
With the daily limit at 3%: the session would have stopped at −€300
Gap: €1,200 for a single day
Result−€1,500 instead of −€300 — five times the planned loss
The first three losses were normal and perfectly absorbable: three per cent, that happens. It is the next three, taken to make up for them, that cost €1,200. And it will now take +17.6% to get back to the starting point. A single uncapped session wipes out several weeks of decent work.
Worth remembering
Loss aversion is built into us: a loss is felt twice as strongly as an equivalent gain.
The signs are recognizable: urgency, justification, shortcut, bigger size.
"I have to win it back" is the most reliable stop signal there is. It is not up for negotiation.
Put it into practice
Set the compulsory break
1Decide now, while you are calm, how long your break after a loss will be. Thirty minutes is a good starting point.
2Choose what you do during that break: go out, walk, anything other than looking at a chart.
3Make it physical: a timer, the platform closed, leaving the room.
4Write it on a piece of paper you can see: "I have to win it back" = stop immediately. Read it again before every session.
05 Trading too often
Overtrading kills slowly, which makes it far harder to spot than revenge trading. The account does not collapse: it erodes. And since each trade taken on its own looks reasonable, nothing raises the alarm.
Trading too often covers two distinct behaviors. The first is taking positions that do not meet every criterion, because you want to be in the market. The second is holding too many valid positions at the same time, which concentrates risk without your noticing.
Erosion through costs
Every position costs a spread, sometimes a commission. Those costs are negligible on one trade and decisive over a thousand. A trader who goes from five to fifteen positions a week triples their costs without tripling their expectancy — and often degrades it, since the trades they added are by definition the lower-quality ones.
The concentration you cannot see
A subtler trap: opening three positions at 1% risk each at the same time gives you the feeling of respecting your rule. If those three positions are on EUR/USD, GBP/USD and AUD/USD, they are in fact strongly correlated — all exposed to the dollar. If the dollar moves, all three fail together: the real risk is not 1%, it is closer to 3%.
The practical rule is to treat correlated positions as one: either you reduce the size of each, or you take only one of them.
Open positions
Stated risk
Real risk if strongly correlated
1
1%
1%
2 correlated
2%
≈ 1.8%
3 correlated
3%
≈ 2.7%
5 correlated
5%
≈ 4.5%
3 uncorrelated
3%
≈ 1.7%
Orders of magnitude. Two pairs sharing the same quote currency often show a correlation above 0.8 — they then behave almost like a single asset.
The boredom test. Ask yourself, before every position: am I taking this trade because it ticks my criteria, or because I have not taken anything for two days? Boredom drives far more decisions than anyone admits. A method that produces three signals a week produces three signals a week — not more because you happen to be available.
Worth remembering
Overtrading erodes rather than collapses: each trade looks reasonable on its own.
Correlated positions do not add up the way they appear to: three dollar pairs expose you almost like one triple-sized position.
Boredom drives a great many decisions. A method does not produce more signals because you are available.
Put it into practice
Cap your frequency
1Count your positions over the last four weeks and divide by four. That is your real frequency.
2Compare it with the number of signals your method should produce. The gap is your overtrading.
3Set a daily cap — three positions is a reasonable number — and a cap on simultaneous correlated positions, ideally just one.
4In your journal, record for every trade whether it ticked all the criteria. Read that column again at the end of the month.
06 The fear of missing out
Watching a move leave without you creates real discomfort, and that discomfort pushes you to enter late, with no setup, at the worst possible moment. It is probably the most frequent cause of a beginner's losses — and social media amplifies it today.
The mechanism has two parts. On one side, a clean move draws attention: the more spectacular it is, the more visible it is, and the more it looks like an obvious opportunity. On the other, anticipated regret — the thought of telling yourself tomorrow "I should have" — weighs more heavily on the mind than the potential loss.
The result is mechanical: you enter at the point where the move is furthest along, so where the stop has to be widest and the remaining potential smallest. It is the worst reward-to-risk ratio of the entire run.
How social media amplifies it
One aggravating factor deserves to be named. On social media, you only see the wins. Nobody posts their losses, and many post fabricated screenshots or demo accounts. So you are comparing your real results with a biased selection of displayed ones.
That comparison creates a permanent sense of being behind, which feeds exactly the behavior that will make you lose. For many beginners, following fewer trading accounts is the most profitable decision of their first year.
The sentence to repeat to yourself. There will be another move. That is mathematically certain: the markets produce opportunities every day, indefinitely. A missed move is not a loss — it is a non-event. The only thing you can actually lose is money, by entering too late.
The constraint
One simple rule removes most of the problem: only enter on a setup written down in advance, never on a move already under way. If the move started without you, it is by definition outside your method.
A second rule helps a great deal: impose a delay. When the urge to enter comes without a setup, wait for the current candle to close before deciding. That simple delay is enough to make most impulses disappear.
Worked example
Entering on time, entering late
An upward move starts at 4,200 and peaks at 4,420. Two traders take it: one on their setup, the other after seeing the move start on social media.
Inputs
Start of the move
4,200
High reached
4,420
A — entry on the setup
4,215
A — stop below the low
4,175
B — late entry
4,380
B — stop below the same low
4,175
Calculation
A — risk: 4,215 − 4,175 = 40 points
A — gain to the high: 4,420 − 4,215 = 205 points
A — ratio: 205 ÷ 40 = 5.1R
B — risk: 4,380 − 4,175 = 205 points
B — remaining gain: 4,420 − 4,380 = 40 points
B — ratio: 40 ÷ 205 = 0.2R
Ratio between the two trades' economics: 26 times
ResultA: 5.1R · B: 0.2R — on the same move
B has to be right more than 83% of the time just to break even, which no method delivers. Yet they were not wrong about the direction: price did go up. They simply paid for the move at a price that made the trade a loser by construction. Entering late is not an analysis error, it is an arithmetic error.
Worth remembering
Entering late mechanically gives the worst reward-to-risk ratio of the whole move.
Social media only shows the wins: you are comparing your real results with a biased selection.
There will be another move. A missed move is not a loss, it is a non-event.
Put it into practice
Cut your exposure to noise
1Stop following the accounts that post trading results. Not one of them gives you information you can use.
2Adopt the delay rule: without a written setup, wait for the current candle to close before any decision.
3For two weeks, write down every time you feel the urge to enter on a move already under way, without giving in to it.
4Afterwards, look at what each of those entries would have produced. The exercise is more convincing than any advice.
07 Checking your broker
The Basics module set out the criteria for choosing. This chapter goes further: how to check in practice, and what to do if your current broker fails the test.
The check, step by step
1Note the company's exact name — not the site's trading name, the registered company name, which appears in the footer or in the legal notices.
2Note the regulator it claims and the license number.
3Open that regulator's public register and search for the number. The register must confirm the name and the authorized activity.
4Check that the site you are using is among the websites that company has declared. A regulated entity can have fraudulent clone sites.
5Check the blacklist of the AMF, France's financial regulator, to make sure neither the name nor the domain appears on it.
Impersonating a licensed firm. A widespread scam consists of displaying a real company's license number on a fraudulent site. That is why the check has to run from the official register to the site, and never the other way around. If the register confirms the company but the domain does not match, you are on a clone.
The protections of a broker regulated in Europe
Protection
What it guarantees
Segregation of funds
Your deposits sit in accounts separate from the broker's own
Negative balance protection
You cannot owe money beyond your deposit
Leverage cap
30:1 maximum on major pairs, less on volatile assets
Compensation scheme
Partial compensation if the broker fails, depending on the country
Ban on bonuses
No financial incentive to deposit
Published loss rate
The percentage of losing clients is displayed
If your broker fails the check
1Request the withdrawal of all your funds, immediately, without announcing that you are leaving.
2Do not accept any upfront payment presented as necessary for the withdrawal: fees, taxes, verification. No regulated broker requires one.
3If the withdrawal is refused or drags on beyond ten working days, report it to the AMF and file a complaint.
4Keep every trace: emails, screenshots, statements, the names of the people you dealt with. They will be useful.
Worth remembering
The check always runs from the official register to the site, never the other way around: that is what defeats a firm impersonating a licensed one.
Six concrete protections come with European regulation, including the ban on bonuses.
No legitimate withdrawal requires an upfront payment. Never, under any pretext.
Put it into practice
Run the check today
1Note your broker's registered company name and license number.
2Check them in the regulator's public register, and check that the domain matches.
3Test a small withdrawal. It is the only genuinely conclusive test, and it costs nothing.
4If anything at all resists, withdraw everything while you still can.
08 Securing your accounts
A trading account holds money and a complete set of personal information. It is a valuable target, and the attacks aimed at it are commonplace and effective. A few basic measures remove most of the risk.
The four measures that matter
1A unique, long password. Never reused anywhere else. Length matters more than complexity: a four-word passphrase beats a short word full of symbols. A password manager takes care of this for you.
2Two-factor authentication. Through a dedicated app, not by SMS — SMS is vulnerable to SIM swapping, a documented attack that has targeted financial accounts.
3A dedicated email address. Used only for your financial accounts, never for assorted sign-ups. That way it will not show up in ordinary data breaches.
4An up-to-date device. Operating system and browser up to date, no unknown extensions. Trading from a shared computer or a public network is out of the question.
The attacks you will meet
The point everyone neglects. Your email address is the key to everything else: anyone who gets into it can reset your passwords everywhere. It therefore deserves the strongest protection of all — a unique password, two-factor authentication through an app, and regular checks of the auto-forwarding rules that attackers set up to intercept emails without being noticed.
Phishing
An email imitating your broker asks you to log in through a link. The site is a perfect copy.
Never click a link in an email
Always type the address yourself
Check the domain character by character
SIM swapping
An attacker has your number transferred to their SIM card and intercepts your codes by SMS.
Never use SMS as your second factor
Use an authenticator app instead
Ask your mobile operator for a PIN code
Worth remembering
A unique, long password, authentication through an app rather than by SMS, a dedicated email address, an up-to-date device.
Never click a link received by email to reach a financial account: type the address.
Your email address is the key to everything else. It deserves the strongest protection.
Put it into practice
Thirty minutes worth spending
1Install a password manager and change your broker password to a unique, long one.
2Turn on app-based two-factor authentication on your broker and on your email.
3Create an email address dedicated to your financial accounts and move your trading account over to it.
4Check in your email settings that no auto-forwarding rule has been added without your knowledge.
09 Protecting your mental health
This chapter is about what does not get talked about. Trading exposes you to a particular kind of stress: the losses are personal, the activity is solitary, and the screen is always available. Knowing how to recognize the moment it turns harmful is part of the job.
These things need to be named plainly. Losing money you put up yourself produces a real emotional reaction, comparable to other losses in life. Feeling anger, shame or anxiety after a bad session is in no way abnormal.
What should raise the alarm is not the presence of those emotions, it is their persistence and their spill-over into the rest of your life.
The signs that mean stop
You check prices at night, or the moment you wake up, compulsively.
You hide your losses, or the scale of your activity, from those close to you.
You put up money you need: rent, bills, emergency savings.
You borrow to trade, in any form whatsoever.
Your sleep, your appetite or your relationships are clearly deteriorating.
You feel the need to raise the amounts to feel the same thing.
You have tried to stop and have not managed to.
These signs do not describe a bad trader. They describe a relationship with the activity that has become problematic, and they overlap heavily with the criteria for pathological gambling. It is not a question of willpower or skill, and there is nothing shameful about it. If several of these points apply to you, stop the activity — not later, now — and talk to a health professional.
Where to find help in France
These resources are free, confidential, and staffed by professionals. Contacting them commits you to nothing.
Joueurs Info Service — 09 74 75 13 13, every day from 8am to 2am. France's national helpline for problem gambling and speculation, offering a listening ear and referrals.
Your family doctor. A legitimate person to raise this with, and often the easiest to reach.
3114 — France's national suicide prevention line, free, 24 hours a day. If your thoughts are heading that way, call now. It is worth infinitely more than any open position.
The habits that protect you
For everyone else, a few principles clearly reduce the wear. Fixed hours, with a start and an end, rather than permanent availability. Whole days away from the market. Regular physical exercise, which genuinely clears out accumulated stress.
And above all: never put up money whose absence would change anything in your life. It is the most effective psychological protection there is, because it removes the need to win at the source — and the need to win is what turns an activity into a trap.
Worth remembering
Feeling anger or anxiety after a loss is normal. What raises the alarm is persistence and spill-over.
Hiding your losses, putting up money you need, borrowing, being unable to stop: these signs call for stopping immediately.
Joueurs Info Service — 09 74 75 13 13. Free, confidential, every day from 8am to 2am.
Put it into practice
Take stock honestly
1Read the list of signs again and tick the ones that apply to you, without justifying yourself.
2If you tick even one of the first four, pause the activity for a month.
3Talk about your trading with someone you trust. Secrecy is a warning sign in itself.
4Set your hours and your days away from the market right now, and put them in your calendar.
10 Your commitments
This last chapter gathers the module into a list of concrete commitments. They are not wishes: each one translates into a verifiable action, and each one answers a cause of failure identified in the nine preceding chapters.
On money
1I only put up money whose total loss would change nothing in my life.
2I never borrow to trade, in any form.
3I never deposit to make up for a loss.
4I regularly withdraw part of my gains, so that they become real.
On risk
1I never risk more than 2% on a position, however confident I am.
2I place the stop at the same time as the entry, in the same operation.
3I never widen a stop while a position is open.
4I apply my daily, weekly and monthly limits without negotiating.
On behavior
1I stop as soon as the thought "I have to win it back" appears.
2I take a thirty-minute break after every loss.
3I take no position on a move already under way.
4I log every trade, including — and especially — the ones I am not proud of.
On security
1I only use a broker verified in its regulator's official register.
2I answer no unsolicited approach about trading.
3I have turned on app-based two-factor authentication on my broker and my email.
4I never click a link in an email to reach a financial account.
On yourself
1I have fixed hours and whole days away from the market.
2I talk about my trading with at least one person I trust.
3I stop if several of the signs in chapter 9 apply to me, and I ask for help.
4I remember that no open position is worth more than my health.
This module in one sentence. Technical skill lets you win; this module lets you still be there to enjoy it. Traders who disappear almost never disappear because they misread a chart. They disappear because they were caught in a scam, because they tried to win it back, or because they burned out.
Worth remembering
Twenty commitments, spread over five areas: money, risk, behavior, security, yourself.
Each one translates into a verifiable action, not an intention.
Skill lets you win; this module lets you still be there to enjoy it.
Put it into practice
Sign it, literally
1Copy out the commitments that apply to you onto a dated document.
2Tick the ones you already genuinely apply, honestly. The rest become your working list.
3Work through one a week, making it concrete rather than promising it to yourself.
4Read this document again on the first day of each month, before going back to the markets.