Hey,
Two traders. Same bad trade.
One shrugs it off and moves on. The other doesn't come back from it.
Same stock. Same wrong call. Completely different outcomes. And the reason has nothing to do with strategy, experience, or market knowledge.
It has everything to do with size.
Before the trade is ever placed, there's a simple check that tells you exactly what a loss means for your account. Not in theory — in real numbers. Is this a scratch? A setback? Or the kind of loss that changes how you trade going forward?
Most traders skip it. They're running scenarios on the upside and never stop to honestly answer what the downside looks like.
That check is one of five inside The 60-Second Pre-Trade Checklist.
The other four cover the stop-loss trap most traders don't know exists until it hits them on their worst day. The silent daily cost inside every options position that works against you whether you're right or wrong. The five-second question that tells you if you're about to make the most dangerous trade beginners are taught first. And one more check that catches what everything else misses.
I built this after years running the derivatives desk at thinkorswim and training the trader group at TD Ameritrade. Not theory. Not textbook. What I actually watched determine who lasted and who didn't.
Five checks. Sixty seconds. Every trade.
To Your Success,
Don Kaufman
Chief Strategist
TheoTRADE
P.S. Normally $29.97. Free today. One bad sizing decision can undo months of good trades. This check prevents it.