For Business

Trading Psychology

How to Handle a Big Win

A big win is handled by letting it join the balance, where the account already put it, instead of keeping it as a separate pot to play with. This paper shows you one trade that made fifteen percent, in example figures, and what it changes: the balance and the one-percent size, and nothing else; the idea as a balloon on a basket; the second pot as loose notes kept outside the wallet; the next trade's size by the rule and by the feeling, to scale; and the History tab on your platform, where a win and a withdrawal both appear as rows.

Difficulty
Intermediate
Reading time
5 min
Pages
8
Reviewed by
Saman Rahbar

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The win and the balance

A big win is a win that the account puts in the balance and the trader keeps somewhere else. One trade makes 1,500 on a 10,000 account, fifteen percent, with these as example figures. The balance after is 11,500, one number, and the plan's one percent on it is 115, up from 100. That is the whole of what the win changes. What it feels like is different: a separate 1,500, won rather than earned, that can be played with without touching the real money. There is no second pot. The 1,500 is thirteen percent of the one balance the next trade is sized from, and it is as real as the rest of it.

A balloon on a basket

Picture a balloon on a basket, before and after. The basket is the balance: it grew from 10,000 to 11,500, fifteen percent, a slightly bigger basket. The balloon is the mood, and it doubled. The basket is what carries the weight, and the balloon is what everyone sees, including the trader, and after a big win it is the balloon that decides how big the next trade feels it can be. The size rule is the rope between them. One percent of the basket is 115, whatever the balloon says, and the rope only holds if it is not untied on the afternoon of the win.

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