Position size after the chart is marked

Technical analysis training that ends at “where to buy” leaves the dangerous half undone. Once entry and invalidation are marked, size is simple arithmetic — and that is why it gets skipped when the candle looks urgent.

The order of operations

1. Mark entry zone and invalidation.
2. Measure risk per unit (points, ticks, or cents).
3. Decide the account percentage you will risk on this idea.
4. Divide dollar risk by risk per unit to get size.
5. Check that the target still clears your R:R floor at that size.

If step five fails, you do not “nudge” the stop. You pass on the trade.

Workshop table

We keep a printed table with account sizes down the side and risk percentages across the top. Participants fill the cell that matches their account, then divide by the stop distance from their own chart. The first time someone sees that their “half percent” idea actually risks nearly two percent because the stop was wide, the room goes quiet — in a useful way.

After you go home

Tape the order of operations above your screen for a week. The goal is not clever sizing formulas. The goal is refusing to click before the division is done.