If Every Tick Feels Personal — You’ve Got Too Much On

by | Apr 10, 2026

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I had a member blow her head off once — not literally, but close.

She’d been paper trading for a month, felt ready and decided to go live. Smart, right? Except she jumped straight into a 10-lot on her first live trade…

That’s 10 contracts. Not one… Not two… 10.

And wouldn’t you know it — she was in the trash can, stressed out of her mind.

Two days later, it hit our targets and paid out. Her response?

“I’m never doing that again.”

Good. She learned the lesson. And the lesson is simple: If you can’t get up and go to the bathroom when you’re in a trade, you got too much on.

Too much on is the end of the conversation.

The Rule I Trade By

That’s my core position-sizing rule. If you’re white-knuckling every tick, you’re over-leveraged.

When you’re over-leveraged, you make emotional decisions — not smart ones.

Start small. If you take a loss, fine. You’re not over-leveraged. But if you sit there thinking, “Man, that’s a lot on,” you’ve already got too much size.

Don’t take a big bite out of something you haven’t learned to chew yet.

I tell everyone stepping into something new, especially with strategies like Gold Stream Alerts, to start with one contract. See how it works. Get comfortable with the mechanics. Scale up gradually.

You don’t need to swing for the fences on day one. In my own trading, I usually trade 5-lot or 10-lot positions depending on the program.

For Gold Stream Alerts, I trade five-lots. That’s five spreads at a time.

And I take every trade. Every program I run, I’m in each trade alongside you. If you’re feeling heat, I’m feeling it too.

A lot of folks also wonder how long these trades run. Average hold time is about nine days.

The longest we’ve ever held one is 25 days. Most of the time though, we’re in today and out tomorrow.

Work Your Way Up

Look, I get it. You see a backtest with a $5,000 stake and think you need to put all that capital to work right away. You don’t.

That $5,000 stake is just how the backtest is calculated — it’s not a mandate. Start smaller, like just one contract.

Let results build your confidence, not your anxiety.

You can still make the same amount of money as a percentage by working your way up. You just do it without needing Rolaids every time the market moves against you.

Some of our trades have held for weeks, but most wrap up quickly.

Regardless of the duration, if you’ve got too much size on, every hour feels like forever.

So keep your position size at a level where you can walk away from the screen without your stomach in knots.

Trade smart, not big. The money will follow.

Geof Smith
Geof Smith Trading 

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*This is for informational and educational purposes only. There is inherent risk in trading, so trade at your own risk. 

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