When you start trading, the first thing to protect is your capital, not the profit. Think of your bankroll as a house you’re building; each trade is a brick. If you lay a brick that’s too heavy, the whole structure can collapse. The simplest way to keep the house standing is to use a fixed‑percentage risk per trade—most seasoned degen traders stick to 1 % or less of their total equity. For example, if you have $10,000 and you decide on a 1 % risk, the most you’ll ever lose on a single position is $100. Say you spot a short‑term swing on $BTC at $27,500 and set a stop‑loss $300 away. You’d calculate the position size so that a $300 move against you equals $100 loss. To be fair, that means you’d buy roughly 0.33 BTC (100 ÷ 300 ≈ 0.33). If the trade goes your way, the upside can be many times larger than the $100 you risked, but the house stays safe no matter how many bricks you lay. Tomorrow: Part 2 dives into position sizing tricks that let you scale up profits while still honoring that 1 % rule. Stay tuned.