Many traders believe that making more money in trading simply requires trading larger position sizes. While this sounds logical, scaling up too soon only amplifies mistakes and emotions.

Mark Douglas, in Trading in the Zone, emphasizes that consistency and discipline are internal skills, not external factors like position size. If you struggle to follow your plan with a small trade, adding size will only expose and magnify your weaknesses.

Before increasing your risk, you must first master execution, discipline, and emotional control on a small scale. Let’s break down why this is critical and how to properly scale up your trading.

Why More Size = More Emotional Pressure

Trading a small position allows you to stay objective. The moment you increase size before mastering discipline, emotions take over.

❌ Fear Becomes Overwhelming

• With more money at stake, traders hesitate, second-guess entries, or move stop losses irrationally.

❌ Greed Takes Control

• A profitable trade feels like an opportunity to “get rich faster,” leading to overconfidence and reckless decisions.

❌ Losses Feel Devastating

• Instead of accepting a loss as part of the strategy, traders panic, leading to revenge trading or abandoning the plan.

When you can’t handle a small trade with discipline, increasing size only magnifies emotional instability and poor decision-making.

How Professionals Master Execution Before Scaling Up

The best traders understand that execution is everything. Before increasing size, they ensure that:

✔ They Can Follow Their Plan Without Hesitation

• Entries and exits are executed exactly as planned, without emotional interference.

✔ They Accept Losses Without Emotional Reactions

• A losing trade doesn’t cause panic or revenge trading—it’s just part of the probabilities.

✔ They Maintain Discipline Over a Large Sample of Trades

• Before increasing size, they prove they can follow their system flawlessly over 50-100 trades.

✔ They Focus on Risk, Not Reward

• Instead of dreaming about how much they can make, they think: “How much am I willing to lose on this trade?”

Example: The Trader Who Masters Small Before Scaling Up

Trader A: Jumps Into Large Size Too Soon

• Starts with a small account but quickly increases position sizes after a few wins.
• Suddenly feels more pressure and starts making emotional mistakes (moving stop losses, closing winners too early).
• A single large loss wipes out weeks of progress, causing frustration and revenge trading.
• Blames the market instead of realizing the real issue: lack of discipline and consistency.

Trader B: Masters Small Trades First

• Trades small until execution is completely automatic and emotionless.
• Tracks performance over 100+ trades to confirm consistency.
• Once discipline is proven, slowly increases position sizes while keeping risk per trade constant.
• As they scale up, nothing changes—their approach remains the same.

Trader B succeeds because they mastered the process first. Trader A fails because they focused on profits instead of execution.

How to Scale Up the Right Way

1️⃣ Prove You Can Trade Small with Discipline

• Take at least 50-100 trades with a small size, focusing only on execution.

2️⃣ Increase Size Gradually

• Instead of doubling position sizes, increase by 10-20% at a time to adjust emotionally.

3️⃣ Keep Risk Per Trade the Same

• If you risk 1% per trade, continue risking 1% even as your account grows.

4️⃣ Detach from the Money and Stay Process-Oriented

• Treat a trade worth $50,000 the same as a trade worth $500—it’s just another probability event.

Final Thought: Size Only Magnifies What’s Already There

Mark Douglas teaches that a trader’s performance has nothing to do with external factors like market conditions or account size—it’s purely based on their internal mindset.

💡 If you are disciplined with small trades, you will be disciplined with large ones.
💡 If you struggle with small trades, increasing size will only expose and magnify your mistakes.

Master small first. Build consistency. Then scale up the right way—gradually and with discipline. That’s how professionals do it. 🚀