Risk Strategies

The risk calculator supports four automated strategies. Each determines the risk percentage for your next trade based on different logic.

Every strategy here exists because different trading situations call for different sizing approaches. The right strategy depends on where you are in your trading journey, what kind of account you are managing, and how your recent performance looks.

Fixed

The simplest strategy. Risk the same percentage on every trade regardless of results.

Formula: risk% = fixedRisk%

Example: Fixed risk set to 2%

After a win: 2%
After a loss: 2%
After three consecutive wins: 2%

Use this when you want consistency and don’t want your position sizing to react to outcomes.

Adaptive Growth

Scale risk based on account growth. As your account grows, risk increases proportionally — throttled by a divisor to prevent runaway scaling.

Formula: risk% = baseRisk% + (accountGrowth% / throttle)

Example: Base risk 1%, throttle 10, start balance $10,000

Balance $11,000 (10% growth): 1% + (10% / 10) = 2%
Balance $12,000 (20% growth): 1% + (20% / 10) = 3%
Balance $9,000 (-10% growth): 1% + (-10% / 10) = 0% → clamped to min floor

The throttle controls how aggressively risk scales. Higher throttle = slower scaling.

Double-Pulse

After a win or partial win, double the previous risk. After a loss, keep unchanged or reset to base.

Logic:

Win / Partial: risk% = lastRisk% × 2
Loss: Reset to base risk
Break-even: Keep previous risk

Example: Base risk 1%

Trade 1 (win at 1%): Next → 2%
Trade 2 (win at 2%): Next → 4% (capped by max risk)
Trade 3 (loss at 4%): Next → 1% (reset to base)

Aggressive strategy that capitalizes on winning streaks while resetting after losses.

Reset-on-Loss

Uses adaptive growth formula normally, but any loss resets risk back to base. Combines growth scaling with loss protection.

Logic:

Loss: risk% = baseRisk% (hard reset)
All other results: risk% = baseRisk% + (accountGrowth% / throttle) (adaptive formula)

Example: Base risk 1%, throttle 10, 15% account growth

After a win: 1% + (15% / 10) = 2.5%
After a loss: 1% (reset regardless of growth)
After next win: 1% + (15% / 10) = 2.5% (growth-based again)

Conservative strategy that participates in growth but retreats immediately on any loss.

Constraints

All strategies respect these bounds:

Constraint	Effect
Min Floor %	Risk never drops below this value
Max Risk %	Risk never exceeds this cap
Rounding	Lot sizes rounded to 0, 1, or 2 decimal places

Choosing a Strategy

Strategy	Best For	Risk Profile
Fixed	Consistency, beginners	Low
Adaptive Growth	Compounding during growth phases	Medium
Double-Pulse	Capitalizing on streaks	High
Reset-on-Loss	Growth with loss protection	Medium-Low

When Each Strategy Shines (and Fails)

Every strategy has a sweet spot and a danger zone. Understanding both helps you avoid picking a strategy that works against your actual trading style.

Fixed: The Reliable Workhorse

Where it shines: Prop firm challenges where you need to hit a profit target without ever breaching a drawdown limit. You are trading a $100,000 FTMO Phase 1 at 1% fixed risk. Every trade risks exactly $1,000. You never accidentally over-size a position. You never have a “bad sizing day.” Your drawdown curve is smooth and predictable, which is exactly what prop firms want to see.

Fixed also shines for any trader still building their track record. When you don’t yet know your true win rate, your true average RR, or how your emotions affect your execution, Fixed removes one variable from the equation. You can focus on improving your entries and exits without worrying about whether your sizing logic is amplifying mistakes.

Where it fails: During strong growth phases. If your account runs from $10,000 to $15,000 over three months, Fixed risk at 2% means you are still risking $200 per trade early on and $300 later. That is fine, but you are leaving compounding on the table. An adaptive strategy would have been risking progressively more as the account grew, turning that same growth phase into a larger gain.

Adaptive Growth: The Compounder

Where it shines: Funded accounts in a clear growth phase. You have a $25,000 personal account, a verified 58% win rate, and a 1.3:1 average RR. You set Adaptive Growth at 1.5% base with a throttle of 10. As your account grows 20% to $30,000, your risk scales to 1.5% + (20%/10) = 3.5%. You are compounding naturally — bigger account, proportionally bigger positions, faster growth.

Where it fails: During drawdowns with a low throttle. If your throttle is set to 5 instead of 10, risk scales twice as fast. That is great on the way up, but during a drawdown the formula works in reverse — risk drops, sometimes faster than you want. And if you set your min floor too high, you override the safety mechanism entirely. A trader in a 15% drawdown with throttle 5 gets: 1.5% + (-15%/5) = -1.5%, clamped to min floor. If that floor is 1.5%, you are still risking the same amount in a drawdown, which defeats the purpose of adaptive sizing.

Double-Pulse: The Streak Rider

Where it shines: When you have a high win rate (58%+) and your wins tend to cluster. A scalper taking 3-4 EURUSD trades in a session with a 65% win rate can turn a small initial risk into significant gains during a hot streak. Starting at 1%, a three-trade winning streak means the fourth trade is at 8% (or whatever the max cap allows). If that streak is real — if the market is in your favor that session — you capture outsized gains from a small starting risk.

Where it fails: With a low win rate. If your win rate is 45% (common for trend-following strategies with high RR), you lose more often than you win. Every loss resets you to base. You spend most of your time at 1% risk, only occasionally getting to 2%, and rarely reaching 4%. The doubling mechanism barely activates. Meanwhile, a trader with the same strategy using Adaptive Growth would be steadily scaling risk with account growth instead of waiting for streaks that rarely materialize.

Double-Pulse is also dangerous if your max risk cap is set too high. A cap of 8% means three consecutive wins put you at 8% on the fourth trade. If that trade loses, you give back a large chunk in a single position. Keep the cap at 3-4% unless you have strong evidence that your streaks persist beyond three trades.

Reset-on-Loss: The Cautious Grower

Where it shines: For traders who want to participate in growth but have a low tolerance for drawdowns. You have a $15,000 account with 12% growth. Your adaptive formula gives you 1% + (12%/10) = 2.2%. You win three trades in a row at 2.2%, growing further. Then you lose one trade. Instantly back to 1%. That loss was a smaller hit because you already gave back the risk premium. If the loss was a signal of changing conditions, you are now protected. If it was just noise, you scale back up on the next win.

Where it fails: When your losses are evenly distributed among your wins. If your trade sequence is W-L-W-L-W-L, Reset-on-Loss keeps snapping you back to base after every other trade. You never sustain the elevated risk long enough to benefit from it. In this scenario, Fixed or Adaptive Growth would produce better results because they don’t punish individual losses — they only respond to overall account trajectory.

Choosing Your First Strategy

If you are setting up the risk calculator for the first time, start here:

Do you have 30+ tracked trades? If not, use Fixed at 1-2%. You need data before adaptive strategies have anything useful to adapt to.
Is your risk of ruin below 1%? Go to the Statistics tab, enter your win rate and average RR, and check. If risk of ruin is above 1% at 2% risk, stay with Fixed until your edge improves.
Are you trading a prop firm challenge? Use Fixed. Prop firms penalize drawdown inconsistency. Adaptive strategies can create uneven risk profiles that increase your chance of breaching daily loss limits.
Are you in a growth phase with verified stats? Try Adaptive Growth or Reset-on-Loss. Start with a conservative throttle (10 or higher) and watch how risk scales over 20+ trades before lowering it.
Do you have a high win rate with clustered wins? Try Double-Pulse with a conservative max cap (3-4%). Monitor whether the doubling actually improves your results or just increases variance.

When to Switch Strategies

Your current strategy might not be working if you notice these patterns:

Switch away from Fixed when:

Your account has grown 20%+ and you are clearly leaving compounding gains on the table
Your tracked stats show a consistent edge (55%+ win rate, 1.2+ RR) over 50+ trades
You feel like your position sizes are too small relative to your account — Fixed risk at early account levels sometimes feels like “not enough” once you have proven your edge

Switch away from Adaptive Growth when:

You are entering a drawdown and risk keeps scaling down, making recovery harder
Your throttle is too low and risk is swinging wildly between trades
You are starting a prop firm challenge (switch to Fixed for the challenge duration)

Switch away from Double-Pulse when:

Your win rate drops below 55% — the resets become too frequent to benefit from doubling
You notice your biggest losses come on the doubled positions (this suggests your streaks are not as persistent as the strategy assumes)
Your trading style changes from high-frequency to lower-frequency (fewer trades means fewer streaks)

Switch away from Reset-on-Loss when:

Your trade sequence alternates W-L-W-L consistently — the resets are costing you more than they protect
You have developed enough confidence in your edge that the hard reset feels overly cautious
You want to use your drawdown resilience data to let Adaptive Growth handle both up and down phases without the reset trigger