Risk Management Checklist
A standing review of the account-level rules: per-trade risk, exposure limits, daily stops, correlation and the operational basics.
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Per-trade discipline is necessary and not sufficient. Accounts are also damaged by things that no individual trade decision touches: correlated positions that behave as one, leverage that accumulated without anyone deciding to increase it, limits that were set once and never checked against each other.
This checklist covers that account level. It is a standing review rather than a per-trade routine - run it weekly, or whenever the strategy, the account size or the market conditions change materially.
How to use the risk management checklist
- Work through it weekly rather than before each trade.
- Treat any limit you cannot state as a number as a limit that does not exist.
- Check the limits against each other, not just individually.
- Rerun it whenever the account size or the strategy changes.
What people use this for
- A weekly review of account-level risk rules.
- Checking that per-trade risk, exposure and daily limits are mutually consistent.
- Surfacing correlation that per-trade sizing cannot see.
- Reviewing operational readiness before a volatile period.
Limits have to be compatible
A two percent daily limit with one and a half percent risk per trade is not a risk framework - two ordinary losses breach it. Each rule can be reasonable on its own while the set of them is incoherent.
Checking them against each other is the part of risk management that gets skipped, because each individual number looks fine in isolation.
Correlation is what per-trade sizing cannot see
Six positions at one percent each is six percent of risk if they are independent and something closer to a single six percent position if they are not. Position sizing decided one trade at a time has no way to detect this.
It is the reason a book of individually well-sized trades can produce a day that looks like a sizing failure, and the reason a periodic account-level review exists at all.
The operational items are not filler
A stop that was going to be placed, a platform that is unavailable during a fast move, trading capital that is also rent money. None of these are analytical failures and all of them have ended accounts.
They belong on a checklist precisely because they are boring, obvious, and skipped for exactly those reasons.
Methodology and assumptions
What this calculator does, and what it deliberately does not do.
- Results are arithmetic on the numbers you enter. Nothing here predicts prices or connects to an exchange, broker or market data feed.
- Nothing you type is transmitted or stored - the calculation runs entirely inside your browser.
This tool is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Nothing on this website is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, currency, derivative or digital asset. No price is predicted and no return is promised or implied.
Trading and investing carry the risk of substantial loss, including the loss of your entire capital. Leveraged products can produce losses that exceed your deposit. Tax treatment depends on your jurisdiction and your circumstances.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I run this?
Weekly is a reasonable default, plus any time the account size, the strategy or market conditions change materially.
What limits should I set?
This site does not suggest figures. The risk tools calculate what each choice implies; the choice itself is personal.
Is my progress saved?
In this browser only, using local storage. Nothing is uploaded and clearing browser data resets it.
Is this trading advice?
No. It is a review structure for informational and educational purposes, and it recommends no risk level or strategy.
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