Smaller account or bigger one for an evaluation, how the size changes my psychology

[Fairman]

Smaller account or bigger one for an evaluation, how the size changes my psychology

when picking an evaluation, there's a choice of account sizes, and I noticed that my choice affected how I traded, not just the money involved. I'm not recommending a particular size, just sharing what I saw.

On a bigger account with the same percentage rules, the dollar amounts are larger, and I found myself getting more nervous about each trade even though the risk percentage was the same. The numbers on the screen looked bigger, and that made me hesitate. On a smaller account, the amounts felt more normal and I traded closer to my usual behaviour.

The other factor is the fee, which is higher for a bigger account. That adds to the pressure because it feels like more is at stake if I fail. That can lead to rushing or freezing.

So I started with a size at which the dollar amounts felt comfortable, even if the profit potential was smaller. Once I passed and traded for a while, I moved up gradually. The strategy is the same, but my behaviour matters more than the size of the account.

It's a personal thing. Some people don't feel any difference. It's worth being honest about which type you are.

[Fairman]

Same experience here. On a bigger account the numbers on screen got in my head even at the same percentage. What helped was hiding the money and looking only at R. My journal and my trade panel both show the result in multiples of risk, so a loss is minus one whether the account is small or big. It does not remove the feeling completely, but it takes away a lot of the noise. I would still start smaller if you have never done an evaluation, just to learn the rules without the pressure.

[Fairman]

Another angle is that the fee for a bigger account often makes people feel they need to pass quickly to justify it. That pushes them to trade more and bigger. If I pick a size where the fee would not bother me if I failed, I trade much better. The account size should match what you can comfortably lose on the fee, not what looks impressive. Plenty of people scale up later after passing a smaller one, and the habits they built are the same either way.