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Your First 10 Live Trades, A Gentle Plan

The first ten live trades are not about profit. They are about learning how it feels to have real money on the line while still following your plan. Treat them like a driving lesson, not a race.

Before trade one:

1. Fund only an amount you can afford to lose completely.
2. Decide your risk per trade, ideally 0.25% to 0.5% for these first ten.
3. Print your checklist and rules.
4. Choose one pair, one setup, one session.
5. Confirm lot size with a calculator every time.

During the ten trades:

- Place the stop loss immediately when you enter
- Take screenshots before and after
- Write down your emotions at entry, during, and at exit
- Stop for the day after two losses
- Don't add, don't average down, don't move stops

After each trade, answer three questions: Did I follow my plan? What did I feel? What would I repeat or change?

After trade ten, do a mini review. Count rule violations, note emotional spikes, and compare the experience to demo. Your goal is not a profitable number, it's an honest picture of your behavior.

Only after this review should you consider increasing risk slightly, and only if your rule-following was solid.

Many beginners rush past this stage and take full risk immediately. Starting small gives you room to make mistakes cheaply, which is the best price for the lessons you're about to learn.

Something I'd add: screenshot every one of those first ten trades at entry and at exit, and write one sentence about how you felt. Rereading those notes a few months later is weirdly useful. You'll see which emotions turned up before your worst decisions. Also write down anything that surprised you about live trading compared with demo. For a lot of people it's how hard it is to leave the trade alone once it's open, or how much a small loss stings. Those surprises are the real lesson of the first ten. If you find yourself moving stops or closing early, that's normal. The aim is to notice it and keep the size small while you work on it.

Don't increase size after the first few go well. Ten trades is a very small sample. Finish the full set at the planned size before changing anything, even if the first three are winners. Early wins are actually a risk, because they make the plan feel too cautious and invite bigger size just before the normal losing trades arrive. After ten trades, review two things: did you follow the checklist on every trade, and how did it feel emotionally compared to demo? If rule-following was good, do another 20 at the same size, then consider a small increase, from 0.25 to 0.5 percent for example.