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Treating evaluation money like real money, and the opposite trap of being too scared

two opposite mistakes show up with prop accounts. One is treating the evaluation as play money, so you take bigger risks because the balance isn't yours. The other is treating it as so precious that you freeze and can't take valid trades.

I made the first one early on and the second one later. In the first case, I'd take marginal setups because it felt like a game and the cost was just the fee. In the second, I'd see a good setup and hesitate because I was afraid of losing the progress.

What helped was a middle position. I think of the evaluation as a job interview where the task is following a process. The money isn't the focus, the behaviour is. I use the same plan and risk I'd use on a small real account, nothing more or less.

I also keep the fee in perspective. It's a cost I already spent, so it shouldn't affect the trade I take now. Each trade should stand on its own merits, and the result of any one of them doesn't matter much. If the process is right, the outcome tends to follow.

The job interview comparison works well for me. What helped with the freezing side was setting my risk per trade low enough that a loss did not feel like a disaster for the progress. Once a single stop only moved the account a small amount, I could take valid setups without hesitation. Too much risk makes me freeze, too little makes it feel like play money. Finding the middle took a bit of adjustment. For me that sweet spot was a bit lower than I expected, and I was surprised how much calmer the evaluation felt once I found it.

Another thing that helped me was hiding the account balance during the session and only looking at it at the end of the day. When the balance is in front of me, I start thinking about the target and the limit instead of the setup. With it hidden, I just follow the plan and check the numbers after. It takes the money out of the decision, which is exactly what you are describing. Reviewing the numbers once at the end of the day is enough, and it means the evening review is about process rather than the balance.