Avoiding revenge size when the profit target is close
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2026 9:41 am
On a prop challenge, being 0.8% from the target creates a specific kind of pressure. One good trade would finish it. That thought is exactly when size creeps up.
How it usually unfolds: a normal-size loss takes the account from 0.8% away to 1.3% away. Now one trade at double size "would get it back and finish it". If that trade loses, the account is suddenly near the daily loss limit, and the challenge that was nearly passed is at risk.
Defences that work for many traders:
- Fix risk per trade in writing at the start of the challenge and never change it based on distance to target.
- Turn the target into a trade count, not a money goal: "at my normal risk, I need roughly three winners". That makes the remaining work feel ordinary.
- After any loss within 1.5% of the target, stop for the day. Tomorrow's version of you trades better.
- Use the platform's or firm's position size limit as a hard ceiling, set slightly below your normal risk so a "bigger" trade is impossible.
Being close to the target is not a special situation. The same rules that got you there are the ones that finish it.
Has anyone lost a challenge in the last stretch? What was the trigger?
How it usually unfolds: a normal-size loss takes the account from 0.8% away to 1.3% away. Now one trade at double size "would get it back and finish it". If that trade loses, the account is suddenly near the daily loss limit, and the challenge that was nearly passed is at risk.
Defences that work for many traders:
- Fix risk per trade in writing at the start of the challenge and never change it based on distance to target.
- Turn the target into a trade count, not a money goal: "at my normal risk, I need roughly three winners". That makes the remaining work feel ordinary.
- After any loss within 1.5% of the target, stop for the day. Tomorrow's version of you trades better.
- Use the platform's or firm's position size limit as a hard ceiling, set slightly below your normal risk so a "bigger" trade is impossible.
Being close to the target is not a special situation. The same rules that got you there are the ones that finish it.
Has anyone lost a challenge in the last stretch? What was the trigger?