a guy I grew up with sold drugs for 6 years before going legit
we don't talk about it much but one night he was watching me trade and said something that stopped me cold
"you're doing what I used to do but nobody arrests you for it"
"the math is identical"
he broke it down:
"rule one on the street: never risk more than you can reload"
"if you're carrying $10K in product and you lose it all in one move, you're done. no supplier fronts you twice"
"so you split it. 5 drops. $2K each. if one goes bad you eat a $2K loss and keep operating"
that's your position sizing
"rule two: never expand until the current operation is consistent"
"guys who blew up weren't the ones who got caught. they were the ones who scaled before their system was tight"
"they'd go from moving $10K/month to $50K/month because they had one good month"
"then one thing goes wrong at 5x scale and they lose everything"
"that's your traders who go from 1 contract to 10 contracts after a green week"
rule three: your best day should look exactly like your worst day from the outside
"if someone can tell whether you won or lost by how you're acting, you're emotional. and emotional people in my world got killed"
"in yours they just go broke. but the principle is the same"
"rule four: the money is in the boring middle"
"the flashy guys with the cars and the chains? they lasted 18 months"
"the guys who drove Honda Civics and lived in regular apartments? they ran for 12 years"
"rule five: never let the money change your process"
"first big score, everyone changes their behavior. nicer clothes. new car. more risk"
"that's the signal that you're about to lose everything"
"your prop firm guys who blow accounts after their first withdrawal? same thing"
five rules from someone who managed risk when the consequence of getting it wrong wasn't a blown account - it was a prison sentence
and somehow the rules are identical to what every trading book says in 300 pages
the streets teach risk management better than any course because there's no paper trading when the stakes are real
BREAKING
Trump announces full conceal carry reciprocity
WHAT THIS MEANS:
No matter which state you’re in, if you’ve got your concealed carry license, each state will still have to honor it - for example, you have a Florida concealed carry permit - California would have to honor it.
HUGE