A survival manual, not a strategy book

90% of traders lose money. It isn't because their strategies are bad.

It's because their money management is. The Unbroken Trader is the framework that keeps you in the game long enough for compounding to make you rich.

Most traders aren't ruined by a market crash, a black swan, or a bad tip. They are ruined by a moved stop, a doubled-down loser, a single oversized position that turned a bad day into a liquidated account.

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The Thesis

The first rule of trading is: don't go broke. The second is: don't forget the first.

A 50% drawdown requires a 100% gain to recover. Most traders never make it back.

Every year, new traders deposit capital, study charts, and build positions, and most are gone within twelve months. They weren't defeated by the market. They were defeated by a single oversized position, a stop they moved one more time, a thesis they refused to let die.

This is the book about the only discipline that prevents that ending: capital preservation. It is built on 130 years of market history and the careers of the traders who outlasted everyone else, and the failures that destroyed the rest.

Your goal is not to get rich. It is to never be poor again. That single reframe, from maximizing returns to minimizing ruin, changes every decision you will ever make as a trader. It is the foundation on which every page of this book rests.

Inside the Book

Eight rules. Built from 130 years of market history.

Every trading disaster (LTCM, Barings, every retail account emptied in the dot-com crash and 2020) shares the same cause: averaging down into losers, ignoring drawdown limits, or using leverage to hide a broken system.

01
The 5% ruleThe single line beyond which human rationality breaks down, and how to stay on the right side of it.
02
Pyramid only to winnersThe most profitable principle in speculation, and why averaging down is the fastest route to ruin.
03
Sit tightHow to let profits multiply without giving them back: the discipline that paid William O'Neil 650% on a single position.
04
The 20% drawdown ruleThe circuit breaker that separates professional survival from amateur annihilation.
05
The four enemies in your headThe Revenge Trader, the Overconfident Gambler, the Paralyzed Analyst, the Superstitious Ritualist, and how to defeat each.
06
Capital tiersA framework for scaling from $10,000 to $5M+ without blowing up. Two to three years per tier. Twenty percent per year, maximum.
07
Drawdown recoveryWhat to do in the month after the equity curve breaks: the rebuild most traders never finish.
08
The Ten CommandmentsA code for life, not rules to follow until you "make it." The capstone of the book.

The Capstone

The Ten Commandments of Capital Preservation.

A code for life, not rules to follow until you "make it." Here's the shape of each — Chapter 11 makes the full case.

Capital comes first.Your account is your lifeline, not a scoreboard. Play not to lose, and the gains take care of themselves.
Know when to stop.A deep drawdown is a wound, not a death sentence. Step away before fear starts making the trades for you.
Never feed a loser.The market doesn't care about your cost basis. A position moving against you is information, not an invitation to add.
Trust price over opinion.No analyst knows more than the last print on the tape. Follow the ticker, not the talking heads.
Keep the record.A handful of fields per trade, reviewed every week. Self-knowledge is the one edge no algorithm can copy.
Let winners run.Patience, not prediction, is what the market actually pays for. You don't trade — you hold positions.
Start each day clean.The market has no memory of your last trade. Reset daily, or don't trade at all.
Respect leverage.It magnifies the downside as fast as the upside. Most accounts die right here.
Grow slowly.Real progress is measured in years per tier, not weeks — roughly twenty percent a year, no more.
Never be poor again.The rule beneath all the others. The goal was never to get rich; it's to never go back.

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