Start Here foundations

Position Size, Cash Rules, and Targets

You can size a position from a risk limit and confirm the cash is genuinely available.

Lesson objective

Be able to size a position from your limits rather than your enthusiasm, and explain why a small target cannot rescue an unmanaged loss.

Preview

Buying power is not the same as settled cash. This lesson turns a risk limit into a share count, explains how cash-account settlement limits how often you can act, and covers how Good Faith Violations happen in the first place.

Basic members

Sign in with your member account to open the full lesson text, worked examples, and exercises.

Related download

Cash-account and position-sizing worksheet

Open the download library

Saved in this browser as a study aid. Completing lessons is not a licence, a certification, or permission to skip your broker's rules.

Risk reminder

Never size up to 'make the trade worth it.' If the position needs to be larger to feel meaningful, the setup is not the problem — the expectation is.

Education only. This lesson is not financial advice, a trade signal, or a promise of results. Test in paper first, size every idea by what you can afford to lose, and remember that you control your own broker account and your own decisions.