One of our funded traders asked me one of the most common questions I get: "When can I start trading bigger size?"
They'd been profitable for a few weeks on a funded account and felt ready to push it. The confidence was building. They wanted more.
Here's what I told them — and it probably wasn't what they wanted to hear.
The Discount Mindset
Before we even talk about sizing up, let me explain how I think about risk on every single trade.
I shared my screen during a coaching call and showed a funded trader my process: "My reference price is here, and my stop loss is there. The difference between those two is as close to $500 as I can get. That's my max loss per trade. Then a discount is anything better than my reference price."
So if I have a reference entry at $820 and I get in at $825 instead, I just saved myself $100 on the loss if I'm wrong. I explained: "It's almost like my way of gamifying losing. If I'm sizing my trade so I lose $500, but I actually only lost $360 — that's kind of a good outcome, even though it wasn't what I wanted."
You need to have this mindset dialed in before you even think about increasing size. If you don't have a relationship with your losses that lets you shrug them off, bigger size will amplify every emotional problem you have.
The $100K Rule
When funded traders on prop firms ask about sizing up, I give them a very specific framework:
"The goal for people with prop firms is: get your first $100,000, fund that into your own personal account, and then have full control. Keep trading props while you can and while they exist — but having your own account to trade with should be the end goal."
Sizing up inside a prop firm account is risky because those accounts have rules. You can blow your drawdown limit in a single oversized trade. I tell funded traders: build the buffer first.
One of our funded traders had built up a $10,000 buffer in their funded account. My advice? Any time you're above that buffer number at the end of the week, pay yourself. That's the only time the money becomes real.
When It's Actually Time
Here are the conditions I look for before telling a funded trader to increase their size:
- You've been consistently profitable for at least 4-6 weeks — Not just having a good streak. Actual consistent execution over multiple weeks.
- Your process hasn't changed — If you're profitable because you followed your rules, great. If you're profitable because you got lucky on a couple of big moves, that's not the same thing.
- You can take a full loss at your current size without flinching — If a max loss at your current size still causes emotional damage, you're not ready for bigger.
- You have a buffer — On a prop firm, you need enough cushion that a couple bad days won't violate your drawdown rules.
The Slow Way Is the Fast Way
I've said this to so many funded traders it's practically a catchphrase at this point: the fastest way is always the slowest way.
The traders who try to size up too quickly almost always end up back at square one. They get overconfident, take a big loss at the bigger size, and now they're both financially and psychologically damaged.
The traders who slowly and methodically increase their size? They're the ones who end up making real money long term.
Position sizing isn't a reward for being right. It's a privilege you earn by proving you can handle being wrong.
The Practical Framework
When a funded trader is genuinely ready, here's how I suggest they scale:
- Increase by no more than 25-50% at a time — If you're trading 2 contracts, go to 3. Not 5.
- Run the new size for at least 2 weeks before considering another increase.
- If you have a losing week at the new size, drop back down. No ego. Just go back to what was working.
- Track your emotional state at the new size — Are you still calm when you take a loss? Or are you white-knuckling every trade?
The goal isn't to trade the biggest size possible. The goal is to trade the biggest size that still lets you follow your rules without emotional interference.
This article is based on real coaching sessions with DTR Trading funded traders. The scenarios and advice are drawn directly from one-on-one calls where traders brought their real challenges to work through together.