Lesson 5 of 6 · 4 min
How much to put in, and what it costs
Most beginners do not lose because they picked the wrong coin. They lose because of size: all of their balance on one idea. Lose 50% and you need a 100% gain just to get back to even. Lose 90% and you need 900%. Big losses are very hard to climb out of.
A common habit is to decide in advance how much you accept losing on one trade, say 1% of your balance, and size the position so that your stop exits there. It is a habit, not a law, and nothing here is financial advice.
Fees are small each time and large in total. This desk charges 0.1% on every fill, in and out. A round trip, a buy followed by a sell, costs about twice that before the price has moved at all. Ten round trips cost about 2% of the amount you traded. Real exchanges charge different rates, so always look up the actual figure.
Spread and fees are the certain costs. The price move is the uncertain part. Beginners tend to count only the uncertain one.
Your turn
Read the fee line before you trade
- Open BTC and pick any amount, without sending the order.
- Read the Total and fee lines under the amount buttons. Try 25% and then 100% of your balance.
- Work out what one round trip would cost in USDT at each size.
What you just learned
Size decides whether a mistake is survivable. Fees are paid on the way in and the way out, every time.