Recently, many traders have been making the same mistake when handling leveraged positions.

The day before yesterday, a user shared his experience: a $6,000 account, opening a long position with 3x leverage all in. The market only retraced 1.5%, and his account was wiped out instantly. The most heartbreaking part is that he clearly set a stop-loss—using a market order—but slippage instantly breached the margin, and the stop-loss never had a chance to trigger.

The logic behind this is brutal. With $5,500 at 3x leverage, your actual position value is $16,500. It looks like only a 1.5% loss, but in reality? The margin is only $5,500. When the market moves against you, the loss is amplified by leverage. Plus, with slippage, the entire account can be wiped out instantly. Stop-loss orders? In such extreme market conditions, they are essentially useless.

This is the double kill of "position size + leverage multiplier" in full-margin mode. Many traders underestimate the power of this combination.

So how to improve? Here are three relatively practical ideas:

**Control single position size within 20% of your account.** For a $10,000 account, invest at most $2,000 at a time. Even if you lose 10%, you only lose $200, keeping your principal stable. This makes your mindset much more comfortable and leaves room for the next move.

**Limit single losses to 2% of your total funds.** For example, with $2,000 at 3x leverage, set your stop-loss at around 0.67%, so the loss stays within $200. This also leaves buffer space for slippage, significantly reducing the chance of liquidation.

**Only enter trades when the trend is confirmed.** Avoid sideways markets; wait for signals like moving average bullish alignment and volume breakout. After entering, don’t chase the position. Although this might mean missing some opportunities, the probability of surviving is much higher.

Some traders have used this logic and grown from $4,000 to $12,000 in three months. Their takeaway is: leverage itself isn’t bad; the key is not to use it for gambling. Light position sizing combined with precise account management is the way to survive long-term.

Often, we overestimate our risk tolerance and underestimate extreme market volatility. Those experiences of being liquidated due to slippage or stop-loss gaps are often not because of wrong direction, but because the position sizing didn’t consider the worst-case scenario from the start.

Leverage is like a magnifying glass: used correctly, it can amplify gains; used wrongly, it can burn through your account. Recognize this, and your trading journey is just beginning.