Martingale
A strategy that doubles the stake after every loss to recover everything in a single win. Mathematically seductive, but it usually destroys the bankroll in practice.
The Martingale is a progression in which, after each loss, you double the size of your next stake. The idea is that a single win recovers everything lost in the sequence and still returns the original profit. On paper it looks foolproof — and that is exactly where the trap lies.
The problem is the exponential growth of exposure. Starting from 10, a losing streak demands 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640… After just 7 losses in a row you would have to risk more than 1,000 to try to recover the initial 10. Streaks of 7, 8 or more losses happen often in trading — they are not as rare as intuition suggests.
Martingale would only work with infinite capital and no bet cap. In the real world it hits both walls: the bankroll runs out, or the stake blows past the limit long before the saving win arrives. When that happens, the loss is not gradual — it is catastrophic, taking much or all of the account at once.
That is why serious brokers and educators advise against Martingale. The healthy alternative is the opposite: fixed risk per trade (1% to 2%) and disciplined bankroll management, which prioritizes surviving in the long run over chasing immediate recovery. Understanding Martingale serves, above all, to know how to avoid it.