Leverage is a powerful tool. It lets you control a large position in the market with a relatively small amount of cash. For example, using 10× leverage, I once put in ₹10,000 and controlled a ₹1,00,000 position. It felt like driving a sports car with no limits. Pure adrenaline.

But Heavy Leverage Risk isn’t just a financial tool—it’s a psychological drug.
• A small win with leverage feels massive.
• A small loss feels catastrophic.
• Your emotions swing wildly: excitement, fear, greed, despair—all within the same hour.

I remember a day trading crude oil futures with heavy leverage. In just 30 minutes, I had paper profits of ₹4,00,000 and felt untouchable. Then markets turned. Within the next 30 minutes, those profits evaporated—and I was down ₹6,00,000. That swing taught me how leverage gives you heaven and hell in the same session.

The problem is, the higher the leverage, the bigger the emotional hit. You become impatient. You start making reckless trades just to feel alive. The leverage amplifies everything—your wins, your losses, your illusions.

Many traders believe a good strategy or analysis will protect them from Heavy Leverage Risk. But that belief is a lie I once lived. I had systems that made sense on paper, but when I had skin in the game under high leverage, my mind betrayed me. Fear caused me to exit winners too early. Greed made me double down on losing trades. Panic destroyed my discipline.

Over time, I discovered patterns. When leverage is involved:

  • You celebrate small wins like they’re huge achievements.
  • You ignore warning signs because you believe in the upside.
  • You stay in trades longer than you should, hoping for recovery.
  • You suffer bigger losses when markets reverse because your risk was magnified.

Leverage doesn’t just drain your money. It drains your peace of mind, your sleep, your health.

But here’s what changed for me. I learned to treat leverage with respect—not as a magic bullet, but as a dangerous weapon. I set strict rules:

  1. Limit the maximum leverage I ever use (never exceeding what I can emotionally handle).
  2. Use smaller position sizes when leverage is high.
  3. Always define stop-loss before entering a leveraged trade.
  4. Avoid trading when emotions are running high (tiredness, anger, stress).
  5. Walk away when I’m chasing leverage—not for profit, but for the rush.

Once I applied those rules, the losses decreased. My emotional swings softened. And slowly, leverage stopped being a source of chaos.

If you are tempted by leverage, ask yourself: “Am I trading this because I believe in the market—or because I want the high?” Because leverage doesn’t care about your logic. It only cares about your state of mind.