Keep no balance
The only entry in this section that costs nothing, takes no skill, and closes its target completely.
The rule
Fund what you intend to spend soon. Not what you might spend eventually, not a round number, not a buffer. If an order is not going to be placed within a short window, the money should not be there. Withdraw whatever is left when the order closes.
What it closes
| Entry | Effect |
|---|---|
| Rank 1, a balance left behind | Closed entirely. There is nothing to lose. |
| Rank 10, locked out | Reduced from a permanent loss to an inconvenience and a fresh account. |
| A platform ending | Reduced to whatever is currently committed to orders, which is the exposure you accepted deliberately. |
The fee argument, answered
It is the only real argument for leaving funds in place. Each withdrawal pays a network fee measured in fractions of a cent, so leaving money there to avoid it buys convenience with an unbounded downside to save an amount too small to write down. That is the most lopsided arithmetic on the whole site.
The check before withdrawing
Compare the first and last several characters of the destination against your own wallet. The ends, not the middle, because the failure here is wholesale substitution rather than a resembling address. Three seconds, and it is the only thing standing between a mistake and a payment nobody can recall.
The habit in practice
- Decide the order first, then fund it. Not the other way round.
- Fund the amount, not a round number. Round numbers are where remainders come from.
- Withdraw the remainder when the order closes, in the same sitting, before you close the tab.
- Check the ends of the destination after pasting, which takes three seconds and is the only guard against rank nine.
The objections, answered
| Objection | Answer |
|---|---|
| Funding takes time | True, and it is the real cost. It is also predictable, so it can be started before you need it rather than avoided. |
| Prices move while I wait | Sometimes in your favour and sometimes not. Over many orders this is noise, and it is not a reason to carry an unbounded risk. |
| I might miss something | A listing that disappears in the hours you spent funding was a listing you would have been rushed into. |
| It is only a small amount | Then withdrawing it costs you nothing to do. |
What it does not protect
Anything currently committed to an open order, which is exposed for as long as the order runs and is a risk you accepted deliberately when you placed it. That exposure is managed by sizing, not by this habit, and the two together are what put a ceiling on the worst plausible week.