Most Traders Lose — and the Reason Is Rarely Strategy
You’ve probably heard that 90% of retail traders lose money. That statistic gets repeated everywhere. But fewer people talk about why. The answer isn’t bad luck or bad picks. It’s bad math. Traders take oversized risks. They hold losers too long. They cut winners too soon. Trading Is Math by Steve Burns aims to fix that.
This isn’t a book about hot stocks or market predictions. It’s about the numbers that drive every trade — position sizing, risk-to-reward ratios, win rates, and expectancy. These are the levers that separate consistently profitable traders from those who blow up their accounts.
If you’ve been trading by gut feeling, this book will be uncomfortable — in a useful way. It forces you to think in probabilities, not certainties. That shift alone is worth the price of admission.
What Is Trading Is Math?
Trading Is Math: The Formulas for Profitable Trading in Any Market is a practical guide by Steve Burns, a seasoned trader and founder of New Trader U. The book breaks down the core mathematical principles behind consistent trading performance. It covers concepts like expectancy, risk-adjusted returns, Kelly Criterion, position sizing, and how to structure a trading system that gives you an edge.
The book is written for clarity. Burns avoids unnecessary jargon. Each formula is explained in plain language with real-world context. The goal is to make trading math accessible — not to write a textbook.
- Author: Steve Burns
- Publisher: New Trader U / independently published
- Format: Kindle, Paperback
- Topic: Trading math, risk management, system building
- Level: Beginner to intermediate
- Best For: Retail traders, aspiring quant traders, system builders
Who It’s For
This book is written for traders who want to stop guessing and start calculating. It’s not for someone looking for stock tips or a “get rich” shortcut. The ideal reader is curious, honest about their current results, and willing to rebuild their approach from first principles.
- Retail traders who are consistently losing money and don’t know why
- New traders who want to build good habits from the start
- Intermediate traders who trade by intuition and want a more systematic approach
- Investors curious about the math behind active trading strategies
- Anyone who has heard of position sizing but never applied it consistently
- Traders who struggle with risk management and account drawdowns
- People interested in building rules-based or algorithmic trading systems
- Financial literacy seekers who want to understand market probability and edge
Key Features
1. Expectancy: The Formula Every Trader Needs
Burns dedicates significant space to expectancy — the average amount you can expect to win or lose per trade over time. It’s calculated using win rate and average win/loss size. Most traders never calculate this. They should.
Understanding expectancy changes how you evaluate strategies. A system with a 40% win rate can still be highly profitable. This chapter reframes what “good trading” actually means.
2. Position Sizing That Protects Your Capital
One of the book’s strongest sections covers position sizing. Burns explains how to calculate how much of your capital to risk on any single trade. He uses the 1–2% rule as a baseline and walks through the math behind it.
This alone can prevent the most common account-destroying mistake: taking positions that are too large relative to your total capital.
3. Risk-to-Reward Ratios Explained Clearly
Burns explains how risk-to-reward ratios interact with win rates to determine profitability. A 1:2 ratio means you only need to be right 34% of the time to break even. Many traders don’t realize this.
The book provides simple tables and examples. These make the concept concrete. You can apply the logic to your own trading system immediately.
4. The Kelly Criterion and Optimal Bet Sizing
Burns introduces the Kelly Criterion — a formula from information theory adapted for trading. It tells you the mathematically optimal fraction of capital to risk based on your edge. He’s careful to note that full Kelly is often too aggressive. He recommends fractional Kelly for real-world use.
This is a more advanced concept. Burns handles it accessibly without oversimplifying the nuance.
5. Drawdown Math and Psychological Implications
The book covers drawdown in a way most trading books don’t. Burns shows the math of recovery: a 50% drawdown requires a 100% gain to recover. That asymmetry is jarring — and it’s supposed to be.
He connects the math to trader psychology. Large drawdowns don’t just hurt your account. They impair your decision-making. Keeping risk small keeps your head clear.
6. Building a System With a Quantifiable Edge
Burns ties the formulas together into a framework for building a rules-based system. He explains how to backtest, measure edge, and evaluate whether a strategy is worth trading live. This is where the book earns its subtitle: formulas for profitable trading in any market.
It’s not a plug-and-play system. It’s a methodology. That’s more valuable long-term.
Honest Pros and Cons
✅ Pros
- Covers the most important trading math concepts in one concise volume
- Written in plain language — no advanced math background required
- Practical examples make abstract formulas immediately usable
- Burns is a working trader, not just a writer — the advice feels grounded
- Short chapters make it easy to read in segments without losing context
- Addresses both strategy math and trader psychology in the same framework
❌ Cons
- Experienced traders may find the early chapters too introductory
- The book doesn’t cover specific strategies — it’s framework-only
- Some formulas are explained without enough worked examples for visual learners
- No companion spreadsheet or calculator tool is included
- Readers expecting stock picks or market timing advice will be disappointed
- A few sections feel repetitive, revisiting the same core ideas from slightly different angles
How It Compares
vs. Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp
Van Tharp’s classic is the gold standard for position sizing and system development. It goes deeper on expectancy and risk modeling than Burns does. However, Tharp’s book is longer, denser, and more demanding. Trading Is Math is a faster, more accessible entry point to the same core ideas.
Bottom line: Read Burns first, then Tharp if you want to go further.
vs. How to Day Trade for a Living by Andrew Aziz
Aziz’s book is popular with beginners and focuses on specific day trading setups. It’s more tactical and strategy-specific than Burns. But it spends far less time on the math that determines whether any strategy is worth trading. Trading Is Math fills a gap that Aziz’s book leaves open.
Bottom line: Burns is the better choice if you want to understand why setups work mathematically, not just how to execute them.
Pricing Breakdown
- Kindle Edition: Typically $4.99–$9.99 (check current price on Amazon)
- Paperback: Typically $14.99–$19.99 (check current price on Amazon)
- Kindle Unlimited: Available to read free with an active KU subscription
At any of these price points, the book offers strong value relative to the cost of a single bad trade. Check the current price and available formats on Amazon →
Who Should Buy It / Who Should Skip It
Buy It If You:
- Trade actively and have never calculated your system’s expectancy
- Have blown up an account or experienced a painful drawdown
- Want to move from intuition-based trading to a rules-based approach
- Are new to trading and want to start with sound mathematical fundamentals
- Feel confused about how position sizing, win rate, and risk-to-reward connect
- Are building or evaluating a mechanical or algorithmic trading system
- Want a concise, readable reference you can return to regularly
- Are on a budget and want maximum educational value per dollar spent
Skip It If You:
- Already have a solid grasp of expectancy, Kelly Criterion, and position sizing
- Are looking for specific trading strategies or stock recommendations
- Want a deep quantitative finance text with rigorous mathematical proofs
- Trade exclusively long-term buy-and-hold and don’t actively size positions
- Prefer video or course-based learning over reading
- Are looking for a book on trading psychology rather than trading mechanics
- Have already read Van Tharp’s work and are looking for something new
- Want market-specific content (options, futures, forex) rather than universal principles
Final Verdict
Trading Is Math does exactly what it promises. It takes the formulas that matter most — expectancy, position sizing, risk-to-reward, drawdown math — and makes them accessible to ordinary traders. Burns writes without ego or fluff. The book is focused and practical.
It won’t turn you into a profitable trader overnight. No book will. But it gives you the mental framework to evaluate any strategy honestly. That’s a skill most retail traders never develop — and it shows in their results.
The book is short enough to read in a weekend. The concepts are dense enough to revisit for months. That’s a good ratio for a trading education book. If you’re serious about improving your results, the math in this book is a solid place to start.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars) — A concise, honest look at the math that separates profitable traders from the rest. Recommended for any active trader who hasn’t done this work yet.
→ Get Trading Is Math on Amazon and start building a system backed by real numbers.
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