Proper RISK% and MM determines trading success. It really is that simple.
Mar 16, 2013 at 10:01
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Member Since Jul 20, 2011
3 posts
Mar 16, 2013 at 10:01
(edited Mar 16, 2013 at 00:11)
There is a lot of focus in FX trading regarding win rates. I know people who are so proud of winning 97.2% of the time, yet they are barely profitable. Personally I don't care about winning, I care only about being profitable. In fact, every strategy I have developed will usually lose more often than it will win, yet I am still very profitable. Why?
The answer is quite simple really. You have to try to win more than you risk on each trade (this is good money management), and you have to risk enough of your trade capital to make a meaningful gain for the effort you apply trading (this is the risk part). For me, that magic number is 4% per trade, not the 2% maximum that most the books tell you, but it will be different for everyone. You have to find out your own style and run some spreadsheets to what risk produces the best results. I have posted a live account here to prove why this is so and will continue putting my money where my mouth is to back it up.
https://www.myfxbook.com/members/SimpleTraders/4-risk/512089
Once you have these two fundamentals locked in, there are various strategies that can be used to produce excellent results, just pick one that suits you and master it. Unfortunately nothing worth having comes easily, and it does take a lot of time in front of the screens watching price action and drawing your own conclusions as to why price moves (forget the books) to get the knowledge and experience to trade well. And you need to watch the drawdowns of course. I think around a 30% drawdown in an aggressive trading account is quite acceptable if the gains booked in the account are fairly consistent, as over time, you will make up for lost ground if you stick with your strategy. I try to keep my profit factor high as I can rather than create that green bar of winning trades and understand that dips will occur from time to time.
'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'
The answer is quite simple really. You have to try to win more than you risk on each trade (this is good money management), and you have to risk enough of your trade capital to make a meaningful gain for the effort you apply trading (this is the risk part). For me, that magic number is 4% per trade, not the 2% maximum that most the books tell you, but it will be different for everyone. You have to find out your own style and run some spreadsheets to what risk produces the best results. I have posted a live account here to prove why this is so and will continue putting my money where my mouth is to back it up.
https://www.myfxbook.com/members/SimpleTraders/4-risk/512089
Once you have these two fundamentals locked in, there are various strategies that can be used to produce excellent results, just pick one that suits you and master it. Unfortunately nothing worth having comes easily, and it does take a lot of time in front of the screens watching price action and drawing your own conclusions as to why price moves (forget the books) to get the knowledge and experience to trade well. And you need to watch the drawdowns of course. I think around a 30% drawdown in an aggressive trading account is quite acceptable if the gains booked in the account are fairly consistent, as over time, you will make up for lost ground if you stick with your strategy. I try to keep my profit factor high as I can rather than create that green bar of winning trades and understand that dips will occur from time to time.
'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'
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