A Trader's Guide to Profitability and SuccessGreetings, fellow traders!
As a seasoned veteran of the financial markets, we've witnessed firsthand the transformative power of trading, its ability to elevate individuals to new heights of financial freedom and fulfillment. Yet, we've also observed the struggles of many aspiring traders, their goals & dreams marred by a lack of guidance and a clear understanding of the intricacies involved.
So, let's delve into the five key aspects that underpin long-term trading success:
1. Crafting a Trading Plan: Your Compass in the Market Storm.
A well-defined trading plan serves as your beacon, guiding you through the turbulent waters of the markets. It's not a rigid set of rules but a dynamic roadmap that adapts to changing market conditions.
2. Unveiling Market Secrets:
To make informed decisions, you must become an astute market detective, meticulously analyzing market trends, economic factors, and company fundamentals. This involves mastering technical and fundamental analysis, and always staying abreast of market-moving news and events.
3. Taming the Risk Beast: Risk Management – Your Shield Against Trading Perils
Risk management is the cornerstone of trading success, shielding you from the perils of impulsive decisions and excessive losses. It's about setting stop-loss orders, limiting position sizes, and diversifying your portfolio – strategies that safeguard your capital and ensure long-term sustainability.
4. Conquering Emotions: Mastering the Emotional Rollercoaster
The financial markets are a psychological battleground, where fear and greed can lead to disastrous trading decisions. To emerge victorious, you must cultivate emotional control, adhering to your trading plan and avoiding impulsive actions driven by fleeting emotions.
5. Embracing Continuous Learning: The Path to Perpetual Trading Prowess
The financial markets are a dynamic entity, constantly evolving and presenting new challenges and opportunities. To stay ahead of the curve, you must embrace continuous learning, stay updated with market trends, explore new trading strategies, and adapt to changing market conditions. Continuously refine your knowledge and skills to improve your trading performance.
Stay tuned for more educational content and don't forget to trade with care!
Riskmangement
Trading &/or GamblingThe difference between trading and gambling.
This article will shine a light on the most frequent mistakes that traders make. These mistakes blur the thin line between trading and gambling.
Many people have spoken on this topic, but we truly believe that it is still not sufficient, and traders should be better educated on how to avoid gambling behaviour and emotional outbursts. When we speak about trading versus gambling, we define gambling as the act of making irrational, emotional and quick decisions.
Most of the time, these decisions are based on greed, and sometimes fear of the trader. Let’s dive into the exact problems we have personally experienced thousands of times, and want to help others avoid.
1 ♠ Bad Money Management
This is something that everyone has heard at least once, but seems to naively ignore in the hopes that it is not that important .
It is the most important . When a trader enters trades, it is exceptionally alluring to enter with all of their money, or close to all of it. In gambling terms, that is going “All in”, or “All or nothing”.
As a rule of thumb, both traders and gamblers should only place or bet money that they can afford to lose.
Thankfully, at least in trading one can limit their loss for that specific trade, by placing a stop loss or exiting before total liquidation. In Poker, you can’t fold when you are “All in” and take a portion of your money back. However, that does not mean entering trades with full capital, even with a stop-loss, is going to give you exponential returns and feed your greed for profits.
Traders should enter positions with a small amount of their full capital, to limit the damage from losses. Yes, you also limit the possibility that you win a few trades in a row with all of your money and… There goes the greed we mentioned.
The “globally perfect” percent of equity you need to enter trades to reach that balance between being too cautious and too greedy does not exist. There are methods, like the Kelly Criterion, as described in our previous Idea (see related ideas below), that help you optimize your money management.
Always ask yourself, “How much can I afford to lose?”. Aim for a balanced approach. This way you can position yourself within the market for a long and a good time, not just for a few lucky wins. Greedy money management, or lack thereof, ends in liquidations and heartbreak.
2 ♣ The Use of Leverage
Anyone who has tried using leverage, knows how easy it is to lose your position (or full) capital in seconds. Using leverage is mainly sold to retail traders as a tool for them to loan money from the exchange or broker and bet with it. It is extremely profitable for institutions, since it multiplies the fees you pay them ten to one hundred-fold.
In our opinion, leverage isn’t something that should be entirely avoided. However, it should be limited as much as possible.
We cannot deny that using 1-5x leverage can be beneficial for people with small accounts and a thirst for growth, however as the leverage grows, the more of a gambler you become.
We often see people share profits made using 20+ times leverage. Some even use ridiculous leverages within the range of 50-125x.
If you are doing that, do you truly trust your entry so much that you believe the market won’t move 1% against your decision and liquidate you immediately?
At this point, the gambling aspect should be evident, and it goes without saying that you should not touch this “125x Golden Apple”, like Eve in the Garden of Eden. Especially when you see a snake-exchange promote it.
If you use a low amount of leverage, and grow your account to the point where you don’t need it for your personal goals in terms of monetary profit. You should consider stopping the use of it, and at least know you’ll be able to sleep at night.
3 ♥ Always Being In A Position
Always being either long or short leads to addiction and becomes gambling. While we don’t have scientific proof of that, we can give you our own experience as an example. To be a profitable trader, you do not need to always be in a position, or chase every single move on the market.
You need to develop the ability just to sit back and watch, analyse and make conscious decisions. Let the bad opportunities trick someone else, while you patiently wait for all your pre-defined conditions to give you a real signal.
When you think of trading, remember that the market has a trend the minority (around 20-30%) of the time. If you are always in a position, this means that 70-80% of the time you are hoping that something will happen in your favour. That, by definition, is gambling.
Another aspect, that we have experienced a lot, is that while you remain in a position, especially if you have used leverage, you are constantly paying your exchange fees. You can be in a short position for a week and pay daily fees which only damage your equity, and therefore margin ratio. So why not just sit back, be patient and define some concrete rules for entering and exiting?
Avoid risky situations, and let the market bring the profits whenever it decides to.
4 ♦ Chasing Huge Profits
Hold your horses, Warren Buffett. Through blood, sweat and tears, we can promise you that you cannot seriously expect to make 100% every month, no matter what magical backtesting or statistics you are calculating your future fortune on.
Moreover, you will realise that consistently making 2-5% a month is an excellent career for a trader.
Yes, the markets can be good friends for a while, you may stumble into a bull-run and start making double-digit profits from a trade from time to time. Double-digit losses will also follow if you lose your sight in a cloud of euphoria and greed.
Many times, you can follow the “profit is profit” principle, and exit at a small win if the risk of loss is increasing.
5 ♠ Being Sentimental Towards Given Assets
You may have a fondness for Bitcoin and Tesla, and we understand that because we too have our favourites. Perhaps you’re deeply attached to the vision, community and purpose of certain projects. On the flip side, there may be projects that you completely despise and hope their prices plummet to zero.
What you personally like and dislike, should not interfere with your work as a trader. Introducing such strong emotions into your trading will lead you into a loop of irrational decisions. You may find yourself asking, “Why isn’t this price going parabolic with how good the project is?”.
This sounds, from personal experience, quite similar to sitting at a Roulette table and asking: “Why does it keep landing on red when I’ve been constantly betting black? It has to change any moment now”.
First and foremost, you may be completely wrong, but most importantly – it could go parabolic, but trying to predict the exact time or expecting it to happen immediately and placing your “bet” on that is again, gambling.
Don’t get attached to projects when trading. If you are an investor who just wants to hold their shares in an awesome company, or cryptocurrency, that is perfectly fine, hold them as much as you want.
The key is to make an important distinction between trading and investing, and to base your strategy on the hand that the market provides you with.
6 ♣ Putting Your Eggs In One Basket
We all have heard of diversification, but how you approach it is crucial. A trader should always have their capital spread between at least a few assets. Furthermore, the trading strategy for each asset must be distinct, or in other words – they should not rely on the same entry and exit conditions for different assets.
The markets behave differently for each asset, and you cannot be profitable with some magical indicator or strategy with a “one-size-fits-all” style. Divide your trades into different pairs and asset classes, and study each market individually to properly diversify. Manage the equity you put into each trade carefully!
Conclusion
The takeaway we want you as a reader to have from this article is that trading without consciously controlling your emotions inevitably leads to great loss and most importantly, a lot of stress.
We hate stress. Trading and life in general is exponentially harder when you are under stress. Control your risk, sleep easy, and let the market bring you profits.
Reaching this level of Zen will not be easy, but it is inevitable. Be happy when you make a profit, no matter how small or big. A lot of small profits and proper money management complete the vision you have of a successful business. Ultimately, trading is just that – work, not gambling or a pastime activity. Treat it as work and always remember to never rely on luck.
The advice we’ve included here is written by a few experienced gamblers… Oops, I meant traders 😉.
We hope that some of the lessons we’ve had to painstakingly learn through trial and error can now be shared with those who are interested. Of course, none of this constitutes investment advice. It’s merely a friendly heads-up.
How to know when you are wrong and what to do nextThe feeling of ever admitting that one’s action is wrong is something many people never acknowledges, outside the works of trading, you get to see that even in a bilateral misconduct between two sovereign nations, it’s always difficult or maybe impossible for one of those countries to accept that there were at fault( being wrong), it goes on in every aspect of human endeavors, No one wants to take the blame.
Now let’s take a case study into the current invasion of Russia into Ukraine, you will get to see that none of the presidents according to their speech has accepted to be wrong in their actions.
Russian president Vladimor Putin while delivering his annual state state of the nation’s speech at the Gosting Duor conference center on February 21, 2023 did in his statement puts the blames on West and Ukraine for provoking conflicts while the president of Ukraine while replying to his speech did debunked the allegations of the Russian President. So the big question now is who is to be blamed? Who is Wrong?
It’s the same thing that applies to trading, so many beginners and advanced traders can’t really beat their chest to tell when their analysis becomes invalid so that’s the reason am here to fix things up.
What is wrong in forex?
I won’t quote any dictionary or trader but I will simply put it this way that wrong in forex is a level or stage where you find PERSONALLY that the trade setup you had plan to trade or that you had traded is no more valid, useful or won’t be profitable if traded.
The main keywords there are personally, profitability and traded. As far as wrong is concerned, it has to do with one accepting to the fact that a signal won’t yield profit because it had passed a particular level or structure.
How to know that you are wrong
I will like to drop some factors that will help you know that a setup is soar or is wrong.
You have to set up parameters before entering a trade: wheather you use pending orders or market execution, you shouldn’t rush into a trade because of how attractive or how sweet looking the candles are being printed on the chart without knowing firstly where you will consider being wrong in the market. For me, since we are in a very sensitive environment while trading, then I feel identifying where your wrong zone would be is more important travel where your profit target would be.
Use a well backtested strategy that you trust: Using a strategy that you trust would always enable a trader to quickly identify certain trade management levels. Let’s take a case st udy of a driver who uses one route everyday while going to and fro work at night, then unluckily for him, while returning from work at night on a faithful day, his head light malfunctions and then refuses to work, you will notice that with the aid of streetlight, you will be amazed that even under such mysterious circumstance, the driver would still manage to scale through the road successfully back home. Now you will ask how? This is because he has been using this route repeatedly and knows where there could be portholes and bombs so he would avoid those areas. Same thing applies with trading, when you trade a particular strategy day in day out, you will always at the slight of a fingertip be acquainted with where to identify your wrong level(stoploss) and you right level (take profit).
Be psychologically ready to accept that you are wrong: This is one of the major problems encountered by traders because most traders even when their levels or an intending structure they acknowledged as their wrong level are taken out (those who believes in closing trades manually), they rather believe that things could get better (trades will surely reverse) so they keep holding their losses till it gets out of control. As a trader, you must be ready to boldly acknowledge that a setup you saw due to some factors is wrong and then immediately close it without second thoughts.
Some technical tools and indicators to help you be aware of being wrong
Thank God for the recent innovations that has been seen in the world of trading. With this, trading has been made more smart and rewarding because of there sophisticated tools and indicators that have been made available. Here are some of the tools that can help you identify when you are wrong
Support and Resistance indicator by Luxalgo
As we all know, trading is all about identifying key levels and structures which turns to become support and resistance levels. This indicator by Luxalgo makes it more easy to quickly identify market structures and trends on each timeframe so one could use the indicator to set a particular structure which will be used as his or her wrong level.
ATR indicator
You(Mindset) indicator
This indicator surpasses all other technical indicators and tools because it has to do with the trader itself. Having to make use of those mentioned indicators is all dependent on you. This indicator determines the progress that you make in the industry.
After Losing, What Next?
There are some traders that would love to acknowledge being wrong in its dealings( setups or analysis) but their biggest question would be “After I agree that am wrong, what next should I do”?
According to a book titled “Mastering trading psychology “ written collaboratively by Andrew Aziz( founder and CEO, Peak Capital Trading Founder,Bear Bull Traders) and Mike Baehr( Chief training officer , Peak Capital Trading Couch, Bear Bull Traders), one of their est technical analysis trainee who they had in mind to reserve as their full time trader after encountering a loss( wrong) had this to say and I quote “This is embarrassing. I was doing so well alternating between real and simulator this whole week. These were my results:
Monday: 4 green trades out of 4
Tuesday: 3 green trades out of 5 trades
Wednesday: 1 green trade out of 1 trade
Thursday: 2 green trades out of 2 trades
Total: 10 green trades out of a total of 12 trades: nice profits, and feeling on top of the world!
And today it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. I traded like a maniac and finished with a huge loss. It was all a blur, but this is my recollection of the events in question:
After two small losses 10 minutes after the open, I was a bit shook. Then on my 3rd trade, I made a hotkey mistake and doubled up my position rather than exiting. That ended in a huge loss. Shortly after that, I made another hotkey mistake and took another big hit. I was a psycho- logical mess. Rather than walking away, I went on a rampage. I started trading stocks not in play (JD, BABA, MU), and was reckless and vengeful. I said to myself,
‘Fuck it, let’s go!’ (literally out loud) and fired away at my hotkeys like there was no tomorrow. By 10:30 AM ET, I was 0 for 7. By noon, I had made 13 trades. When it was all said and done, I had made 20 trades total (not tickets, but trades). Only 2 of them turned out to be winners. Talk about lack of self-control...
I violated every single rule that I had been following reli- giously all week. I stopped caring about those A+ setups and traded anything that looked marginally good. And since SPY was a roller coaster today, I got destroyed by questionable entries and ‘make-believe’ strategies. I kept trading the same stocks over and over, even after admit- ting they were not in play. I was trading like it was going out of style. I thought I could outsmart the market and get back at it. It wasn’t even about the money anymore. The losses were a foregone conclusion and had evaporated to currency heaven.
The sad part about this whole tirade was that I knew I was breaking the rules while violating them—and I didn’t give a damn about it. In the moment, I turned into the Incredible Hulk and everything switched to autopi- lot mode. I smashed at my keyboard like a savage. Everything I had learned up to this point in my (short- lived) trading career was thrown out the window. I had literally unleashed an animal that I had no control of. I’ve never experienced such poor self-discipline in my normal life—ever.
Today was a reminder of how fragile the trading mindset can be. All it takes is one moment—a FILG one —to send you spiraling out of control. All of these rules and checklists I had been adhering to were useless in the face of such madness. They were nothing but delicate paper walls I had erected to trick myself into believing that my emotions were in check. They came crumbling down under the slightest pressure. It was all an illusion; I was delusional.
I have a lot of reflecting and contemplating to do this weekend. I might take a break from trading to rebuild my psyche. Maybe I’ll visit a monastery to cleanse myself of all these trading sins. But first I need to forgive myself. Now I’m just rambling like a fool.
Thanks for reading, and remember—don’t trade like a crackhead”.
I know being wrong hurts but here are the remedies to do in such circumstances.
Shut down your computer sets for that day: The is a saying that “He who doesn’t bet the farm on one trade lives to trade another day. Setups as far as trading is concerned is a repeatable outcome, as far as your strategy has an edge, then your setups will always come. Move away for that day and return the next day.
Have a source of happiness: It’s not just shutting down the system but what do you do after putting the system off, you must as a trader have something that brings happiness to you naturally, it could be hanging out with friends, playing soccer or having some cool time with your kids or maybe taking some yummy ice cream or whatever. Personally when bad days or wrong days usually comes around, I do play virtual games and this just has its own way of making me happy. After shutting down, make sure you locate your source of happiness immediately.
Return like a baby the next day: The mind of a baby according to research is like a flowing river, it always keeps moving without thoughts of what happened previously, your mind as a trader should be like a baby. You should learn from your mistakes but don’t let it weigh you down. Resume office the next day with joy forgetting what occurred the previous day. Take trading decisions according to your strategy and let the trades play out.
Conclusion
The key take away from this write up is learn to adjust, learn to accept your wrongs and act accordingly to it. Digest this my write up efficiently and still check out for other other resources I will be dropping soon. Always try as much as possible to see how you can improve both yourself and your trading carrier everyday of your life.
SEE YOU AT THE TOP!!
How I manage the order volume?How I manage the order volume?
I often trade Futures, where I can take advantage of leverage to optimize profits. But at first, I didn't know what was a reasonable amount to enter an order with. I know my maximum is 10% of my capital as I shared in the prev post. But when calculating with leverage, it made me quite confused at first.
Try the following example.
Suppose, I have 200USDT capital. I will enter 1 order, with a STOPLOSS level of 0.2%
So each of my orders will be a maximum of 20USDT (ie 10% of total capital)
And my maximum risk tolerance would be when I lose 25% of my money on a trade. That is 5USDT.
Because the volume you place on the order is constant (certainly 10% of capital), so it is necessary to change the leverage to achieve the maximum loss tolerance, how do you calculate the leverage?
Here's my way: 20*(25/0.2) = 2500x
2500x leverage? I certainly never had that much leverage lol.
The problem appeared when the calculated leverage was too large. So what now when the max leverage is only 100x (I assume so, realistically is that there are many exchanges with higher leverage.)
I will take the actual leverage needed when I use 10% of capital (here 2500x) and divide it by the available leverage (here 100x).
So the actual volume needed to use with 100x leverage and achieve the stop loss condition when losing 25% of the amount on 1 order and the actual stop loss is 0.2% is:
20*(25/0.2)/100 = 25USDT
You can enter an order with 25USDT, you will lose 5USDT (2.5% of total capital) when stoploss
In short, to calculate actual volume and leverage, I will calculate according to this formula:
A = 10% of total capital
B = Maximum risk tolerance (I usually take 30%)
C = Actual STOPLOSS Level
D = Maximum Leverage
Actual volume = A*(B/C)/D
That's it, I hope the way I share can help you, this is the way I am using, very effective. You can comment below, I will try to answer.
Enjoy
DYOR
Unlocking The Trader's PyramidIn the realm of trading, success isn't solely derived from intricate technical analysis.
Surprisingly, the key to triumph lies in an unconventional ratio: 20% technical analysis and a staggering 80% blend of emotions, discipline, psychology, risk management, and money management.
If you appreciate our charts, give us a quick 💜💜
The 20%: Technical Expertise
Yes, technical analysis is crucial, comprising the foundational 20% of your crypto trading journey. This segment encompasses chart patterns, indicators, and market trends. However, it's not the sole determinant of your success.
The 80%: The Pillars of Triumph
The real magic happens within the 80%. Embracing your emotions, mastering discipline, understanding market psychology, and implementing astute risk and money management techniques form the cornerstone of your success. Emotional intelligence allows you to navigate market highs and lows, discipline ensures you stick to your strategies, and psychological resilience helps you stay steady amidst volatility. Effective risk and money management safeguard your capital and nurture your profits.
This symbiotic blend of technical expertise and emotional intelligence propels you towards trading mastery. By allocating your focus and energy according to this pyramid, you're not just trading; you're sculpting success . Let this balanced approach be your guiding light in the trading journey!
Happy trading! 💜
Kelly Criterion and other common position-sizing methodsWhat is position sizing & why is it important?
Position size refers to the amount of risk - money, contracts, equity, etc. - that a trader uses when entering a position on the financial market.
We assume, for ease, that traders expect a 100% profit or loss as a result of the profit lost.
Common ways to size positions are:
Using a set amount of capital per trade . A trader enters with $100 for example, every time. This means that no matter what the position is, the maximum risk of it will be that set capital.
It is the most straight-forward way to size positions, and it aims at producing linear growth in their portfolio.
Using a set amount of contracts per trade . A trader enters with 1 contract of the given asset per trade. When trading Bitcoin, for example, this would mean 1 contract is equal to 1 Bitcoin.
This approach can be tricky to backtest and analyse, since the contract’s dollar value changes over time. A trade that has been placed at a given time when the dollar price is high may show as a bigger win or loss, and a trade at a time when the dollar price of the contract is less, can be shown as a smaller win or loss.
Percentage of total equity - this method is used by traders who decide to enter with a given percentage of their total equity on each position.
It is commonly used in an attempt to achieve ‘exponential growth’ of the portfolio size.
However, the following fictional scenario will show how luck plays a major role in the outcome of such a sizing method.
Let’s assume that the trader has chosen to enter with 50% of their total capital per position.
This would mean that with an equity of $1000, a trader would enter with $500 the first time.
This could lead to two situations for the first trade:
- The position is profitable, and the total equity now is $1500
- The position is losing, and the total equity now is $500.
When we look at these two cases, we can then go deeper into the trading process, looking at the second and third positions they enter.
If the first trade is losing, and we assume that the second two are winning:
a) 500 * 0.5 = 250 entry, total capital when profitable is 750
b) 750 * 0.5 = 375 entry, total capital when profitable is $1125
On the other hand, If the first trade is winning, and we assume that the second two are winning too:
a) 1500 * 0.5 = 750 entry, total capital when profitable is $2250
b) 2250 * 0.5 = 1125 entry, total capital when profitable is $3375
Let’s recap: The trader enters with 50% of the capital and, based on the outcome of the first trade, even if the following two trades are profitable, the difference between the final equity is:
a) First trade lost: $1125
b) First trade won: $3375
This extreme difference of $2250 comes from the single first trade, and whether it’s profitable or not. This goes to show that luck is extremely important when trading with percentage of equity, since that first trade can go any way.
Traders often do not take into account the luck factor that they need to have to reach exponential growth . This leads to very unrealistic expectations of performance of their trading strategy.
What is the Kelly Criterion?
The percentage of equity strategy, as we saw, is dependent on luck and is very tricky. The Kelly Criterion builds on top of that method, however it takes into account factors of the trader’s strategy and historical performance to create a new way of sizing positions.
This mathematical formula is employed by investors seeking to enhance their capital growth objectives. It presupposes that investors are willing to reinvest their profits and expose them to potential risks in subsequent trades. The primary aim of this formula is to ascertain the optimal allocation of capital for each individual trade.
The Kelly criterion encompasses two pivotal components:
Winning Probability Factor (W) : This factor represents the likelihood of a trade yielding a positive return. In the context of TradingView strategies, this refers to the Percent Profitable.
Win/Loss Ratio (R) : This ratio is calculated by the maximum winning potential divided by the maximum loss potential. It could be taken as the Take Profit / Stop-Loss ratio. It can also be taken as the Largest Winning Trade / Largest Losing Trade ratio from the backtesting tab.
The outcome of this formula furnishes investors with guidance on the proportion of their total capital to allocate to each investment endeavour.
Commonly referred to as the Kelly strategy, Kelly formula, or Kelly bet, the formula can be expressed as follows:
Kelly % = W - (1 - W) / R
Where:
Kelly % = Percent of equity that the trader should put in a single trade
W = Winning Probability Factor
R = Win/Loss Ratio
This Kelly % is the suggested percentage of equity a trader should put into their position, based on this sizing formula. With the change of Winning Probability and Win/Loss ratio, traders are able to re-apply the formula to adjust their position size.
Let’s see an example of this formula.
Let’s assume our Win/Loss Ration (R) is the Ratio Avg Win / Avg Loss from the TradingView backtesting statistics. Let’s say the Win/Loss ratio is 0.965.
Also, let’s assume that the Winning Probability Factor is the Percent Profitable statistics from TradingView’s backtesting window. Let’s assume that it is 70%.
With this data, our Kelly % would be:
Kelly % = 0.7 - (1 - 0.7) / 0.965 = 0.38912 = 38.9%
Therefore, based on this fictional example, the trader should allocate around 38.9% of their equity and not more, in order to have an optimal position size according to the Kelly Criterion.
The Kelly formula, in essence, aims to answer the question of “What percent of my equity should I use in a trade, so that it will be optimal”. While any method it is not perfect, it is widely used in the industry as a way to more accurately size positions that use percent of equity for entries.
Caution disclaimer
Although adherents of the Kelly Criterion may choose to apply the formula in its conventional manner, it is essential to acknowledge the potential downsides associated with allocating an excessively substantial portion of one's portfolio into a solitary asset. In the pursuit of diversification, investors would be prudent to exercise caution when considering investments that surpass 20% of their overall equity, even if the Kelly Criterion advocates a more substantial allocation.
Source about information on Kelly Criterion
www.investopedia.com
Role of Risk Management in Trading and How to calculate riskThe Foundations of Solid Risk Management 🛡️📊:
Risk management in trading involves a series of strategic decisions aimed at minimizing potential losses. It revolves around understanding the risks associated with each trade and employing measures to mitigate them. Whether you're a novice or an experienced trader, risk management remains a non-negotiable aspect of sustainable trading.
👍 Pros of Effective Risk Management:
Shields your trading capital from significant losses.
Provides a structured framework for decision-making.
Fosters discipline and rationality in the face of market fluctuations.
👎 Cons of Neglecting Risk Management:
Exposes your portfolio to undue risks that can lead to substantial losses.
Increases the likelihood of emotional decision-making driven by fear and greed.
The Emotional and Financial Benefits of Risk Management 🧘♂️❤️:
Effective risk management isn't just about preserving your financial resources; it's also about maintaining emotional equilibrium. When traders implement robust risk management strategies, they reduce the psychological stress and anxiety that often accompany trading. This enables traders to make more logical decisions, avoiding impulsive actions triggered by heightened emotions.
Calculating Position Size and Setting Stop Losses 📈🛑:
Two key elements of risk management are calculating the appropriate position size and setting stop-loss levels. These practices are integral to controlling the amount of capital at risk in each trade. By determining the position size based on a percentage of your capital and setting stop-loss orders to limit potential losses, traders ensure that no single trade can significantly erode their account balance.
Comparing Potential Losses and Gains for Different Risk Management Scenarios 💹📉:
Let's explore how the 2% rule affects potential outcomes for different risk management scenarios:
Risking 2% of a $1000 Deposit:
Maximum Risk per Trade: $20 (2% of $1000)
Potential Loss: Limited to $20 per trade
Potential Gain: Can vary, but the focus is on maintaining risk control
Risking 5% of a $1000 Deposit:
Maximum Risk per Trade: $50 (5% of $1000)
Potential Loss: Larger at $50 per trade
Potential Gain: Higher, but the risk of significant losses is elevated
Risking 10% of a $1000 Deposit:
Maximum Risk per Trade: $100 (10% of $1000)
Potential Loss: Considerably larger at $100 per trade
Potential Gain: Higher compared to 2% risk, but risk of capital depletion is significant
How to calculate your position size ?
You can easily calculate risk directly in TradingView using the built-in calculator!
Choose the direction of your position - long or short.
The next step is to set up according to your deposit and risk per trade.
After that, simply drag it onto the chart in line with your stop loss and take profit (more on this in the upcoming article), and it will automatically calculate the position size for you!
The Power of Risk ManagementRisk management is one of the key topics in forex trading that is not emphasised enough. Instead, there is too much emphasis on solely focusing on being on the right side of the market to consistently make money while ignoring proper risk management in the process. This post will completely debunk this, so after you have finished reading, you will hopefully have a completely new mindset on how to actually succeed long-term in forex.
Absolute Uncertainty
The forex market is a place where the majority of people struggle to find consistency. This is due to the nature of the market, where uncertainty is constant. What I mean by this is that the market is completely irrational and neutral; when you want to buy, there is somebody else on the other side that wants to sell, and vice versa. The market is filled with millions of other participants with their own goals, beliefs, and motivations; therefore, the market will go where it wants to go. Unfortunately, not enough people really grasp what this means and are obsessed with how many trades they can get right to make money.
The main purpose of risk management in forex is to reduce your trading risk and grow your trading capital safely. It is great to have good skills in determining the market's direction, but more importantly, you need to have good risk management skills too.
Two different traders, Same Trades, Two different outcomes
Let's put this into practice. Let us assume that two different traders both took the exact same ten trades and both won five of the ten trades taken. Let's call these traders 'Trader A' and 'Trader B. Trader A is just obsessed with being right in the market. The trader is quite skilled in understanding the market, but the trader is just focused on how many trades are closed at profit. Trader A risks about 2% per trade; however, trades are usually cut short, and thus ends up taking profit at about half of the initial risk (2% risk per trade and 0.5:1 risk-reward). Trader B understands that the market is completely irrational, where anything can happen at any time, and to trade the market succesfully, must treat trading like a business, causing the trader to have strict risk management rules (2% risk per trade and 2:1 risk-reward) that are stuck to at all times.
As you can see from the above image, Trader A ended up with a 5% decrease to the account and Trader B ended up with a 9.98% increase to the account after both traders taking the same ten trades, why did this happen? The answer is simple Trader A cut the profits short and ran the losses whereas Trader B ran the profits and cut the losses. It does not matter if you are right or wrong in trading what matters is how much you make from your right trades and how much you give back to the market on your wrong trades.
Forex Journey Ends Before Getting Started
Due to many people not understanding the power of risk management, their journey in forex ends before it even gets started. To explain further, a lot of traders either do not calculate their risk before they trade the markets or they are aware of their risk but decide not to place high importance on it (a fatal mistake). This is one of the biggest killers of forex traders, and all it takes is one bad trade before the market takes all your hard-earned money and you are out. The market is an unforgivable place that will not care if you are blown out; it will continue to go on with or without you participating, and you must give it respect. The higher your risk, the lower your long-term survivability probabilities are. Remember, if you don't have funds to trade, you can't participate! It is as simple as that, so you must treat trading as a business and not as a casual hobby if you aim to consistently make money over the long term. Let's see how your survivability chance decreases the more you risk.
Position Sizing
Now that you understand how crucial it is not to risk too much of your account in a trade but do not know exactly how to calculate how much you should be risking per trade, how do we calculate this?
In forex, a pip movement on a one-lot contract is approximately $10, so if you enter a trade on a forex pair and it moves 20 pips against you, you will be approximately $200 down. It is very important to understand this because if you do not, you will not know how much you should be risking per trade, and you may end up overexposed in the market with a high chance of blowing your account. For example, if you have a $10,000 account balance and want to risk 2% ($200) of your account per trade on a one-lot contract, that is 20 pips; therefore, your stop loss should be around 20 pips.
However, on the same account balance, if your stop loss is 100 pips, let's say, and you are not aware of pip calculations, you are potentially risking 10% of your account in that trade alone, which is extremely dangerous, and as seen in the above example, it only takes 10 trades in a row to blow your account on 10% risk per trade. But what if your strategy requires a 100-pip stop loss, as that is where your stop loss level is, and you really want to enter the trade? You just have to trade a smaller position size! 2% of $10,000 is $200, and we know that 1 pip is equal to around $10, so $200 is equal to 20 pips. Now how do we trade this with good risk management if we want a 100-pip stop? Let's see the image below:
So as you can see in the above image, if you are on a 2% rule, which is good risk management, all you need to do is reduce the position size if your strategy requires a larger stop. There is nothing stopping you from entering the position. In the forex market, safety must come first at all times. To add, it is not worth having a smaller stop loss just to be able to trade a bigger position size, as this can be very detrimental to your trading due to the fact that in forex, there is a lot of market noise due to so many participants, and it is very easy to get whipsawed on a small stop loss and get taken out of your position.
The next time you are about to enter a position, ask yourself if it would be better to have a larger stop to protect yourself from getting squeezed out of the position. If so, just reduce your position size accordingly and have a larger stop. Always remember that the market does not limit you from trading your opportunities if you have a larger stop but do not want to risk a large percent of your account in the trade; you just have to trade smaller.
Plan, Analyse, Assess, Review
1. Plan
Before you take a trade, always have a plan for your risk management. The 2% risk per trade rule is always a safe rule, and the best traders tend to use this rule. Always know what your account balance is, what your risk amount should be, and exactly where your stop-loss needs to be. Always remember that if your stop is too tight, try trading a lower position size to give you more leeway.
2. Analyse
When you get a trade setup, before you pull the trigger and enter the trade, ask yourself, "Is there enough reward in this trade setup that it is worth entering the trade?" If the answer is no, do not take the trade! Remember, trading is not just about being right or wrong; it is also about how much you take or give to the market when you are right or wrong. The reward must always be worth the risk, and you must constantly analyse this before entering the market.
3. Assess
Make sure you often assess your current risk management, especially when you are in a trading position. For example, if your position is about to reach your take-profit target but the market looks like it wants to keep going past your target, instead of coming out of the position completely, why don't you instead take some of the position out and keep the rest of the position in? You can trail your profit to your original target and potentially make extra profits this way with nothing to lose. The same goes on the other side: if you enter a trade and at some point are no longer comfortable with the position, do not be scared to cut the position short and exit the position. Always listen to your gut instinct, as it may be telling you something for a reason.
4. Review
Always review your risk management. Take a look at your past trades and try to learn from them. Was your stop-loss too tight in a lot of your trades? Was your stop not tight enough in a lot of your trades? Are you cutting yourself short, and could you have a higher risk-to-reward ratio in a lot of your trades? There is always room for improvement, and the only way to improve your risk management is to review your previous trading history to see what possible adjustments you could make to your risk management. Remember, you should treat trading as a business if you want to succeed long-term, and most, if not all, successful businesses constantly review their risk management.
The power of risk management is absolute. If this post has not done enough to convince you of this, always remember that you are always one bad trade away from being put out of business. The majority of beginner traders blow their accounts in the first three months of trading; this is not due to them not understanding the markets but due to poor risk management and not treating trading as a business. Always remember to maximise your profits and cut your losses. All trading involves risk, and there is no 'holy grail' strategy that can eliminate risk entirely. However, by managing your risks effectively, you can reduce the impact of risk on your trading and increase your chances of long-term success.
BluetonaFX
Are You Taking the Right Risks in Trading? Best RISK Per Trade
What portion of your equity should you risk for your trading positions?
In the today's article, I will reveal the types of risks related to your position sizing.
Quick note: your risk per trade will be defined by the distance from your entry point to stop loss in pips and the lot size.
🟢Risking 1-2% of your trading account per trade will be considered a low risk.
With such a risk, one can expect low returns but a high level of safety of the total equity.
Such a risk is optimal for conservative and newbie traders.
With limited account drawdowns, one will remain psychologically stable during the negative trading periods.
🟡2-5% risk per trade is a medium risk.
With such a risk, one can expect medium returns but a moderate level of safety of the total equity.
Such a risk is suitable for experienced traders who are able to take losses and psychologically resilient to big drawdowns and losing streaks.
🔴5%+ risk per trade is a high risk.
With such a risk, one can expect high returns but a low level of safety of the total equity.
Such a risk is appropriate for rare, "5-star" trading opportunities where all stars align and one is extremely confident in the positive outcome.
That winner alone can bring substantial profits, while just 2 losing trades in a row will burn 10% of the entire capital.
🛑15%+ risk per trade is considered to be a stupid risk.
With such a risk, one can blow the entire trading account with 4-5 trades losing streak.
Taking into consideration the fact that 100% trading setups does not exist, such a risk is too high to be taken.
The problem is that most of the traders does not measure the % risk per trade and use the fixed lot. Never make such a mistake and plan your risks according to the scale that I shared with you.
❤️Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️
Guard Your Funds: Only risk what you can afford to lose.🎉 Risk Management tip for Vesties and @TradingView community! 🚀
😲 We all know the saying "only risk what you can afford to lose," but do you know the powerful impact it can have on your trading journey? 🤔
In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency and futures trading, one fundamental principle stands as the cornerstone of profitable and sustainable trading journeys: Only risk what you can afford to lose. Embracing this essential concept is crucial for preserving capital, maintaining emotional stability, and cultivating a disciplined approach to risk management. In this article, we will delve into the significance of operating money and risk within the confines of one's financial capacity and explore the key pillars that underpin this approach.
Understanding Risk Tolerance and Capital Allocation:
1. Assessing Individual Risk Tolerance:
To truly understand one's risk tolerance and establish a robust risk management strategy, traders are encouraged to engage in a thought exercise that involves imagining potential losses in tangible terms. Visualize throwing money into the bin or burning it completely, purely to experience the feeling of losing money. This exercise may seem unconventional, but it serves a crucial purpose: it helps traders gauge their emotional response to monetary losses.
During this exercise, consider the two extreme scenarios: the first being the largest amount of money you can lose without causing significant distress, and the second being the maximum amount of loss that would completely devastate you financially and emotionally. These two amounts represent your Fine Risk and Critical Risk , which reflects the sum you are willing and able to lose over a specific period of time without compromising your financial well-being.
👉 The next step involves breaking down the Fine Risk into smaller, manageable parts. 🔑 Divide the Fine Risk into 10 or even 20 equal parts, each representing the risk amount for every individual trade. This approach is designed to create a safety net for traders, especially when they encounter unfavorable market conditions.
For instance, imagine a scenario where you face five consecutive losing trades. With each trade representing only a fraction of your Fine Risk, the cumulative loss remains relatively small compared to your risk capability, providing emotional resilience and the ability to continue trading with confidence.
By splitting the Fine Risk into smaller portions, we can safeguard their capital and ensure that a string of losses does not result in irreversible damage to our trading accounts or emotional well-being. Additionally, this approach promotes a disciplined and structured trading mindset, encouraging us to adhere to their predefined risk management rules and avoid impulsive decisions based on emotions.
Remember, risk management is not solely about avoiding losses but also about preserving the means to participate in the market over the long term.
2. Establishing a Risk-to-Reward Ratio:
The risk-to-reward ratio is a critical metric that every trader must comprehend to develop a successful trading system. It is a representation of the potential risk taken in a trade relative to the potential reward. For a well-balanced and sustainable approach to trading, it is essential to ensure that the risk-to-reward ratio is greater than 1:1.10.
A risk-to-reward ratio of 1:1.10 implies that for every unit of risk taken, the trader expects a potential reward of 1.10 units. This ratio serves as a safety measure, ensuring that over time, the profits generated from winning trades will outweigh the losses incurred from losing trades. While there is a popular notion that the risk-to-reward ratio should ideally be 1:3, what truly matters is that the ratio remains above the 1:1.10 mark.
Maintaining a risk-to-reward ratio of at least 1:1.10 is beneficial for several reasons. Firstly, it allows traders to cover their losses in the long term. Even with a series of losing trades, the accumulated profits from winning trades will offset the losses, allowing traders to continue trading without significant setbacks.
Secondly, a risk-to-reward ratio higher than 1:1.10, combined with proper risk management and a well-executed trading system, enables traders to accumulate profits over time. Consistently achieving a slightly better reward than the risk taken can lead to substantial gains in the long run.
3. Determining Appropriate Position Sizes:
Once you have a clear understanding of your risk amount and risk-to-reward ratio, you can proceed to calculate appropriate position sizes for each trade. To do this, you can use a simple formula:
Position Size = (Risk Amount per Trade / Stop Loss) * 100%
Let's take an example to illustrate this calculation:
Example:
Risk Amount per Trade: $100
Risk-to-Reward Ratio: 1:2
Stop Loss: -4.12%
Take Profit: +8.26%
Using the formula:
Position Size = ($100 / -4.12%) * 100%
Position Size ≈ $2427.18
In this example, your calculated position size is approximately $2427.18. This means that for this particular trade, you would allocate a position size of approximately $2427.18 to ensure that your risk exposure remains at $100.
After executing the trade, let's say the trade turned out to be profitable, and you achieved a profit of $200. This outcome is a result of adhering to a well-calculated position size that aligns with your risk management strategy.
By determining appropriate position sizes based on your risk tolerance and risk-to-reward ratio, you can effectively control your exposure to the market. This approach helps you maintain consistency in risk management and enhances your ability to manage potential losses while allowing your profits to compound over time.
Emotions and Psychology in Risk Management:
A. The Impact of Emotions on Trading Decisions:
Emotions can significantly influence trading decisions, often leading to suboptimal outcomes. Traders must recognize the impact of emotions such as fear, greed, and excitement on their decision-making processes. Emotional biases can cloud judgment and result in impulsive actions, which can be detrimental to overall trading performance.
B. Recognizing and Managing Fear and Greed:
Fear and greed are two dominant emotions that can disrupt a trader's ability to make rational choices. By developing self-awareness and recognizing emotional triggers, traders can gain better control over their reactions. Implementing techniques to manage fear and greed, such as setting predefined entry and exit points, can help traders navigate turbulent market conditions.
C. Developing a Disciplined Trading Mindset:
A disciplined trading mindset is the bedrock of successful risk management. This involves adhering to a well-defined trading plan that outlines risk management rules and strategies. By staying committed to the plan and maintaining a long-term perspective, traders can resist impulsive actions and maintain discipline during times of market volatility.
D. Techniques for Avoiding Impulsive and Emotional Trading:
To avoid impulsive and emotional trading, traders can employ various techniques. Implementing cooling-off periods before making trade decisions allows traders to gain clarity before acting. Seeking support from trading communities or mentors provides valuable insights and helps traders stay grounded. Utilizing automated trading systems can reduce emotional interference and ensure trades are executed based on predefined criteria.
In the world of cryptocurrency and futures trading, the fundamental principle of "only risk what you can afford to lose" remains the cornerstone of successful trading. Embracing this concept is essential for preserving capital, maintaining emotional stability, and cultivating a disciplined approach to risk management.
Understanding individual risk tolerance and breaking down total risk into smaller portions allows traders to navigate unfavorable market conditions with resilience. Maintaining a risk-to-reward ratio above 1:1.10 ensures that profits outweigh losses over time, while determining appropriate position sizes enables effective risk control.
Emotions play a significant role in trading decisions, and managing fear and greed empowers traders to make rational choices. Employing techniques to avoid impulsive trading, like cooling-off periods and seeking support, reinforces a disciplined trading mindset.
In conclusion, adhering to the principle of only risking what you can afford to lose leads to sustainable success in the dynamic trading world. By implementing effective risk management practices, traders enhance their chances of achieving profitability and longevity in their trading journeys.
📝👋 Feedback is super important to us! 😊
We would absolutely love to hear your thoughts and comments about the article. 🧐
Did you find the information helpful and well-explained? 🤔
Your feedback means a lot to us and will help us improve our content to provide better insights in the future. 😇
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts! 🙏 We're excited to hear from you! 💬
Understanding US Economic newsUS Economic Indicators:
We know about trends and trend changes, but why a trend changes?
The tops and bottoms of the market are determined by the fundamentals, like news releases, while the technicals show us how we get between those two points.
So a news release can be the cause or trigger of a trend change.
So it is to our advantage to at least be aware of upcoming news releases.
Here are some releases to watch for:
Non-Farm Payrolls
Non-Farm Payrolls have proven itself to be one of the most significant fundamental indicators in recent U.S. history. As a report of the number of new jobs created outside the farming industry each month, a positive or negative NFP can get traders to act very hastily. A better than expected figure is very bullish for the dollar, whereas a more sluggish number usually results in the dollar being sold off. There is another component of unemployment released on the same day: The Unemployment Rate. Unemployment measures the amount of people that are out of a job, but are actively seeking one. If this number is smaller, then it means that the people that are seeking jobs are finding them, possibly meaning that businesses are well off and that the economy is expanding. The NFP is a number, usually between 5-6 figures, whereas the Unemployment rate is a percentage. A higher NFP number and lower unemployment number are generally bullish for the dollar and vice versa. It is difficult to trade the NFP and Unemployment Rate only because many times traders will not pay attention to what seems to be the most significant components, but will instead focus in on what reinforces their bias. Also, the release causes a significant amount of volatility in the markets.
FOMC Rate Decision Interest
Rate decisions for the Fed Funds Rate are very important when trading the U.S. Dollar.
When the Fed raises interest rates, the yield offered by dollar denominated assets are higher, which generally attracts more traders and investors.
If interest rates are lowered, that means that the yield offered by dollar denominated assets is less, which will give investors less of an incentive to invest in dollars.
When the decision is made about the rate it is always accompanied by a statement where the Fed gives a brief summary of what they think of the economy as a whole. When reading the statement it is important to check the exact language.
Many times by the time that the decision is published, it is usually factored into the market. This means that only slight fluctuations are seen if the decision is as expected. The statement on the other hand is analyzed word for word for any signs of what the Fed may do at the next meeting. Remember the actual interest rate movement tends to be less important than the expectations for future interest rate moves.
Retail Sales
The Retail Sales figure is an important number in a series of key economic data that comes out during the month.
Because it measures how much businesses are selling and consumers are purchasing, a strong retail sales figure could signal dollar bullishness because it means strength in the US economy, whereas a less-than-expected number could lead to dollar bearishness.
Again, the logic behind this is that if consumers are spending more, and businesses are making more money, then the economy is picking up pace, and to keep inflation from creeping in during this time period, the Fed may have to raise rates, all of which would be positive for the US dollar.
Traders tend to use the Retail Sales figure more as a leading indicator for other releases such as Consumer Confidence and CPI, and thereby don’t usually “jump the gun,” unless the numbers are terribly out of proportion.
Foreign Purchases of US Treasuries (TIC Data)
The Treasury International Capital flow (TIC) reports on net foreign securities purchases measures the amount of US treasuries and dollar denominated assets that foreigners are holding.
A key feature of the TIC data is its measurement of the types of investors the dollar has; governments and private investors. Usually, a strong government holding of dollar denominated assets signals growing dollar optimism as it shows that governments are confident in the stability of the U.S. dollar. Looking at the different central banks, most important seems to be the purchases of Asian central banks such as that of Japan and China. Waning demand by these two giant US Treasury holders could be bearish for the US dollar.
As for absolute amount of foreign purchases, the market generally likes to see purchases be much stronger than the funding needs of that same month’s trade deficit. If it is not, it signals that there is not enough dollars coming in to match dollar going out of the country.
As a side note, purchases by Caribbean central banks are generally seen to be less consistent since most hedge funds are incorporated in the Caribbean.
Hedge funds generally have a much shorter holding period than other investors.
US Trade Balance
The Trade Balance figure is a measure of net exports minus net imports and tends to be negative for the U.S. as it is primarily a “consuming” nation. However, a growing imbalance in the Trade Balance suggests much about the current account and whether or not if the U.S. is “overspending” on foreign goods and services.
Traders will understand a decreasing Trade Balance number to implicate dollar bullishness, whereas a growing disparity between exports and imports will lead to dollar bearishness.
Because the figure precedes the Current Account release, it pretty much helps project the direction of change in the Current Account and also begins to factor in those expectations.
Current Account Balance
The U.S. Current Account is a figure representing the total accrued deficit of the U.S per quarter against foreign nations. Traders will interpret a greater deficit as bad news for the U.S. and will consequently sell the dollar, whereas a shrinking deficit will spark dollar bullishness.
Usually, the Current Account Deficit is expected to be funded by the net foreign securities, but when ends don’t meet in these data, the Current Account could signal a big dollar sell-off. Additionally, because the Current Account data comes out after the Trade Balance Numbers, a lot of its expectations begin to get priced into the market, so a surprise to either side of expectations could result in big market movements for the dollar.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)/Producer Price Index (PPI)
The Consumer Price Index is one of the leading economic gauges to measure the pace of inflation. Many investors and the Fed constantly monitor this figure to get an understanding about the future of interest rates. Interest rates are significant because not only do they have a direct impact on the amount of capital inflow into the country, but also say much about dollar-based carry trades.
If the inflation number comes in higher than expected, traders will interpret that to mean that an interest rate hike is more likely in the near future and will thus buy dollars, whereas a figure that falls short of expectations may cause traders to wait on the sideline until the Fed actually makes a decision. Essentially, trading a negative change in CPI is much more difficult than trading a positive change due to the nature of different interpretations. A significant increase in the CPI will result in much dollar bullishness, but a decrease will not necessarily result in dollar bearishness.
The CPI measures inflation at the retail level (consumers), while the PPI measures the inflation at the wholesale level (producers).
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The U.S. Gross Domestic Product is a gauge of the overall output (goods & services) of the U.S. economy. If the figure increases, the economy is improving, and often the dollar will strengthen. If the number falls short of expectations or meets the consensus, dollar bearishness may be triggered.
This sort of reaction is again tied to interest rates, as traders expect an accelerating economy to be mired by inflation and consequently interest rates will go up. However, much like the CPI, a negative change in GDP is more difficult to trade; just because the pace of growth has slowed does not mean it has deteriorated. On the other hand, a better than expected number will usually result in the dollar rising as it implicates that a quickly expanding economy will sooner or later require higher interest rates to keep inflation in check.
Overall though, the GDP has fallen in significance and its ability to move markets since most of the components of the report are known in advance
Durable Goods
The Durable Good figure measures the amount of capital spending the U.S. is doing, such as on equipment, transportation, etc., both on a business and personal level.
Essentially, the more the U.S. spends the more the dollar stands to benefit; the opposite is also true. This is because increased spending could very well be a harbinger for inflation, and thus consequently, interest rate hikes.
Traders will usually focus in on the durable goods figure, but not too deeply, as it usually precedes data regarding housing starts and the annualized GDP figure release. Therefore trading based on the Durable Goods number is only voluminous when stagnancy in other key economic releases has been confirmed by a market consensus.
Risk Management Strategies for Conservative& Aggressive Traders📚 #Risk_management
Risk management in forex for retail traders is essential, especially considering the use of leverage. Leverage allows traders to control larger positions in the market with a smaller amount of capital. While leverage can amplify profits, it also increases the risk of losses. Here's how risk management and leverage factor into forex trading:
-Position Sizing with Leverage: When using leverage, traders need to be cautious about the size of their positions. Higher leverage ratios allow for larger positions, but they also increase the potential for significant losses. Proper position sizing is crucial to ensure that potential losses are within the trader's risk tolerance.
-Stop-Loss Orders with Leverage: Leverage magnifies the impact of market movements, which means losses can accumulate quickly. Placing appropriate stop-loss orders becomes even more critical when using leverage. Traders should set stop-loss levels based on their risk tolerance and the volatility of the currency pair being traded.
-Risk-Reward Ratio with Leverage: Leverage affects the risk-reward ratio. While leverage can enhance potential profits, it can also amplify losses. Traders should be mindful of maintaining a favorable risk-reward ratio when considering their profit targets and potential losses.
-Diversification with Leverage: Diversification is important for risk management, especially when using leverage. By spreading exposure across different currency pairs or trading strategies, traders can minimize the impact of adverse price movements. Diversification helps to mitigate the risk associated with concentrated positions.
-Trading Plan and Journal with Leverage: When using leverage, having a well-defined trading plan is crucial. It outlines the risk management rules, including leverage usage, position sizing, and stop-loss levels. Maintaining a trading journal becomes even more important as it helps traders review their leverage usage and analyze the impact on their trading performance.
-Emotional Control with Leverage: Leverage can heighten emotional responses in trading. Traders may be tempted to take on excessive risks or panic during periods of losses. Emotional control becomes vital to avoid impulsive decisions driven by fear or greed. Traders should stick to their risk management plan and avoid overleveraging.
In summary, risk management in forex trading is even more crucial when leverage is involved. Traders need to carefully consider position sizing, set appropriate stop-loss levels, maintain a favorable risk-reward ratio, diversify their trades, adhere to their trading plan, and exercise emotional control. By incorporating these practices, traders can navigate the risks associated with leverage and protect their trading capital.
Educational: Relative Drawdown vs. Absolute DrawdownUnderstanding the concepts of relative drawdown and absolute drawdown is crucial for effective risk management and evaluating the performance of trading strategies. In this publication, we will delve into the understanding of both relative drawdown and absolute drawdown.
🔷 Relative Drawdown: (Sometimes referred to as equity drawdown)
Relative drawdown is like looking at how much your money went down compared to the highest amount of money you had in your piggy bank before it started going down.
Relative drawdown measures the decline in equity relative to the previous peak value, expressed as a percentage. It provides a proportional view of the drawdown in comparison to the highest equity point achieved. Traders often utilize relative drawdown to assess the performance of their trading strategies over time. By calculating the relative drawdown, traders can determine the percentage loss from the peak and evaluate the strategy's ability to recover from losses.
For example, if a trading account reaches a peak equity of $10,000 and subsequently experiences a drawdown with a low point of $8,000, the relative drawdown would be 20% ($2,000 decline divided by $10,000 peak). A higher relative drawdown indicates a more significant loss relative to the previous peak, potentially highlighting the need for adjustments in risk management or strategy refinement.
🔸Relative drawdown provides traders with insights into the consistency of their strategies and the extent of losses experienced during adverse market conditions. It helps them compare the drawdowns of different strategies or trading systems using a percentage-based metric, enabling a better understanding of risk exposure and the ability to set realistic expectations.
🔷 Absolute Drawdown: (Sometimes referred to as balance drawdown)
In contrast to relative drawdown, absolute drawdown quantifies the actual monetary value of the decline in equity from the initial balance to low .
Continuing from the previous example, if the lowest equity point during the drawdown was $8,000, the absolute drawdown would be $2,000. Absolute drawdown focuses on the actual amount of money you lost from the starting point to the lowest point. It helps us understand the total decrease in money without comparing it to any percentages or ratios.
🔸By understanding the absolute drawdown, traders can assess the real monetary value lost during a drawdown period, which helps in making informed decisions regarding position sizing, risk allocation, and overall portfolio management. It also assists in evaluating the effectiveness of risk management strategies in terms of limiting losses during drawdowns.
NB: It is worth noting that it is important to clarity when discussing balance base drawdown as the balance base drawdown can be calculated based on the starting balance of each day or trading session which in this case will have a drawdown calculated based on a dynamic balance as oppose to the static initial balance.
-----------------
Relative and absolute drawdowns play a vital role in assessing the performance and risk exposure of trading strategies. While relative drawdown provides a percentage-based view of the decline in equity from the peak, absolute drawdown quantifies the monetary value of the loss. Traders should consider both types of drawdowns to effectively manage risk, set realistic expectations, and make informed decisions about their trading strategies. Remember, understanding and managing drawdowns are key elements of long-term success in the trading world.
It's important to understand that drawdowns are a natural and inevitable part of trading. No trader, no matter how experienced or skilled, is immune to drawdowns. Here's a simplified explanation of why drawdowns occur and why traders should not be discouraged by them: When you play a game, there are times when you might make a mistake or encounter challenges that cause you to lose points. Similarly, in trading, the market can sometimes move in a way that goes against your expectations or trading strategy, causing temporary losses in your trading account. This decline in the value of your account is known as a drawdown.
Drawdowns occur due to various factors, such as changes in market conditions, unexpected news events, or even errors in decision-making. Markets are influenced by many participants, and their behavior can be unpredictable at times. Therefore, it's natural to experience periods of drawdown.
Traders should not be discouraged by drawdowns for a few important reasons:
🔸Learning Opportunity: Drawdowns provide valuable lessons for traders. They offer insights into potential weaknesses in their trading strategies or areas where they can improve their risk management. By analyzing drawdowns, traders can refine their approach and enhance their trading skills.
🔸Long-Term Perspective: Successful traders understand that trading is a long-term game. Drawdowns are often temporary and can be followed by periods of profitability. By maintaining a long-term perspective, traders can ride out drawdowns, knowing that their overall success is determined by their ability to stay focused, adapt, and stick to their trading plans.
🔸Risk Management: Drawdowns highlight the importance of proper risk management. Traders who implement effective risk management techniques, such as setting stop-loss orders, diversifying their portfolios, and managing position sizes, can limit the impact of drawdowns on their overall trading performance.
🔸Psychological Resilience: Drawdowns test a trader's emotional resilience. Successful traders understand that emotions like fear or frustration can cloud judgment and lead to impulsive decisions. By developing emotional resilience and maintaining a disciplined mindset, traders can navigate drawdowns more effectively and make rational decisions based on their trading plans.
🔸Consistency is Key: Consistency in trading is crucial. Drawdowns are part of the journey to profitability. Traders who remain committed to their strategies, continue learning, and adapt as needed have a higher likelihood of success over the long run.
RISK MANAGEMENT: A CASE FOR THE HIGHER TIMEFRAME
Abstract:
This publication explores the differences between higher timeframes and lower timeframes in trading and delves into how various factors, such as spread, commissions, and news releases, affect these timeframes. Additionally, the concept of price fractality is discussed, highlighting how both higher and lower timeframes exhibit similar patterns despite their apparent distinctions. It is argued that higher timeframes offer certain advantages by mitigating the challenges faced on lower timeframes.
Introduction:
Trading involves analyzing and interpreting price movements to make informed decisions. Traders often utilize different timeframes, each offering unique perspectives on market behavior. This publication aims to examine the distinctions between higher timeframes and lower timeframes, focusing on the impact of spread, commissions, and news releases, while considering the fractal nature of price.
Higher Timeframes:
Higher timeframes, such as daily, weekly, or monthly charts, encompass longer periods and provide a broader view of price movements. These timeframes tend to smooth out market noise and offer a more comprehensive understanding of overall market trends and patterns. Key differences and advantages include:
🔹Reduced impact of spread: Higher timeframes generally exhibit wider price ranges, making the spread a relatively smaller percentage of the overall movement. This can minimize the impact of spreads on trading outcomes.
🔹Lower impact of commissions: Longer timeframes typically result in fewer trades, reducing the frequency of commission charges and their impact on profitability.
🔹Less sensitivity to news releases: Higher timeframes are less susceptible to sudden price fluctuations caused by news releases or economic events. Traders can avoid getting caught in high volatility and erratic price movements.
Lower Timeframes:
Lower timeframes, such as hourly, 15-minute, or 5-minute charts, focus on shorter periods and provide more granular insights into price movements. These timeframes are characterized by faster-paced trading and require different considerations. Key differences and challenges include:
🔹Spread impact: Lower timeframes tend to have smaller price ranges, making the spread a larger percentage of the movement. This can impact profitability, as traders need to overcome the spread before a trade becomes profitable.
🔹Commission sensitivity: Frequent trading on lower timeframes can lead to more commission charges, affecting overall profitability. Traders should consider the impact of commissions on their strategies.
🔹Increased vulnerability to news releases: Lower timeframes are more prone to sudden price movements triggered by news releases. Traders need to be vigilant and manage risks associated with unexpected volatility.
Price Fractality:
Price movements can be argued to be fractal in nature, exhibiting similar patterns at different timeframes. Fractals are self-repeating patterns that emerge at various scales. In trading, this means that the price behavior observed on a higher timeframe can also be found within the price movements on lower timeframes. This suggests that the market's dynamics are consistent across different timeframes.
Despite the similarities in price fractality, higher timeframes offer advantages due to their reduced exposure to certain challenges:
Conclusion:
In conclusion, understanding the differences between higher timeframes and lower timeframes is crucial for traders. While both timeframes exhibit fractal patterns, higher timeframes offer advantages by minimizing the impact of spread, commissions, and news releases.
🔹Smoother trends: Higher timeframes help identify more significant and reliable trends, reducing the impact of noise and false signals prevalent on lower timeframes.
🔹Enhanced risk management: Longer timeframes provide clearer support and resistance levels, enabling better risk assessment and position sizing.
🔹Reduced emotional stress: The slower pace of higher timeframes can help traders avoid impulsive decisions caused by the rapid price movements often seen on lower timeframes.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, understanding the differences between higher timeframes and lower timeframes is crucial for traders. While both timeframes exhibit fractal patterns, higher timeframes offer advantages by minimizing the impact of spread, commissions, and news releases. By adopting a strategic approach that aligns with their trading goals and risk tolerance, traders can harness the benefits of different timeframes and enhance their trading performance.
Practical Insights into the Risk ManagementHey there, amazing @TradingView community! It's @Vestinda, and we're on a mission to deliver content that truly makes a difference.
👉 To become a successful crypto trader, it's essential to have a solid understanding of trade and risk management concepts, such as stop losses, position sizing, and scaling. In this article, we'll explore these key concepts in-depth to help you minimize your risks and maximize your gains in the cryptocurrency market.
Four Risk Management Concepts Every Crypto Trader Should Understand
To effectively manage the risk associated with trading, it is essential to first develop a comprehensive trade management and risk management strategy. Before committing your capital to any position, it's critical to have a clear plan in place to minimize potential losses and optimize your overall trading performance.
Successful market speculation requires effective risk management to preserve capital, which is the primary objective. By minimizing losses and maximizing gains through a comprehensive trade and risk management strategy, traders can achieve long-term success in the market.
One of the key strategies employed by the most successful traders is to minimize their losses while allowing their profitable trades to run. This approach is essential for avoiding disastrous scenarios, such as allowing profitable trades to turn into losers or allowing a single bad trade to wipe out an entire account. By focusing on risk management and trade management, traders can increase their chances of success and protect their capital over the long term.
It's true that implementing the "cut losses quickly and let profitable trades ride" strategy can be challenging, especially for discretionary traders who need to constantly evaluate changes in fundamentals and market sentiment against price movements. However, there are trade and risk management ("TRM") tools and methods available that can help simplify this process.
While these tools and methods may seem complex at first, they are quite accessible and easy to learn. With the right TRM strategies in place, traders can effectively manage risk and optimize their performance in any market condition.
Before diving into trading, it's crucial to understand four key concepts in trade and risk management:
Stop losses: Stop losses are predetermined exit points designed to limit potential losses on a trade. By setting a stop loss, traders can automatically close a position if the market moves against them beyond a certain point, minimizing their losses.
Traders may use price action signals, technical indicator signals, fundamental analysis, or a combination of all three to determine the appropriate level for a stop-loss order. This helps to limit potential losses on trade and is a crucial component of effective risk management.
Position sizing: Position sizing refers to the amount of capital allocated to a specific trade. By properly sizing positions based on risk tolerance and market conditions, traders can optimize their overall risk management strategy and minimize the impact of potential losses.
Position sizing refers to the process of determining the quantity of cryptocurrency to long or short based on the maximum amount of value a trader is willing to lose if the trade fails, also known as "max risk." For novice traders, it is recommended that the maximum risk should not exceed 1-2% of their portfolio for short-term transactions and 5% for longer-term positions.
For example, if a trader has a cryptocurrency account with $ 1,000 and wishes to purchase a token with a market price of $ 10.0 per token, they would need to determine the appropriate position size to maintain their desired level of risk. If their analysis indicates that they should place a stop loss at $ 5.0 per token to limit their maximum risk to 2% of their account, or $ 20.0, then the appropriate position size would be 4 units (40$ position size). This way, if the token's value drops by $ 5.0, the resulting loss of $ 20.0 would equal 2% of the trader's account.
Scaling: Scaling involves adjusting position sizes based on the performance of a trade or the overall market conditions. By scaling into or out of positions based on market conditions, traders can adjust their risk exposure and optimize their potential for gains while minimizing potential losses.
Scaling refers to the practice of dividing entries and exits into two or more orders around a trader's intended entry/exit area to reduce the likelihood of setting an entry too low or too high. This is particularly important because it is nearly impossible to predict the exact price or time at which the market's direction or volatility levels will change.
For example, if a trader intends to buy a token for $ 10.0 but their analysis indicates that it may drop as low as $ 8.0 before sentiment entirely flips bullish, they should consider dividing their entry/exit orders into multiple price levels. This way, they can enter the trade with a partial position if the token's price does not drop below $10.0, but if it drops to $ 8.0, they can scale into a lower average price of $ 8.75.
By using scaling and position sizing in conjunction with a maximum stop loss level, traders can effectively manage their risk and reduce the likelihood of incurring significant losses. While these concepts are relatively simple, understanding and applying them correctly can help traders avoid significant risks in the cryptocurrency market.
Leverage: Trading with leverage involves taking positions that exceed the account's total capital, which can be done through crypto exchanges (CEXs) offering margin trading or some DeFi protocols providing advanced borrowing mechanisms.
For instance, assume you have $ 100 in your account, and you want to purchase 1 unit of XYZ token worth $ 100, creating an open position valued at $ 100. Margin trading offered by a CEX may only require a 10% margin, meaning you only need to invest $ 10 instead of the entire $ 100. You can then utilize the remaining $ 90 to open additional positions, which can be tempting for many traders.
With a 10% margin requirement and a $ 100 account, you can open a position size of 10 XYZ tokens, having a notional value of $ 1000 ($ 100 x 10 units), with the CEX holding the $ 100 in your account as a margin for the trades.
This would make you leveraged 10x, which is considered an extremely high amount of leverage. If the token increases in value by 10% in a short period, the position value would grow from $ 1000 to $ 1100, which means you could double your account value from $ 100 to $ 200 (i.e., $ 100 profit + $ 100 margin). Alternatively, if the token rises by 20% to $ 1200, you would triple your account to $ 300 in value.
Although the potential for high profits may sound exciting, it is crucial to remember the risks associated with trading with leverage, and it is advisable to exercise caution and not get carried away by the prospect of quick and easy gains.
Many traders are lured by the potential profits of leveraged trading, but it's important to remember that leverage can be just as dangerous as it is rewarding. If a trader opens a position with 10x leverage and the position loses just 5%, that would be a loss of $ 50, which is 50% of their $ 100 account.
Additionally, if the position were to lose 10%, resulting in a $ 100 loss, the trader would receive a margin call and would need to deposit more money to keep their trades open.
If they are unable to do so, the CEX will close all positions, also known as being "liquidated". The CEX will use the margin that the trader had provided to cover the $ 100 loss, which means that the trader's account balance would be reduced to $ 0. It's essential to be aware of the risks of leveraged trading, as you could potentially lose everything you've invested.
It's important to remember that leverage in crypto trading is a double-edged sword that can either grow your account or quickly deplete it. While it's possible to make significant profits with leverage, it's equally possible to suffer substantial losses.
As a new trader, it's important to acknowledge that trading with leverage requires expertise and a sound risk management strategy, which can be challenging to implement successfully.
Therefore, it's wise to approach leverage with caution and focus on developing your skills and knowledge before considering this tool.
Here are some recommendations that can help you navigate the exciting but risky world of crypto trading:
First, it's important to be conservative with your risk-taking and to only invest in your very best trade ideas. Limiting your total exposure to the crypto sector to a small percentage of your total liquid capital, starting at 1%, is a good way to minimize your risk.
You should also limit your exposure to a specific crypto asset to a small percentage of your total crypto portfolio, with a 1% to 2% max risk on short-term trades and a max of 5% risk on longer-term positions. Using a stop loss with every position is also crucial to limit potential losses.
Remember, perfect timing is near impossible, so consider scaling into trading positions or "dollar cost averaging" into longer-term investments. Take profits along the way if a trade goes your way. And most importantly, avoid using leverage, which can be a double-edged sword and lead to substantial losses.
Lastly, only invest your capital in your very best ideas, which should be low-risk/high-reward setups on high-probability ideas. Don't force trades when there are no compelling opportunities, and remember that "no position" is a perfectly fine position when you don't see any good opportunities.
Calling all traders! Are you ready to take your skills to the next level?
Join our community of like-minded traders and stay up to date with the latest market trends and insights. Hit that follow button and show your support by giving this article a big thumbs up.
Together, we'll navigate the markets with ease and achieve financial success. Don't miss out on this opportunity to grow and learn with us. Let's do this!
The Story of a Failed Trader | OKXIDEASOnce upon a time there was a man who was a very poor and he belong to a middle class family but he had the ability to dream it. He was 20 years old and he also think that he spend all of had 20 years doing nothing, he was a dreamer. He wanted to become a rich man, he finding ways to become a rich man, he tried almost every thing but failed. One day he watched a video about trading on YouTube and he decided to become a trader, become a rich with trading and fulfill all of had dreams. He started to learn trading, he watched all of educational videos about trading on YouTube and spend had 15 hours every day just watching videos, now he knows about the basic trading he shifted to the analysis part of trading, he started to practice and learn the technical analysis. He find the method that he can trade with, he combined some technical indicator signals and created strategy for himself. Now he had very passionate about trading, wanted to open a real account and start trading with real account. He had some saving money around 500 dollar he deposited that money in the real account and start trading with that money. He started dreaming from the first day of trading and created some trading rules for himself like he had to take 10% risk per trade and don't take that trade which is below 1/1 risk to reward ratio. On the first day he had taken almost 3 trades and win all of them, now he was more excited for trading he had made $192 profit means something around 38% profit on 500 dollar account. He wanted to trade more but he was a little bit smarter one, he think that i am in profit and my wining ratio is 100% so why i just damage my wining ratio and why i just risk my today profit so he had decided to come back tomorrow. On the second day he had $692 total balance in the account, he had to play a little bit more smarter than a previous day and he decided to take 10% risk per trade of the current total balance $692 in the account rather than the starting balance which is $500. On the second day he take almost 4 trades and he won 2 trades out of 4 trades, now the account condition had almost break-even no loss & no profit, he decided to try again and trade more, he finding the reason to trade more and then he calculate today and yesterday total taken trades which is 7 trades, he think that i won 5 trades out of 7 trades so my wining ratio is almost around 70% which is good and i can trade more because my wining ratio is still above 50% so i am still in positive side. He trade almost 3 trades again and he lose all of them, now he had very sad and almost broken, he decided to step back and come back later. He sturdy himself and come back on the third day, now he had facing a little bit draw-down on the third day the total account balance is around 484 dollar, he started looking for the trades opportunity and at the end of the day he took almost 5 trades with the 10% risk per trade but the third day results had also again bad and he lose 4 trades out of 5 and just win 1 trade, he had very shameful from himself, he closed the laptop goes to outdoor and talk to himself. He analysis the current situation of the account, it that point the total account balance is around 276 dollar he almost around 45% in draw-down and the wining ratio had below 50% so now he entered to the negative side. On the fourth day morning he traded 2 trades and he lose both of them now he almost lose the hope and the account condition had around 72% in draw-down and he left only 138 dollar in the account. At the time he give up and he just decided to depend on just one trade, he just waiting for the best opportunity of the day and finally he got the trade but at the end he lose that trade again and he almost blow out had account.
After that all he had stressful and sad from almost one week, he decided to leave the trading and move on to the next thing and he looking to find other things that suitable for him because he think that trading is not suitable for him. One month later he just scrolling on the internet and he see the FAQ that 90% of traders lose and only 10% had succeed, now he had a little bit shock and he think that its pretty normal every trader in the 90% had facing that stage which stage that i faced.
He decided to come back to trading and start from the zero, he started to modify had strategy and created new rules for had strategy like he set this time risk to reward ratio for had trades is minimum 1/2 and he decided to risk only 2% of the total account also he decided to take only 2 trades per day, this time he opened the demo account rather than the real account and start trading with demo account, he decided to journal had journey and after one month of consistency he hadn't break any rules and when he see the results after month he had profitable, now he feel like stronger and he continue the journey with that same demo account after three months he had similar results and still profitable. In that time he think that i don't have much money and in trading it's required a lot of money to earn a lot of profits, he started to search for that how he had to prove himself to big investors and raise money for himself to trade. One day he searching and he knows about prop firms trading now he had interested in that and wanted to know more about prop firms, he think that this is the big opportunity for himself to become succeed quickly, now he decided to trade with prop firms and buy the challenge from the prop firms, he adjusted had strategy rules and trading plan according to the prop firms requirement, now but the only problem is that he don't have money to actually buy the prop firms challenge. By the way he was dropout from the school after completing had secondary education and so he just setting at the home, he don't have much money to buy the challenge, the pocket money of him had just depend on him father and he hadn't want to say to father to give me extra money because of him father was very poor and he work as a taxi driver, so then he had decided to get the any kind of job for himself and try to earn some money in the form of salary and buy the challenge with that money, he worked hard and after one month he got the salary and then he just swift to the prop firm website and buy the $50000 account challenge for himself, now he started trading with challenge account phase one, on the phase one he decided to risk only 1% per trade, take only 2 trades a day and the every trade risk to reward ratio had to minimum 1/2 after one month of consistency he gained +8% profit, he was in profit but he hadn't achieved the prop firm required profit target which is +10% in that case prop firm gives traders free retake so then he take the challenge again with the new account and new month from zero and he think that my wining ratio for the previous month is almost around 40% with minimum 1/2 risk to reward ratio and my daily limit is 2 trades so i need to increase my daily limit from 2 to 3 because if i traded with the same rule 2 trades a day then i hadn't pass with 40% wining ratio. He calculate some numbers like he think, if i take 3 trades per day so then at the end of the month my all trades had to be 60 trades per month and if i maintain my 40% wining ratio then i can easily pass the challenge with that mindset he started the challenge and strictly follow the rules after month he hadn't maintain the 40% wining ratio and he end up with some loss and failed the challenge, this time he almost faced big depression after some days left he realized had mistake and he think i made mistake that i increase my daily trades limit because of this my wining accuracy goes down, i just forced myself to take 3 trades per day and get trapped into the normal trades.
At that time he hadn't left any pathway he almost try everything but at the end he faced failure, him father had now getting older and he decided to step back again he start going to the normal job and start saving 30% of had salary, he do that job for almost one year and after one year later he had some saved money in the bank account to buy multiple 10x challenges, he come back to the trading but this time he hadn't leave the job and he do trading like part time thing. He started had journey again he decided to hadn't give up and repeat the process so then he started buying challenges after one by one in some challenges he failed in phase one in some he failed in phase two in some he almost pass the challenge and got the live funded account but hadn't get payout and lose the account in the first month.
The journey had started goes on and he just repeating the process and doing try again and again.
Will be continued.....
Some lessons from the story
> Never open real account in the start, try to learn first on demo account.
> Don't try to be smart in the front of the market.
> Don't lose hope in draw-downs just repeat the process of your trading plan.
> Take every trade with the hope of wining.
> Never depend on a single trade.
> Don't leave too fast stay in the market.
> Give yourself enough time to create the solid proven strategy that works at least for you.
> Respect your trading limits.
> Don't depend on just trading and never leave your job, consider trading like part-time thing in the starting.
> Learn from your mistakes and improve your performance.
> Make mistakes but don't repeat that mistakes again.
> Never depend on small capital always look for an opportunity.
> Journal your journey, record your trading performance and improve next time.
> Don't fear from failure.
> Be patient, market is here not going anywhere.
> Don't force yourself to take normal trades wait for good opportunity always.
> Don't count the numbers, you need to count the percentage.
> Don't try to be rich quickly.
> Step back, if you damaged from market then simply step back and come back stronger don't try to fight.
If you learned any other lessons from the story, let me know in the comments.
What you feel about one day he will be succeed or just the failure always, also let me know in the comments.
I hope you enjoyed the story, appreciate my work with like comments and share.
I wish you good luck in trading.
Turtle Power: Experiment Turns Novices into MillionairesHi and welcome back! As a trader, you have probably at one time heard about the Turtle Traders, right? But what was it, and what can we learn from it?
Let me take you on a journey into the fascinating world of the Turtle trading strategy! 🐢💰
This legendary trading experiment, conceived by two master traders, Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt, in the 1980s, showcases the power of a well-designed system and the right mindset.
Dennis believed anyone could be trained to trade successfully, while Eckhardt argued that trading skills were innate. To settle the debate, they devised the Turtle trading experiment. They selected a diverse group of 23 individuals, known as the "Turtles," and taught them a trend-following trading system focused on trading commodities and currencies. The core principles of this system were:
Follow the trend : The Turtles used Donchian Channels, tracking 20-day and 55-day price channels, to identify breakouts and breakdowns. When the market price broke above the 20-day high, it was a buy signal. When it broke below the 20-day low, it was a sell signal.
Cut losses short : The Turtles followed a 2% rule, never risking more than 2% of their account on any single trade. They calculated position sizes using the N value, the 20-day average true range (ATR), dividing the 2% risk amount by the N value.
Position sizing and pyramiding : The Turtles adjusted their position sizes based on market volatility and employed pyramiding, adding more contracts at specific increments up to a maximum limit as the market trended in their favor.
Stop Losses : They used a stop-loss order equal to 2N for every trade, exiting the trade to minimize losses if the market moved against their position by twice the N value.
Diversification : The Turtles traded a diversified portfolio of markets, spreading risk and enhancing returns.
Scaling Out : They used a two-tiered exit strategy, exiting a portion of their position when the market retraced by 10-day low/high and the remaining position when the market retraced by 20-day low/high.
With these principles, the Turtles were handed real money to trade. Over the next four years, they collectively made more than $100 million , proving that trading success could be taught. The Turtle trading experiment demonstrated the power of a disciplined, trend-following system combined with the right mindset.
In conclusion, the Turtle trading strategy is an extraordinary tale of how a simple, yet effective, trading system can lead to remarkable results when executed with discipline and consistency . As you venture into the world of trading, remember that the strategy in itself is not as important as the lessons of the Turtles: stay disciplined, follow the trend, and manage your risk . You might just be the next trading success story! 🌊📈
Want to become a Turtle?
💡 Curious about the Turtle trading strategy? Dive into TradingView's Public Indicator library, where you'll find a collection of Turtle-related scripts crafted by the Pine Script™ community. Just open a chart, click "Indicators," and search "Turtle" to access a variety of indicators that'll give you a feel for this legendary system. Happy exploring!
💡 The Original Turtle Rules (PDF): This free eBook, written by Curtis M. Faith, one of the original Turtles, contains the original Turtle trading rules and guidelines.
Link: www.trendfollowing.com
🚀 Like and follow if you appreciated this article.
📖 More useful publications can be found under "Related Ideas" below ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Top Mistakes to Avoid After a Losing TradeI hope you already know that losing trades are inevitable in trading. No matter how professional a trader is, mistakes are made. It's part of the game, and the possibility of making mistakes should simply be factored into your trading strategy. But what really matters for success in the market is how you handle the fact of incurring losses.
Today, I've compiled a list of actions you should avoid after a loss:
Avoid immediately trying to recoup lost money. "Revenge trading" is a common mistake where a trader, after a loss, wants to take revenge on the market and quickly recover losses. This is purely a psychological and emotional problem. After a loss, it's better to take a break and objectively evaluate the situation before making a decision to enter into a new trade.
Don't look for someone to blame for your losses. It's very easy to find a reason for your loss: market conditions, manipulators, other traders, or Telegram channels where you seek signals. Ultimately, you must take responsibility for your own decisions and actions. Look for the real cause!
Don't rush to change your trading strategy after a losing trade. Radical changes in strategy after a loss can lead to new losses. Instead, re-evaluate the strategy and identify areas that need improvement, study the reason for the loss. A loss does not necessarily mean that the strategy is ineffective.
Don't ignore risk management. Until you deal with risk management, you will suffer losses in the market again and again. A trader must have a risk management plan to protect themselves from a series of losses.
Don't jump into hot trades on the spot and don't blindly follow the crowd. Take a break, conduct thorough analysis, and make a well-reasoned decision to enter into a trade. If you rush again or jump in with the crowd, it usually leads to even greater losses.
Simple Math Defies Logic"The ones who make the most money lose the least when they are wrong"
Let's use a scalping trading style for example
Say you have a set risk reward ratio of
-10 pips for being wrong
+30 pips for being right
Start trading
Loss
Loss
Loss
Win
Loss
Loss
Loss
Loss
Loss
Win
Loss
Loss
Loss
Win
Win
Loss
Loss
Win
Loss
Loss
Wow, a lot of losses, but hold on.... You have the same amount of money you started with, minus maybe a small bit on commission.
How does that happen?
Let's put the running total (pips) next to each trade
Loss -10
Loss -20
Loss -30
Win 0
Loss -10
Loss -20
Loss -30
Loss -40
Loss -50
Win -20
Loss -30
Loss -40
Loss -50
Win -20
Win +10
Loss 0
Loss -10
Win +20
Loss +10
Loss 0
Final for the day = 0 ( -1.5 - 2.5 pips for commissions)
Accuracy rate: 30%
So in simple terms, by just using a simple risk management set up that allows you to win more than 1x the risk, you do not have to have a very high accuracy rate in order to make even a small profit.
It is very difficult to keep your mind in check about this simple math, because we look at each trade on it's own, instead of looking at a series of trades (for a day/week/month) to judge performance. Keeping the overall picture in mind, and just making sure you do not allow more risk on a position than you planned, and most cases you will begin to see an improvement on trading.
By not using stops, losses can quickly mount up, because losing streaks happen. Stick to the plan, and let your mind just sit in the corner mad about the stop rules (Ignore the feeling, like a 2 year old that didn't get ice cream, or because they weren't right, & just remember the math).
*If you move your stop, one of two things apply:
You are either finding more support for the idea, just a bad entry. Move the stop to what you would risk as an additional position had you taken the trade from the spot you decide to move the stop from, and count it as two trades.
If you had a small stop, but not the maximum risk you allow on the idea, then move it no further than you planned to risk as a maximum for a single trade.
Moving a stop because you have a reason is OK, just COUNT IT, and MAKE SURE you have a REASON to do so.
DO NOT just move it because you don't want to lose, or you will take out your own account very quickly.
Top10 Mistakes to avoid as a New TraderIntroduction
When starting out as a trader or investor, it is important to be aware of the mistakes that can be made. Mistakes are common, and even experienced traders and investors make them from time to time. However, new traders and investors are particularly vulnerable to making mistakes, which can lead to significant losses. In this article, we will discuss the top 10 mistakes to avoid as a new trader or investor, and provide tips on how to avoid them.
Mistake 1: Lack of education
One of the biggest mistakes that new traders and investors make is not educating themselves about the markets they are investing in. It is important to have a basic understanding of the financial markets, including the stock market, foreign exchange market, and commodity markets.
Before making any trades or investments, new traders and investors should spend time learning about the different financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, and options. They should also understand the basic concepts of fundamental and technical analysis, which can help them identify profitable trades.
There are many educational resources available to new traders and investors, including books, online courses, and seminars. Some of the most popular books on investing include "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham, "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" by John Bogle, and "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Malkiel.
Mistake 2: Failure to set goals
Many new traders miss out on setting goals. Having clear and realistic goals is important in trading or investing because it helps traders and investors stay focused and motivated.
Some common goals for new traders and investors include building wealth, generating passive income, and achieving financial independence. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, a SMART goal for a new investor could be to earn a 10% return on their investment within the next 12 months.
Mistake 3: Emotion-based decision making
Emotions can be a trader's worst enemy. Fear, greed, and hope can all cloud judgement and lead to poor decision-making. New traders and investors are particularly vulnerable to emotional biases, such as the tendency to hold on to losing trades for too long or to sell winning trades too quickly.
To avoid emotional biases, new traders and investors should develop a trading plan and stick to it. They should also set stop-loss orders, which are orders to automatically sell a security when it reaches a certain price, to limit their losses.
Mistake 4: Not having a plan
New traders and investors often make the mistake of trading without a plan. A trading plan is a written set of rules that outlines a trader's entry and exit criteria, risk management strategy, and other important factors.
A trading plan should include the trader's goals, risk tolerance, and trading strategy. It should also outline the types of securities the trader will invest in and the timeframe for holding those securities. A trading plan is important because it helps traders avoid impulsive decisions and stick to a consistent strategy.
Mistake 5: Lack of diversification
Another common mistake that new traders and investors make is failing to diversify their portfolio. Diversification involves spreading your investments across different asset classes and industries, which can help to mitigate risk and protect your portfolio against losses.
For example, if you invest all of your money in a single stock or industry, you run the risk of losing everything if that stock or industry experiences a significant downturn. However, by diversifying your portfolio, you can help to reduce your exposure to any one particular investment and increase your chances of long-term success.
There are many ways to diversify your portfolio, such as investing in a mix of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, or investing in companies across different industries and sectors.
Mistake 6: Chasing trends
Chasing trends is a pitfall that many undisciplined traders make and this also happens to professionals. This can be dangerous and lead to significant losses. Chasing trends involves investing in a stock or asset solely because it has recently experienced a significant increase in price, without considering the underlying fundamentals of the investment.
While it may be tempting to jump on board with a hot trend, it's important to remember that these trends are often short-lived and can quickly reverse direction. As a result, investing in a trend without doing your due diligence can result in significant losses.
Instead of chasing trends, focus on identifying investments with strong fundamentals, such as a history of consistent earnings growth or a solid balance sheet. By investing in quality companies with a proven track record, you can increase your chances of long-term success.
Mistake 7: Overtrading
New traders and investors tend to 'overtrade'. Overtrading involves making too many trades or investments, often based on emotional impulses or a desire to make a quick profit.
While it may be tempting to try to make as many trades as possible, overtrading can be harmful to your portfolio. Each trade comes with associated fees and commissions, which can add up quickly and eat into your profits. Additionally, making too many trades can increase your exposure to risk and volatility, which can lead to significant losses.
Instead of overtrading, focus on making well-informed, strategic trades based on your plan and goals. By being patient and selective with your trades, you can increase your chances of long-term success.
Mistake 8: Ignoring risk management
One of the most common mistakes new traders and investors make is ignoring risk management. Risk management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and controlling potential risks associated with an investment or trade. This includes setting stop-loss orders, diversifying your portfolio, and understanding the potential risks associated with each investment.
Many new traders and investors focus on potential profits and forget to consider the risks involved. This can lead to significant losses and can quickly wipe out an entire investment account.
There are several ways to manage risk, including setting stop-loss orders, diversifying your portfolio, and conducting thorough research on each investment opportunity. Stop-loss orders are an effective tool to limit potential losses on any given trade. Diversification is also an effective way to manage risk by spreading your investments across different asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, and commodities.
By ignoring risk management, new traders and investors increase the likelihood of experiencing significant losses. It is important to be proactive in managing risk and to always be mindful of the potential downside of any investment.
Mistake 9: Focusing too much on short-term gains
New traders and investors are focusing too much on short-term gains. While it is natural to want to see immediate returns on your investments, it is important to keep a long-term perspective in mind. Focusing too much on short-term gains can lead to impulsive decision-making and can cause investors to overlook the potential long-term value of an investment.
Short-term gains are often associated with higher risk, and it is important to remember that high risk can lead to high losses. By focusing solely on short-term gains, new traders and investors may overlook quality investments that have the potential for long-term growth and stability.
It is important to balance short-term gains with a long-term perspective. This means taking the time to research potential investments, identifying investments that align with your overall investment goals, and being patient with the investment process.
Mistake 10: Lack of patience
Finally, one of the biggest mistakes new traders and investors make is a lack of patience. Patience is critical in trading and investing, as it takes time to see returns on your investments. It is important to remember that investing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Many new traders and investors are eager to see quick returns on their investments, and they often become impatient when they don't see immediate results. This can lead to impulsive decision-making and can cause investors to sell their investments prematurely, often at a loss.
It is important to remember that successful investing takes time and patience. By taking the time to research potential investments, setting realistic expectations, and being patient with the investment process, new traders and investors can avoid making hasty decisions that can lead to significant losses.
Conclusion
In summary, trading and investing can be a rewarding and lucrative endeavor, but it is important to avoid common mistakes that can lead to significant losses. By educating yourself, setting goals, managing your emotions, having a plan, diversifying your portfolio, avoiding trend chasing, avoiding overtrading, managing risk, focusing on the long-term, and being patient, you can increase your chances of success as a new trader or investor.
Remember, the key to success is to approach trading and investing with a long-term perspective and to be mindful of the potential risks and rewards associated with each investment opportunity. By avoiding these common mistakes and staying disciplined in your approach, you can achieve your financial goals and enjoy a successful trading and investing career.
10 Rules of Risk Management
Risk management is the most important aspect of any trading plan. Apart from the mathematical and strategic methodologies to employ, there are several precautions you can adopt as a trader and consider in your decision-making process.
Never risk more than you can afford to lose.
Never forget Rule no.1.
Stick to your trading plan.
Consider the costs like spread, rollover/swap and commissions.
Limit your margin use and track available margin to avoid margin calls.
Always use Take Profit and Stop Loss orders.
Never leave open positions unattended.
Record your performance and adjust as you progress.
Avoid high volatility periods like economic news releases.
Avoid making emotional decisions when trading.
We apply risk management to minimise losses if the market tide turns against us after an event. Although the temptation of realising every opportunity is there for all traders, we must know the risks of an investment in advance to ensure we can endure if things go sour. All successful traders know and accept that trading is a complex process and an extensive risk management strategy and trading plan allow us to have a sustainable income source.
❤️Please, support our work with like & comment!❤️
What do you want to learn in the next post?
THE MOST USEFUL TRADING SITES ...and how to utilize themIn this post, I will share the some of the most useful trading sites that are available to you and how you are able to utilize them to your advantage whether it's for fundamentals, charting, analysis, performance tracking, news events or just to follow your favorite professionals and their ideas & education that they share publicly.
First and foremost, if you haven't made this your PRIMARY trading platform, I want to encourage you to use and SUBSCRIBE to TRADINGVIEW
As we all evolve as traders, I'm sure we can all relate to one thing in common which is hard work and dedication. Trading is one of the hardest professions out there and without hard work, practice and dedication, we know that 90% of traders fail to make it in this industry. TRADINGVIEW gives you all the resources you need to be able to become one of the 10% as it enables you to become a content creator, it gives you a community to research ideas, you're able to watch livestreams, catch news flows, back test & analyze your own strategies and most importantly of all, you have direct support team to help guide you by sharing their own personal trading experiences, publicly as well as privately. Whether your choice of market is Forex, Stocks, Crypto, Bonds, Futures, Commodities or Yields, TRADINGVIEW has all the tools to be able get you well on your journey to become a professional trader.
See Figure 1: Subscriptions
WWW.MYFXBOOK.COM
MYFXBOOK has a variety of different tools to use ranging anywhere from position size calculators, COT data (Commitment of traders), Broker spreads/quotes/volumes, news flows, correlations and most importantly, account linked performance analysis. You may be a full time trader or a part time trader with a 9-5 job, either way analyzing your entries, exits, RR ratio, drawdowns etc. are necessary to find what works and what doesn't. Trading is about probabilities and if you're not making money in 25 trades, you need to reanalyze and change your approach. Myfxbook.com allows you to link your trading platform to breakdown your performance, ultimately being your own coach to find the approach that suits you the best.
See Figure 2: Performance Stats
WWW.TRADINGECONOMICS.COM
As many different crises happen throughout the world (especially the most recent ones within the last few years), understanding how the Federal Reserve operates to manage monetary policy is key to get an edge in your positions in the forex market. TRADINGECONOMICS gives you all the accurate information needed to be able to forecast and research throughout 196 countries like, economic indicators, exchange rates, stock market indexes, government bond yields and commodity prices. Micro and Macro economics are a big part of how this world operates and having access to all the most important information that drives the Feds decisions due to the economy being split between these two realms are valuable as they could be bridged together for more accurate forecasting.
See Figure 3: Inflation Rates/GDP Growth (By Country)
WWW.FOREXLIVE.COM
FOREXLIVE has many different helpful resources to keep you up to date in the market no matter what time zone or trading session you take part in. As our lives are busy with family, day jobs, business endeavors or simply being in different time zones, you may not be able to watch all sessions play out and in fact, taking a break from the screen is healthy for your mind and emotions. The great thing about FOREXLIVE is that you are able to read Session Wraps to keep you up to date with a summary after each session (Asian, European, U.S) completes. Psychology is a big part of why a trader either succeeds or fails which balancing your time on and off the markets are important to detach your emotions from your positions. Set a plan for how many times you will scan the charts a day and fill that in between time with activities like exercising, reading, chores, spending time with your family, going for a walk and much more.
See Figure 4: Session Wraps
WWW.INVESTOPEDIA.COM
INVESTOPEDIA was founded in 1999 headquartered in the heart of New York city U.S. This website provides comparisons of financial products, reviews, ratings, comparisons of different financial products and most importantly, it is a financial dictionary. With the broad range of information provided, it gives readers the confidence to manage every aspect of their financial life. Whether you're learning about money and investing for the first time or are looking to improve your knowledge and skills, anyone from an experienced investor, a business owner, a professional, an advisor, INVESTOPEDIA has all the information to build your skills.
See Figure 5: 4 Basic Things to Know About Bonds/Key Takeaways
WWW.INVESTING.COM
INVESTING.COM is a well known site that offers real-time market quotes, information about stocks, futures, options, analysis, commodities and most importantly an economic calendar. Keeping an eye out for the high impact news events will help you adapt and control the volatility during those peak hours. Another helpful aspect of this site is knowing what will drive the market mood for each upcoming week. The top 5 most important fundamental areas to watch for are explained and broken down to help your forecast and analysis so you can prepare your trade setups accordingly. Applying fundamental analysis along with technical analysis will help you become a better trader as when the high impact news events hit, markets get volatile which could cause a running profit turn into an absolute loss. Knowing when to be in or out of the market is valuable so you don't go into a draw down phase.
See Figure 6: Economic Calendar
As I only have mentioned a small number of sites that you are able to access, we all know there are so many other ones available out there, paid and free.
Researching and spending the time to read to broaden your knowledge in the financial world will only help you grow as a trader and essentially improve your trading results.
Check out some more free sites:
www.fxstreet.com
www.dailyfx.com
www.forexfactory.com
www.babypips.com
Please share the site that most helps you in by leaving it in the comment section. I would love to see the variety of ones available.
** If you felt this was helpful in anyway, please support by hitting the LIKE button and FOLLOW me for more educational and analysis ideas **
I appreciate all the feedback!
Thanks
Trade Safe