Last updated on Dec 25, 2023
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What is a fixed percentage per trade?
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How to calculate your position size?
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How to adjust your position size as your account grows or shrinks?
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What are the drawbacks of using a fixed percentage per trade?
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How to improve your risk management with a fixed percentage per trade?
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How to test your risk management with a fixed percentage per trade?
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Here’s what else to consider
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Risk management is a crucial skill for any trader who wants to protect their capital and achieve consistent returns. One of the most popular methods of risk management is to use a fixed percentage per trade, which means you only risk a certain percentage of your account on each trade. In this article, you will learn how to apply this method and what are its benefits and drawbacks.
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- Ron Tank Investor, Author, Coach
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- Lakhan Thanki Digitizing Gold | Index Derivatives Analyst/Trader.
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1 What is a fixed percentage per trade?
A fixed percentage per trade is a simple rule that tells you how much you can risk on each trade based on your account size. For example, if you have a $10,000 account and you decide to risk 2% per trade, you can only risk $200 on each trade. This means that if your stop loss is hit, you will lose $200 and your account will be reduced to $9,800. The advantage of this method is that it limits your losses and prevents you from losing too much of your account in a series of bad trades.
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- Ron Tank Investor, Author, Coach
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Once you agree to limit your risk, you'll need to use some type of timing on the entries, or you'll simply be hoping you don't lose on each position. By using technical analysis and historical models that illustrate what good timing is, you'll be able to greatly reduce the number of times you would encounter a loss.The next step is learning to let your winners run. The big money isn't made by thinking, it's about sitting long enough to let one or two turn into a substantial gain, which takes time. The hardest thing every investor does is entering a position and then avoiding having to sell it at a loss in the near future. Once you're ahead, why create the need to enter another position successfully once again.
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Oftentimes I’ve seen that traders stick to their initial risk per trade, but later DCA further into that trade, adding additional risk.It’s important to note that the risk per trade should include all positions in that symbol, and if the strategy entails further DCA later, the initial position should have less risk to allow adding further.Same applies to adjusting the SL throughout the trade
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- Lakhan Thanki Digitizing Gold | Index Derivatives Analyst/Trader.
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1. If you need to fix your loss, then not all entries will be yours!2. One will need to act at a speed of light to measure the risk as soon as the person senses a possible trade.If risk in your limits, go for it. If not, leave the trade no matter how good it is.3. If someone is trading derivatives specifically options, then risk cant be fixed because geek values will lower if market goes sideways or blast if market goes one way.4. For example, some trading a dragonfly doji at possible bottom, if the candle itself is more than 100-150 points, risk will be definitely more than 2%. Leave that trade!
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2 How to calculate your position size?
To use a fixed percentage per trade, you need to calculate your position size, which is the number of units or shares you buy or sell on each trade. To do this, you need to know three things: your account size, your risk percentage, and your stop loss distance. The formula for calculating your position size is: Position size = (Account size x Risk percentage) / Stop loss distance For example, if you have a $10,000 account, you risk 2% per trade, and your stop loss distance is $1, your position size is: Position size = ($10,000 x 0.02) / $1 = 200 This means that you can buy or sell 200 units or shares on each trade.
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- Lakhan Thanki Digitizing Gold | Index Derivatives Analyst/Trader.
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Very Simple!1. Are you a scalper? Big Position size.2. Are you a Day trader with holding time greater than a scalper? Reduce a little.3. Are you someone with a swing trader thing? Reduce more.In short,More the holding time, smaller the position size.This is universal for all category traders, it may change with a person's experience.
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3 How to adjust your position size as your account grows or shrinks?
One of the benefits of using a fixed percentage per trade is that it automatically adjusts your position size as your account grows or shrinks. This means that you will risk more when your account is larger and less when your account is smaller. This way, you can take advantage of the power of compounding and grow your account faster. For example, if your account grows from $10,000 to $12,000, your position size will increase from 200 to 240. On the other hand, if your account shrinks from $10,000 to $8,000, your position size will decrease from 200 to 160.
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I have a set of rules that adjust my position size based on account size and market conditions. My position size is determined by the percentage of risk per trade, which is the amount of capital I'm willing to lose on each trade.I typically start by risking 0.25% of my capital on trades. If I observe sufficient traction, I increase the risk to 0.5% and eventually to 1%.For example, if the market is trending and my account size is $1,000, my maximum risk per trade is $10. If my account grows to $1,500, my maximum risk per trade increases to $15.Conversely, if the market is unsuitable, my maximum risk per trade decreases to $2.50 for a $1,000 capital.Therefore, my position size varies in response to changes in my overall capital.
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- Lakhan Thanki Digitizing Gold | Index Derivatives Analyst/Trader.
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First of all, it is important to know that with the same account size there are setups with different position sizes.For example, if a trader has a capital of $10000 and he trades with only $2000 per trade keeping in mind the risk management strategy.Now, to scale it to $4000 per trade, he should aim for a capital of $20000 first!Simply put, a trader should risk a certain percentage of the total capital per trade.
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Very simple, if you decide to risk 1% on each position. - $10,000 - 1% = $100 (you risk 100) When your accounts grow to let's say $13500 then: - $13,500 - 1% = $135 ( you risk 135 on each trade, until your account grows bigger) etc...
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- Nathan Anneh CEO, Trader | Investment Banker at ANNEH CAPITAL LLC
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Adjusting your position size as your account grows or shrinks is vital for effective risk management in trading. Consider strategies like using a percentage-based approach, fixing a dollar amount per trade, or adapting to market volatility. Maintain a consistent risk-reward ratio and periodically review your position sizing strategy. Implement protective stops and factor in psychological considerations to ensure your approach aligns with your risk tolerance and trading goals. Regular reassessment is key to adapting to changing market conditions and personal preferences.
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4 What are the drawbacks of using a fixed percentage per trade?
While using a fixed percentage per trade can help you manage your risk and grow your account, it also has some drawbacks that you should be aware of. One of them is that it does not take into account the volatility or the quality of the trade. This means that you may risk too much or too little on some trades depending on the market conditions and the trading setup. For example, if the market is very volatile and your stop loss is wide, you may end up risking more than 2% of your account on a single trade. Conversely, if the market is calm and your stop loss is tight, you may end up risking less than 2% of your account on a single trade.
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- Vishnu D R LinkedIn Top Technical Analysis Voice | Options Trader | Investment Banking Consultant
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The key drawback is, not using charts or indicators to let a trader know when to exit. Ideally, supports or resistances (or) trendlines should help a trader decide a stop loss.Using a fix percentage can lead to a random exit and probably just after the exit market may have taken a support or a resistance.
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5 How to improve your risk management with a fixed percentage per trade?
To improve your risk management with a fixed percentage per trade, you can use some additional criteria to adjust your position size according to the volatility and the quality of the trade. For example, you can use the average true range (ATR) indicator to measure the volatility of the market and use a multiple of the ATR as your stop loss distance. This way, you can adapt your position size to the changing market conditions and avoid risking too much or too little. Another example is to use a reward-to-risk ratio to evaluate the quality of the trade and use a higher or lower risk percentage depending on the potential return. This way, you can allocate more capital to the trades with a higher probability of success and less capital to the trades with a lower probability of success.
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- Tarek Chamoun, CFA, CFTe Chief FX Dealer at Banque Libano-Française | Trader | Financial Services | Financial Derivatives | Technical Analysis | Advisory | FX Hedging
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In my experience, the first thing to do is to determine where you want to place your stop-loss and work from there, not use a multiple of ATR. When you determine where your stop-loss will be, you can determine your position size according to how much you want to lose per trade (this article uses 2%)
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In a Trade that is developing well, I’ll tighten my SL and add further to that position, always making sure my overall risk in that trade does not exceed my initially defined max risk.Thereby, those winning trades that have momentum become big gains while I keep the risk level the same. Unfortunately, most traders I see do exactly the opposite. Increase position size for loss trades and reduce for winning trades, thereby ending up with low RRR and needing high hit rates for overall profitability
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6 How to test your risk management with a fixed percentage per trade?
Before you apply a fixed percentage per trade to your live trading, you should test it on a demo account or a backtesting software to see how it performs in different scenarios. You should also keep track of your results and analyze your performance metrics, such as your win rate, your average profit, your average loss, your maximum drawdown, and your return on investment. This way, you can see how your risk management affects your trading outcomes and make any necessary adjustments to optimize your strategy.
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- Vishnu D R LinkedIn Top Technical Analysis Voice | Options Trader | Investment Banking Consultant
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One should identify a solid strategy and then write down the max drawdown when those set ups got activated and then try to arrive at a standardized formulae or a range as stop loss. Ensure, it covers sufficiently well and doesn't hit stop loss often while using that strategy.
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7 Here’s what else to consider
This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?
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