Ki$$ Trick

Here's a Ki$$ Trick.
It's all about Risk and Reward.
Conditionally adjusted to Outcome.

Outcome __ Risk : Reward __ P&L
(Day 1)
0 W 0 L ______ 1:2 ___________ 0
0 W 1 L ______ 1:2 ___________ -1
0 W 2 L ______ 1:3 ___________ -2
0 W 3 L ______ 1:4 ___________ -3
0 W 4 L ______ 1:5 ___________ -4
0 W 5 L ______ 1:6 ___________ -5
1 W 5 L ______ 1:7 ___________ +2
(Day 2)
0 W 0 L ______ 1:2 ___________ 0
0 W 1 L ______ 1:2 ___________ -1
0 W 2 L ______ 1:3 ___________ -2
1 W 2 L ______ 1:4 ___________ +2
(Day 3)
0 W 0 L ______ 1:2 ___________ 0
1 W 0 L ______ 1:2 ___________ +2

However costs deteriorate the trick.
Reward = Re, Risk = Ri, Outcome = O;
If (O = L)
Re = Re + Ri;
Else If (O = W)
Re = Initial Value;
 
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Hey do you mind explaining why you are doing this? This appears to be a type of reverse Martingale type of betting/risk if I understand it correctly. You appear to be increasing the required minimum REWARD before taking on the next risk in the next trade. That does not make sense to me because I don't know about you but my typical Risk:Reward is 1:2.5. Sometimes I get 1:4 or even 1:6 but usually about 1:3 or 1:2. I try to take trades with higher rewards obviously but if they were readily available I would take them every time. Your 1st post Implies you have those in abundance. I don't. My REWARD ratio is calculated based on my Target price but I don't reach my target every time. So even though I may think max reward is 4:1 I may get stopped out or have an exit signal at 2.5:1.

Also, why increase the reward? If you are worried about losing too much and want to assure you have a win that puts you in positive PnL then lower your risk each trade rather than raise the reward.

If you change your reward ratio every time you are in essence trading 4-5 different systems because the R:R is different every time. If you flip a coin and tails you lose and heads you win then every 1:2 trade would mean if it lands on heads you win $2 and tails lose $1. But if the outcome of tails means that next time you get $3 (1:3) or even $7 (1:7) if you get heads then why ever even play the 1:2 game?? These high reward ratios are 3 different systems. If they all had the same probability of winning play the highest reward one every time. Doesn't make sense to EVER play 1:2 game in that situation.

Finally, if you say ok,... I'll reduce my RISK with each losing trade instead,... Well now you are cannibalizing your ability to make more profit with a win because you risked less.

What is your ultimate goal? To maximize profit and minimize risk, right? Then it seems to me (it's been described plenty of times before) you should risk a set amount and back test and forward test your system. THEN after forward testing for several hundred trades then you have a REAL expectancy of your system. Now you play with optimizing your risk based on how much drawdown you are willing to tolerate and maximize returns with less drawdowns. This is done with a Montecarlo style of analysis on your system based on your expectancy and total number of trades.

I hope this helps you. If I completely misunderstood the premise of your post/thread and am completely out in left field on what you are trying to do then just ignore everything above...

:)

Eganon
 
Hey do you mind explaining why you are doing this?

My idea is to build a strategy that deliver a small but steady income (Initial Reward) day over day. But as you said, it assumes more than could be experimentally expected. Such as low costs, infinite underlying's daily range, infinite capital, and infinite run time per day.

However, the value is in the eyes of the beholder.

This appears to be a type of reverse Martingale type of betting/risk if I understand it correctly. You appear to be increasing the required minimum REWARD before taking on the next risk in the next trade.

You got it perfectly. I thank you for you constructive and insightful reply.

That does not make sense to me because I don't know about you but my typical Risk:Reward is 1:2.5. Sometimes I get 1:4 or even 1:6 but usually about 1:3 or 1:2.

I began a journal not so long ago. So it's still in its infancy and I've got no internet since a week ... but, even if rare, I achieved few 1:10 risk to reward. On the ES, with a 1 point stop. The tighter the stop, the easier it is too maximize that ratio. However my average ratio is much lower (around 1:2).

I try to take trades with higher rewards obviously but if they were readily available I would take them every time. Your 1st post Implies you have those in abundance. I don't. My REWARD ratio is calculated based on my Target price but I don't reach my target every time. So even though I may think max reward is 4:1 I may get stopped out or have an exit signal at 2.5:1.

I totally agree. Why bother with small rewards if bigger ones are around the corner. However the actual reward is a know unknown. As you pointed it out. We expect a payoff with related frequencies for each and every outcome. We can take a profit while the market actually went farther in our favor. But inversely, we can expect more from the market where he actually reverse toward our entry price ... My point is that we don't know what is readily available. At the start of the day the daily range, hence your ratio, is to be built over time. Who knows ? Of course it is bounded. One can't expect unreasonably from the market in one day. Relative to it's historical behavior, what's in play, and the expectation of the agents. The risk is Known. But the reward is unknown.

Also, why increase the reward? If you are worried about losing too much and want to assure you have a win that puts you in positive PnL then lower your risk each trade rather than raise the reward.

I am not worried to lose too much. I am expecting to make 2 points a day. By offsetting the losses, as they accumulate, until the reward is hit. Your suggestion looks like a variant of this system. And at the end you get less than the initial reward (The main point this trick is build for). And it implies continuous divisibility of the risk. What if you can trade only one lot ? You can't lose less than 1 tick.

If you change your reward ratio every time you are in essence trading 4-5 different systems because the R:R is different every time. If you flip a coin and tails you lose and heads you win then every 1:2 trade would mean if it lands on heads you win $2 and tails lose $1. But if the outcome of tails means that next time you get $3 (1:3) or even $7 (1:7) if you get heads then why ever even play the 1:2 game?? These high reward ratios are 3 different systems. If they all had the same probability of winning play the highest reward one every time. Doesn't make sense to EVER play 1:2 game in that situation.

I don't agree that it implies different strategy. One could set different risk:reward conditionally adjusted to some metrics. But it's true that the ratio is set by the strategy. So here we have to set the ratio independently of the setup. Let the trick do it for us. To be honest, at the beginning I was thinking about generating semi-random signals. Or implement that strategy into a mean reversion, counter trend fading, system. Got to test which bias is best.

What is your ultimate goal? To maximize profit and minimize risk, right? Then it seems to me (it's been described plenty of times before) you should risk a set amount and back test and forward test your system. THEN after forward testing for several hundred trades then you have a REAL expectancy of your system. Now you play with optimizing your risk based on how much drawdown you are willing to tolerate and maximize returns with less drawdowns. This is done with a Montecarlo style of analysis on your system based on your expectancy and total number of trades.

I can't agree more. Yes. Yes & Yes.
Thanks for your inputs.
Really appreciate.
 
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Here are real life constraints :
- To keep the trick ratio down to earth:
It must fit into the underlyings
By underlyings I mean:
the strategy expected ratio.
the security expected volatility.
Otherwise it will increase ad infinitum.
Which will result into infinite losses.
- And the signals / setups must be accurate enough:
Since as the strategy P(G) decrease, the ratio and costs of the trick increases.

As underlying strategy,
I thought about two (fast, slow) MAs.
Buy if close under fast and above slow.
Reverse for the sells ... As simple as that. Gonna test.
 
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Ok I get your points and glad you understand mine. However, I think there is one thing you are not fully understanding from my points. Both Martingale and reverse Martingale have been shown to poor ideas for risk management. I would not recommend them. Set a risk per trade that will surely NOT result in financial ruin. Most commonly 1%Risk per trade is recommended. Then do your back test and forward testing with this number. Get your Expectancy for your system, realizing that some trades will be big winner and other small and others losses. Your average will determine expectancy of the system. THEN do Montecarlo simulations with those numbers and vary risk from 0.25% to say 3% per trade and you will see that drawdown will are WIDELY as will max gain. Your goal is to pick a risk at THAT POINT that maximizes your gain but limits MAX drawdown to whatever you feel you can tolerate. For better explanation and more details on why Martingale is bad read Van Tharpe's "Trade you way to Financial freedom" or "The Definitive Guide to Position Sizing"

Good Luck

Eganon
 
Effectively, I've been missing that tenet.
However this trick ain't about risk management.
It doesn't tell you how much to risk per trade.
Risk is a variable that needs to be filled.
And it's not a reverse martingale.
Otherwise you're right.

Both martingale and reverse one,
Tell you to, respectively, multiply or divide your risk.
Here, risk isn't manipulated, but it's the ratio that is dynamic.
In casinos, you can't do that because you don't control the odds.
Where you can control the risk (Bet Size) but not the payoff (Risk:Reward).

It's not about maximizing your expected wealth (Kelly Criterion).
Which is what you are talking about. And you're right.
To minimize risk of ruin while maximizing the return.
I've even produced a formula that output max DD.
That fits simulations and empirically.
But I think that stuff is different.
 
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Ok... again Martingale types of "betting" do not work because you are assuming that there is a cause and effect from the outcome to your chance of win. There is not. If you flip a coin (50%) chance of heads or tails. If you flip that coin 1000 times there is a possibility that you will have as many as 19 tails in a row. Did tails number 11 or 12 or 13 mean that the chance of flip number 14 would end up a heads was now 90%??? NO...it's STILL 50% chance. There is NO cause and effect. Yet you would lose another 6 times in a row if you keep adjusting risk or reward. Read those books and he goes through every statistical variation to prove that it's not wise.
 
eganon69 is right, but bet progressions do affect 1) how many bets you'll make before BK and 2) the average maximum balance over thousands of runs.

Here are 6 popular bet progressions in a game with a R:R of 1 with a 48% chance of winning:

Code:
NO_PROGRESSION: average max balance: 30.632000, average bet count: 498.821400
    MARTINGALE: average max balance: 44.831300, average bet count: 50.738900
   OSCARSGRIND: average max balance: 44.906300, average bet count: 153.137500
        PAROLI: average max balance: 36.054100, average bet count: 372.268500
         X1324: average max balance: 38.585300, average bet count: 350.156600
         X1326: average max balance: 36.530400, average bet count: 352.293800

You can see some offer (before always blowing up) longer play time or a chance for a higher average max balance.

Only Martingale increases after a loss. The rest (except no progression i.e. always bet 1) only increase after a win.
 
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