Magic Money Management Formula

Quote from TrendSailor:

AMEN. Everyone should learn this lesson the hard way one time to make it sink in.

TS

Position Sizing is the key but how do you position size your winning side and losing side of the same contract optimally?

Anyone wants to discuss and improve on AntiMartingale/adaptive scaling or spread oscillation(STARS) methods?
 
Quote from scalpmaster:

Position Sizing is the key but how do you position size your winning side and losing side of the same contract optimally?

Anyone wants to discuss and improve on AntiMartingale/adaptive scaling or spread oscillation(STARS) methods?

I am interested in all of this but don't have the time to commit to a long discussion. There is a lot of math involved too that a lot of people much smarter than I have already veted out.

I think I may experiment with an anti-martingale approach and just increase by positions sizes after each win then reduce them after each loss. I will just use Kentucky windage to guesstimate how much or how little to expand/contract.

I currently have a perfect scenario for testing how to recover from an early large loss scenario. The system I am using is basically selling cheap gamma monthly with very large iron condor spreads and relying on statistical distance as my primary risk management. When strength of trend shows trouble I now try to close out half my position at cost and play the remaining a little closer to the market if it continues. I will need about 3-4 months of moderate to slightly aggressive trading to get back to even on current losses so the temptation to revert to Martingale is very strong. I essentially just "cheated" on a short but brief market dip that I called right and doubled up my credit spreads to the down side. With the last few trading days trending bullish this is so far working very well for me and I was dead center on a 50 point to either side of market Iron Condor. Now the bull seems ready to come out again and charge hard up so I need to watch things since I tend to hold through expiration if I am at least 10 points above the market at the close of trading on SPX this options period.

TS
 
as to antimartingale effectiveness, a good guide of adding size to a winning trade is treating the addition as a new trade entity all itself.

Often martingale works because coincidentally you are entering at even better value points (higher probability of winning). It tends to fail when you are already out of ammunition and violating general money management concepts to do it.

I like martingaling - it just requires you scale in small and plan your money management precisely. It certainly increases my trade success rate.

Its easy to be right - just difficult to time it.

I like the Bruce Kovner 1% portfolio percentage total risk per trade (or even more ideally, per trade idea). Use that to determine maximum size.
Then scale in under that.
 
Quote from 99atlantic:

money management is used to refine a good system and make it better by protecting capital.

money management is NOT used to make a bad system good.

Good money management may make a bad system workable and a good system great.

Regarding blowups, too many traders pressed too hard on things that just looked fantanstic. If you normally trade 500 share lots, 1000 or 1500 shares should be your absolute size limit. If you can comfortably trade 2000 share lots then maybe 7000 or 8000 should be your limit. And DON't be a pig.
 
There's a difference between curve-fitting the equity curve and money management.

All previous posts are still talking about curve-fitting. Position sizing is based on controlling risk, and without understanding / assessing risk... there's no point...

Discussions on static martingale... good/bad system... expectancy... is still not even considered money management or position sizing.
 
"I like the Bruce Kovner 1% portfolio percentage total risk per trade (or even more ideally, per trade idea). Use that to determine maximum size.
Then scale in under that."

which is still dependant on what you trade, etc.

i scalp index futures. i NEVER scale into a winning trade

ever.

i am peeling off contracts at targets, but NEVER adding. and it definitely works for me.

in a market that is usually rotating, adding to winning trades does not work, at least with my setups

just a thought . certainly works with others
 
Quote from TSGannGalt:

99.999% curve fit.

How does one backtest and optimize with curve fitting? Is it possible? I ask because I am started to learn about back testing and optimizing, but I don't want to fall victim to curve fitting. TIA

Dan
 
Quote from HolyGrail:

Money management is the only thing you can CONTROL in the markets. If you don't have solid money management you will not be successful over the long run.
And if you don't have an edge, the best money management in the world won't save you.

The edge is knowing when to trade; money management is knowing how much to trade. Apples and oranges, but mixed together. :cool:
 
Quote from 777:

I am learning quite a bit about trading reading Elite Trader.

However, many posters on many threads seem to feel there might be a Magic Money Management Formula that will make them winners. Since this is an area I know a little about, I will hazard an explanation regarding this topic.


MONEY MANAGEMENT alone will not make one a winner in the long run.

A trader (or gambler) can not win in the long run without a "POSITIVE EXPECTATION" on his trades or bets.

RISK MANAGEMENT will help make a trading account grow and protect the account from temporary adversity IF the trader has a winning methodology for entering and exiting. Over-betting a bankroll often leads to ruin. Always doing this always leads to ruin


A casino guarantees themselves a "positive expectation" on the bets they make (take) by paying "less than is mathematically breakeven".
Example: Even money on red when playing Roulette even though the gambler has about a 48% chance of winning this bet.

A casino manages its' money by not taking on too much short term risk.
Example: Caesar's Palace would never let Bill Gates bet $2,000,000 a spin on Roulette because in the short run he could get lucky and bankrupt the casino. Caesar's would gladly let a player bet $100,000 (or more) a spin as the casino can survive streaks of "bad Luck" for these amounts.

In the casino, players with Money Management Systems (usually progressions) are treated like kings and never bared from playing!

There are many names for one key concept: Positive Expectation,The Edge, Overlay, The Best Of It, Getting paid more than is fair, Positive Risk/ Reward, etc. Whatever a trader, gambler or casino call this concept.. they all must abide by it to be winners.

That's true. Most profitable traders keep telling newbie traders like me the above seemingly truth in order to make us believe that is truth. :D
 
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