Quote from OddTrader:
I just think that say for two months, scenario A of having 50% and 50% per month individually, against scenario B of having -100% and 200% per month would produce completely different results.
Both have average 50% per month performance, but after -100% downdown you must use extremely high leverage to keep on trading.
Wow, -100% drawdown? That is a wipe-out. I don't see how that could happen. Remember these figures (draw-down and run-up) are percentages of the original account balance (not of the traded amount, and I do not trade with a leverage greater than 1.0 in a scenario that has a possibility of a 100% loss). Yes, I recognise that a -40% drawdown requires a 67% upside to recover.
Of course given the two scenarios (I believe you are talking percentage based on amount committed to the trade), A is definitely preferable under any leverage.
At the moment I could envisage an option position losing 40% or even 100% of its value, but I would not commit 100% of account to such a position!