Hello everyone!
I’m facing some problems trying to swing trade and it would be good if you guys to help me or at least tell me your point of view.
To try this strategy I have an account with not much capital on it and I feel that that makes it very hard to swing trade (I’m not using a lot of leverage). Basically, I had have some good setups to enter a trade but, because I don’t have much capital on it, the shadows of a candle can easily trigger/hit my stop loss… in conclusion, I don’t have much margin of error on the trade. If I want to have a good stop loss, I need to risk a lot of my capital. Any tips for this? Use of less leverage is the solution?
MoranKy, your approach to navigating the complexities of swing trading is both thoughtful and strategic. Your decision to use less leverage is wise; while it may not prevent your stops from being triggered, it will certainly aid in controlling potential losses during trades.
Moreover, emphasizing position sizing is a strategic step to minimize losses, particularly as you refine your trading strategies. This method enables more effective risk management, preventing overexposure on any single trade.
Technical analysis appears to be a promising strategy. By identifying robust support and resistance levels, you can strategically place your stop-loss orders, potentially avoiding being stopped out by the ‘shadows’ of the candles. Furthermore, a deep understanding of market patterns will assist you in identifying potential reversal points, enhancing your trading strategy.
Additionally, employing candlestick patterns, especially focusing on engulfing bars, serves as a potent tool in confirming the trend direction, helping to ascertain that the trend is in your favor before initiating a trade.
The real issue is that your account size is undercapitalised. My smallest account size is $500 with a 50:1 leverage and a trade lot of 0.05, for day trend trading, but that is pushing the boundary for swing trades.
As an aside, your only control over what the market throws at you is being able to manage your risk exposure, and IMO, you have little leeway.
Hi. Swing trading with limited capital can be challenging, but strategies like reducing position sizes, focusing on tighter risk-reward ratios, and reducing leverage can help manage risk effectively.
Lot of traders don’t realise they can trade the D1 time-frame even with a very small account and even with very low leverage. They need then to focus on % return per month, not $ return per trade. Even a modest strategy with a small account will double the capital in a year. And if you can do it once just keep doing that.
hmm I see what you mean. So, to actually succeed with this strategy I would have to get more capital together so that my risk exposure can be decreased. That’s what I had in mind… but for example, with $500 and with a trade lot of 0.05, how much are you risking a trade? On how much you set your stop-loss? 2%-3%? How much is your risk?
I think I need some more knowledge on this topic… Going to search for it
Yea man. I think position sizing is what I had a hard time with when I started. Even though I wasn’t using leverage at first, I still didn’t really understand how the SL and account size and used margin all worked out. There’s some good examples in there. And then don’t forget the position size calculator here to spit out all the numbers for you.
Really easy to use. There’s no leverage option on the calc but you’ll figure out later how to manually add that in on your own I think.
Currently, risk is c. $10 (2%) per trade - max exposure 5% live trades while account size is c.$500. And that doesn’t provide for a wide S/L. So I have to be careful when placing my T/P, aiming for a 1:1 profit/loss.
Fortunately, I am able to deposit a further c.$500 top up over each couple of months from my income, which is compounding the account size.