Hi all,
This thread was inspired by a similar poll conducted on a popular trading blog belonging to a well known author. I thought it will be interesting to find out from the newbies what’s their perception of risks and their money management techniques. Hopefully this will be followed by a constructive discussion.
This kind of surveys are very interesting, specially for newbies like me, who wants to get a better idea of how others traders operates out there.
I for example, risk 1% or less, of my equities per trades.
Regards.
I do try to keep my risk below1% but I had to vote 1-1.9% as alot of my trades wind up being a little over 1%.
I wish i could have chosen more options, I trade any position size between .25%-1.25% depending on a lot of factors. But on average its about 1%. I have never traded over 1.25% ever. But i think its a good line and for me it allows me enough to make my goals.
I suppose im a bit on an anomaly here, on my main account which is by all means an aggressive trade set-up, I trade 5% per trade placed. Im sure you will be thinking to yourself that this is way over what should be traded as a percentage of equity, and in ‘main’ I would also agree. However, like I have already mentioned, this is purposely set-up to be an aggressive account.
I have multiple reasons backing up this high risk, so im not exactly shooting in the dark, but that being said, drawdown ratio’s of +30% are common.
I would not advise this level of risk to traders with little experience, and without any significant proof to back this up
my usual position risks 0.25% of my account but depending on the set up I may build positions up to 1%… in very, very rare occasions I go up until 1.5%
I simply mechanically risk 1% per trade, every trade. If I want to scale in to a position, I will always trail my Stop to (at least) B/E on the original position, then risk 1% on the ‘new’ position. I find that risking the same amount per trade makes it much easier to track my results. It also removes any temptation to think that one trade is a particularly strong setup and back it with more of my account. To me, it is either a valid setup or it is not, and if it is then I will put 1% behind it.
ST
Hmm, by hand I risk less per trade, but my bot risks 3% max. per trade. The risk is not always the same and depends on the statistical value of setups plus pa.
1% max, simple.
Can I just clarify that the RISK you are all talking about is how much you lose when you place your stop loss and it gets hit. i.e. if you have a 30 pip stop and it gets hit, you would lose 1% of your account balance, or if you had a 6 pip stop and it gets hit, you would lose 1% of your account (or whatever % risk you are prepared for). It is not the full position size that is 1% of your account balance, just risk amount if we close the trade for a loss by a stop?
Yes, the risk is referring to the porcentage of the account that could be lost, if the stop loss get hit in a particular position.