forexeasy

We get a lot of questions about various complex money management (MM) formulas and our preferences. We don’t comment on this subject very often because money management is such a personal issue that it would be impossible to give any universal advice that would be specific enough to have value. Everyone seems to have different goals and tolerances for risk, not to mention varying amounts of capital for trading.

However we do have some basic thoughts and opinions that might be helpful in picking a suitable MM strategy that will help you to become a winner.
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There is no absolutely perfect money-management tool in futures trading, although purchasing options on futures does limit your risk of loss to the amount paid for the option. Purchasing options does have its disadvantages, however, and I won’t go into that in this feature. What I will focus upon in this educational feature is the placement of protective stops (a sell stop if you are going long and a buy stop if you are going short) in futures trading. Protective stops are not a perfect money-management tool, but they are very effective in helping to solve one of the most important elements of futures trading: When to exit a position.
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Pyramiding is adding to positions as price moves in the desired trend direction. Pyramiding is a highly aggressive trading strategy suitable only for full-time professional traders who know how to control risks and have the discipline to execute a tested plan consistently. Pyramiding should be executed only according a predetermined and tested method which includes an effective stop loss.

Although pyramiding increases profits if the trend continues as hoped, pyramiding also increases losses if the trend reverses, so risk control is key. Reward/risk tradeoffs quickly turn against the pyramid trader when the price trend reverses. Because adding to positions changes the total cost of the entire position on a per-unit basis toward the last price, a quick reversal to the original entry price can result in a significant loss. And if the price changes direction quickly and steeply, such as on a gap or fast market, it can be impossible or difficult to limit risk according to plan.
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Reserves are funds in our account that are held back from trading, and usually parked safely on the sidelines in risk-less money-market instruments. The effect of holding reserves is to reduce net leverage. A workable rule of thumb that has evolved over time out of the real-world trading arena is to limit net leverage to 30%.

To see how reserves, leverage and net leverage work together, employ the following formulas:

Reserves = 100% - (Net Leverage / Leverage)

Net Leverage = Leverage * (100% - Reserves)

Leverage = Net Leverage / (100% - Reserves)
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