Tag: Money management

How to use money management stops effectively

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Stops are an important part of a trader's arsenal of trading tools. Some traders argue that stops are the most crucial part of their trading armor.

So here are three ways to use stops to protect your capital and lock in profits from a trade. These three money management techniques can be used in stock, futures and forex trading.

The important rule is that you do use a real stop in the marketplace. A friend of mine joked with me that he had never seen a "mental stop" filled electronically or in the pits.

Continue reading "How to use money management stops effectively" →

"Saturday Seminars" - Trading the S&P in 3D

Posted on by lindsay

Born of a marriage between technical analysis, physics and pattern recognition, the pH-Indicators are elastic and focused on the future, like today’s broadband electronic markets. Static terms such as ‘overbought’ or ‘oversold’ force traders to make decisions with two-dimensional road maps in three-dimensional real time. These new indicators provide equity and forward market traders with tools that accurately reflect the market environment. The indicators help traders construct the appropriate three-dimensional map, showing first where the market itself wants to go and second, how to build a position ahead of and within the trend of those markets. As CAT-SCANs are to X-rays, these indicators offer a brand-new view of market internals. Boundaries imposed upon traditional concepts of momentum are no longer applicable.

In this session, Richard explains his unique outlook on pH-Indicators and how he uses them to achieve financial success. Richard uses these indicators to successfully manage money and he carefully considered the time and place to present them to the public. He chose TAG 20 as the appropriate forum because he felt it is where real traders come together in search of new methods to make real money. Workshop attendees were the very first traders ever to have access to Richard’s unique work; now you can share his insights, as well.

PDF Workbook

Richard LeesRichard Lees is president of Richard Lees Capital Management, a registered investment advisory in Los Angeles’ Studio City area, where his clients include members of the entertainment industry and other high net-worth individuals. He edits and publishes 21 Forward, a monthly investment newsletter and journal that offers uniquely detailed and unusual discussion of markets. The newsletter also gives specific recommendations for implementation of his proprietary pH-Indicators to profit from those markets. Richard was educated at Stanford, the University of Michigan, and Yale, and he has written about financial analysis for industry publications such as Barron’s, always exhibiting his trademark style of sharp wit and truly contrarian commentary. With a degree in psychology and a career as a professional writer, trading—or turning perception into money—came naturally to him. An active trader since 1982, Richard was one of the first to use sophisticated trading analysis software. His methods have shown consistency and sometimes startling accuracy in the stocks, options, and the forward markets." alt="null" />Richard Lees is president of Richard Lees Capital Management, a registered investment advisory in Los Angeles’ Studio City area, where his clients include members of the entertainment industry and other high net-worth individuals. He edits and publishes 21 Forward, a monthly investment newsletter and journal that offers uniquely detailed and unusual discussion of markets. The newsletter also gives specific recommendations for implementation of his proprietary pH-Indicators to profit from those markets. Richard was educated at Stanford, the University of Michigan, and Yale, and he has written about financial analysis for industry publications such as Barron’s, always exhibiting his trademark style of sharp wit and truly contrarian commentary. With a degree in psychology and a career as a professional writer, trading—or turning perception into money—came naturally to him. An active trader since 1982, Richard was one of the first to use sophisticated trading analysis software. His methods have shown consistency and sometimes startling accuracy in the stocks, options, and the forward markets.

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Saturday Seminars are just a taste of the power of INO TV. The web's only online video and audio library for trading education. So watch four videos in our free version of INO TV click here.

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Traders Toolbox: Money Management 4 of 4

Posted on by lindsay

This is the final portion of the Trader's Toolbox: Money Management series. This post will recap the 5 main rules discussed. If you missed our previous post please click here for : Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3.

♦ Setting a goal - Decide what your trading objective is (quick profit and steady return) as well as your risk tolerance level

♦Diversification - If possible, allocate your finances between different products to avert the danger of getting wiped out in a single market. Don't go overboard, though; think in terms of three to five unrelated instruments. Stick to markets you know, rather than risking the unknown for the sake of diversification.

♦Deciding how much money to risk - The total amount you risk at a given time in a particular market group or on a particular trade should be based on a a percentage of your total trading equity. Exceeding your allocation parameters can result in overexposure.

♦Use of stop orders - The name of the game is preservation of capital. Placing conservative stops to cut your losses will ensure you are around to trade another day. Stick to the limits determined by your equity allocation percentages.

Traders Toolbox: Money Management Part 2 of 4

Posted on by lindsay

Crucial but often overlooked, money management practices can mean the difference between winning and losing in the markets.

-Amount Of Money To Risk- It's difficult to come up with hard and fast money to risk on different markets and trades. For our purpose, though, it's best to think conservatively. Although some studies suggest initially allocating equity in broad terms of original margin (40% to 50% of total equity committed to the markets at a given time in the form of original margin, 15% to a particular market, 5% to a single trade, etc.), many traders consider these percentages too high, and do not consider the market to be a accurate measure of risk or a sound basis on which to allocate funds, because a trader can always, technically, lose more than the margin amount. These traders find it more beneficial to think in terms of the actual money amount they are willing to lose on any particular trade or trades, determined by their stop level or through some other calculation.

Although in specific circumstances professional traders may actually risk comparable or even greater percentages of total equity than those listed previously, on average they risk much less-perhaps 12% to 20% of total capital at a time, and 2% - 4% per trade. Depending on the size of your trading account, these levels might seem overly strict, but again, the idea is to conserve money for the long haul.

In developing your trading goal, determine how much you could accept losing on a trade, both financially and psychologically. Based on total capital and the number of markets in which you are active, allocate your equity proportionally between individual trade, market group and total trading activity levels.

These guidelines protect you from dangers of extreme leverage in the futures markets. Though it may seen attractive to have the change to make big money on a small initial investment, the risk of loss is just as great.

-Determining Reward/Risk Ratios- Another common rule in trading is never to put on a position unless your possible profits outweigh your possible losses by a ratio of 3 to 1, or at the very least 2 to 1. So, if a particular trade has the potential of losing $100, the profit potential should be at least $200 to $300. This is not a bad rule, but like so many aspects of trading, it is somewhat intangible. Once you have formed an opinion of a market, determined your entry point and calculated the maximum amounts you could win or lose on a trade, you still are left with the uncertainty of the probability of your trade winning or losing, and unfortunately there is not secret formula for removing this uncertainty.

Some traders don't consider probabilities valid at all. The most any trader can do is perform his or her best analysis of the market, and, along with experience and intuition, come up with some rough idea of the probability of success for a given trade. This probability can then be weighed against the reward / risk ratio in selecting trades. For example, would it be better to put on a trade where the reward / risk ratio is four to one and the probability of success is 30%, or would it be advisable to put on a trade where the reward / risk ratio is only two to one but the probability of success is 75%? Using this rule, you'll be ahead of the game by directing resources to the trades with the greatest chance of success.

Traders Toolbox: Money Management - Part 1 of 4

Posted on by lindsay

Crucial but often overlooked, money management practices can mean the difference between winning and losing in the markets.
Plenty of books, manuals, and software packages will help you form and opinion of a market, but not many will tell you how to trade once you have decided to get long or short. The goal of money management is to increase the odds of high quality trades. And as we'll see, leaving the money management variable out of your trading equation can lead to ruin, even if you're correct about the market direction.


In a broad sense, money management can encompass those elements of trading outside the initial decision to get long or short in a given market or markets – that is, how many positions to put on, when to get out, where to place protective stops. More specifically, it refers to the strategic allocation of capital to limit risk and optimize trading performance in the long run. Allocation of capital can refer to how much money to put into any one market or how much money to risk on any one trade. These decision directly affect how many positions to put on and where to place stop orders.
Given the negative odds inherent in trading (a successful trader can expect to lose money on 60% of his trades), how do you go about maximizing the profit potential of the few winning trades you can expect to have? The answers vary with the disposition and trading style of the individual trader. There exist, however, basic concepts that can be successfully adapted and modified to individual needs, and when the followed in spirit, can boost the promise of long-term trading profits and take some of the stress and uncertainty out of trading.
-Establish A Goal- Having a clear idea of what you want to accomplish by trading, whether it is a short-term profit on a single trade or the desire for a long-term trading career, can go a long way toward building successful trading habits. Regardless of whether or not the goals are set on a per trade, daily or long-term basis, establishing from the outset basic levels of acceptable risk and financial reward will help curtail avoidable risk and extreme losses. Also, determine a specific time frame in which to trade: Will a position have to be liquidated by a certain time for tax purposes or for same other reason?

-Diversification- Just as in the stock market, a portfolio of different instruments can be one of the best hedges against several and unsustainable losses; a loss in one market will hopefully be offset by gains in others. Traders must take caution, though, to truly diversify their portfolios with contracts that are price independent. Spreading your trading among three or four different interest rate contracts that move in a similar fashion is not a good example of diversification, because a loss in one contract is likely to be mirrored by losses in the others. But over-diversification is dangerous, too. A trader can spread his money over too many markets, and not have enough capital in any one of them to weather even small adverse price swings.
A good rule of thumb is to stick with what you are comfortable; do not venture blindly into unknown markets just for the sake of diversification. A balance must be stuck between available resources and a manageable trading scenario. Capital constraints will, of course limit the choices traders can make, forcing those with smaller trading accounts to bypass or minimize diversification.