Page 4 - Module 6 Costly mistakes

Module 6 – How to avoid costly trading mistakes

3. the goal of a trader

Achieving a certain percentage return
Risk seeking traders or people with a gambling mindset will exclusively look for achieving a high
percentage gain to grow their accounts fast, often neglecting the importance of controlling
drawdowns and managing risk effectively. The traders’ primary goal should be capital preservation,
strategy development and execution consistency.

Minimising drawdowns & volatility
Risk-averse traders are mostly concerned about keeping drawdowns small and avoiding major
swings in the account balance.

Realizing a certain percentage return while keeping volatility stable and low
Advanced traders adopt the principles of two trading concepts that allow them to actively control
the degree to which their accounts are likely to grow and recognizing the impacts of drawdowns.

4. key money management concepts

Winrate and position size are 2 trading concepts that are often not fully understood, and most
traders do not understand the impacts of the two figures and how they shape a traders’ destiny.

Winrate
The Winrate is the figure that traders cannot
influence. Irrespective it can provide meaningful Let’s look at a very basic
insights about the potential performance of a
trader. example:
Over the course of 200 trades, the
Position Size statistical difference between a
In comparison with the Winrate, traders can trading strategy with a Winrate of
actively manage and control position size. Let’s get
back to our previous example with the 2 trading 50% and one with 60% will be
strategies. approximately 20 losing trades (100
- If you use 1% position size (i.e. risking 1% of losing trades with a 50% Winrate) and
your total capital on each trade) on both 80 losing trades with 60% Winrate.
strategies, a deficit of roughly 20% higher
drawdown on strategy with a 50% Winrate
can be identified.
- Losing streaks will also be much higher for a
lower Winrate if the same position sizing
approach is maintained.
- Both strategies may be profitable over the long term, however short-term variations can lead to
impulsive and unnecessary trading mistakes.
- Novice traders lack the skill of handling drawdowns, and the higher the drawdown the more
frequent impulsive trading mistakes will be. Adjusting your position size based on your Winrate
can prevent unnecessary trading mistakes.

In combination the Winrate and position sizing approach can guide you very accurately to determine
the level of risk you are willing to take. With that said you can manipulate the expectancy of your
trading system and control the outcome of your account growth and the level of risk you want to
take.

3