I have been trading my own accounts for a decade now and I continue to learn more with each passing day. However, I never thought that a game, a hobby of mine, would advance my understanding and the importance of expectancy and position sizing as much as playing poker. Trading the markets and playing poker both require strict money management rules, stable emotional balance and a solid game plan. If you don’t consider and employ these tools, you will most likely fail sooner rather than later and lose a lot of money along the way.

So, how could a person learn so much from a game that most people consider luck? And why do some traders continually profit year after year while others lose their shirt while making the same mistakes? I will discus the basics of position sizing and expectancy and show you how both items are extremely important when trading and playing poker for profits. I will also close the gap of how each entity (trading and poker) have helped me become better at both.

Many people consider trading and poker pure luck but this is not an accurate observation. Average traders and average poker players taint the outside world with images of luck, quick riches and pure fantasy of the actual grind that is required to succeed. Many factors run parallel with poker and trading but the average Joe would never understand ‘why’ because he or she just listens to what the “talking heads” of television say. Luck may and will play a small part under certain circumstances but rules, odds, risk and money management are the largest components of the two entities.

It’s a grind; trading for a living and playing poker for a living is a grind – a full time business.

I don’t trade for a living but I do trade/ invest to grow my personal wealth. The savings and income from my main career is put to work through investing.

When investing in the stock market, it is essential to have a sound set of rules or a system that has been tested in real time, (back testing or historical testing is not required but can be used, my opinion of course). Back testing helps but playing sports has taught me that Monday morning quarterbacking is for theorists. Once a system has been tested profitably in real-time, the trader or poker player must follow clearly defined rules in order to preserve capital and cut losses. Both traders and poker players must consider the odds of their stock or hand making a gain or making a loss. Price objectives and targets should be a large part of every investor’s system but it is not the essential ingredient to success. Understanding how much to trade or how much to bet and exactly when to make that bet will be based on the system’s expectancy – and this should be the top priority.

So where does system development start? It starts by properly understanding position sizing techniques and calculated expectancies. Using these tools, the investor will be armed to trade only in situations where the odds are in his/her favor. A system that has been tested will have an approximate expectancy that will tell the trader or poker player how much will be gained or lost during each trade or hand over a period of time. Using this as one part of the equation, the investor or trader will now determine how much risk to undertake by calculating a position sizing algorithm that tells them how much to place on a specific trade or poker hand. The word “algorithm” may scare many people away but I have developed very simple position sizing and expectancy spreadsheets that can be found as a link on my blog. They can be downloaded, studied and tweaked without any advanced mathematical experience. This spreadsheet is strictly for trading, not poker.

Most traders and poker players look for three major factors when developing a system:

• How much to trade or bet
• The right odds or positive expectancy
• Multiple trades or hands to play (opportunity)

How do we Calculate Position Size (stock trading example)?

We can determine how much to place on each trade by assuming a $100,000 account with 1% risk on each trade. Using a basic CANSLIM style trading approach, I will place my stops approximately 7-10% below the ideal entry area or pivot point (8% in this example).

$100,000 Account
1% Risk = $1,000
8% Stop Loss
Position Size will be $12,500

We calculate the position size by dividing the 1% risk by the 8% stop loss or
$1000 / 8% = $12,500.

If the stock we are watching has an ideal entry of $50, we now know that we can buy 250 shares or $12,500 worth of stock. Our stop loss is $46 or 8% of $50 and our maximum loss is $1,000 of the original $100,000 portfolio. We can now start to develop system expectancy if we use this basic position sizing algorithm with every trade.

What exactly is expectancy?

Expectancy tells you what you can expect to make (win or lose) for every dollar risked. Casinos make money because the expectancy of their games is in their favor. Play long enough and you are expected to lose and they are expected to win because the “odds” are in their favor. Most games at a casino are completed in a short period of time so they can increase their odds of winning. The only game that does not benefit the casino is poker because the game is played between individuals, not against the house. They do take a rake or a percentage of each pot so we will consider this commission fees. The same holds true for investing. If your expectancy is positive; you can make more money with multiple trades in shorter periods of time. Make sure this style suits your personality before trading or playing poker for a living.

Expectancy is your profit percentage per win multiplied by your win rate minus your loss percentage per loss multiplied by your loss rate. I will use an example of Expectancy from Dr. Van K. Tharp’s Book: Trade your way to Financial Freedom:

Expectancy = (Probability of Win * Average Win) – (Probability of Loss * Average Loss)

Expectancy = (PW*AW) less (PL*AL)
PW is the probability of winning and PL is the probability of losing.
AW is the average gain (win) and AL is the average loss

So let’s do an example using a basic CANSLIM style approach (assume $12,500 per position, a $100,000 portfolio using 1% equity risk):
If my trades are successful 40% of the time and I realize an average profit of 20% but I lose an average of 5%, my expectancy is $625 per trade.

(0.4 * $2,500) – (0.6 * $625) =

$1,000-$375 = $625

I lose 60% of the time yet I show a profit of $625 per trade. If I have a system that produces 65 trades per year, I would realize an annual gain of $40,625 (hypothetical scenario). A 40% gain on the original $100,000 (minus all commissions, fees, taxes and compounding).

Let’s look at the calculation one more time using only percentages:
PW: 40%
AW: 20%
PL: 60%
AL: 5%

(40% * 20%) – (60% * 5%) = 5.00%

What this tells me is that I have a positive expectancy of 5% or $625 per trade from the original $12,500. It doesn’t mean that I will make $625 on every single trade but my system will average a profit of $625 per trade over the course of a year with a combination of winners and losers. I can always make more trades or fewer trades in a year so my total profit will be adjusted accordingly.

With the basics of position sizing and expectancy explained, I would like to explain why poker has made me a better trader. I will start by taking you through a game plan that has helped me use expectancies, emotional balance and position sizing to consistently win money at the tables. I admit that I am not a high stakes poker player but I can hold my own when I feel comfortable with a decent amount of money risked in any one hand ($1-$2 or $2-$5 no limit is my preferred choice – cash games only). As with investing, don’t over trade or trade more money than you are comfortable with. Tournament play is similar to options as a premium is paid up front in exchange for chips or the right to exercise those chips during a specific hand.

As I sit and start to play, my first goal is to become familiar with the character traits of the players around me. Typically 9 or 10 players will be at the table so I will have plenty of time to evaluate the people I am playing with, without risking a great deal of money. After several rounds of play, I will be aware of the character traits of the people I am playing with and will understand that some players may be tight and only bet high odd hands. These players may typically be edgy and nervous and fold cards with force as I have observed in the past. Other players may also play hands with high odds but will mix it up and call bets with cards that carry more risk along with lower odds. Every table has the quintessential bluffer that typically talks a big game, smirks a lot and sports a pair of dark sunglasses. You also may meet the hot shot, “TV-type” player that wants to win the World Series of Poker on ESPN. These players are very similar to traders that buy late night trading systems from infomercials and lose most of their money by incorrectly trading the system or making impulse trades. They also remind me of the people that scour internet web forums, blogs and twitter looking for justifications on their trading ideas or they simply pump their own ideas without following basic rules.

When playing poker, you must pay to gather information from certain types of players and this means calling a hand that you know may lose but the risk and money committed is minimal. Essentially, your overall position size relative to the pot odds justifies the call which allows you to make better or more informed decisions later in the game or tournament. The same holds true when trading. You may have a setup flashing on your screen so you take the trade but it quickly reverses so you close out the position. Don’t consider this a loss; consider this valuable information that warns you that the ideal entry is not now. Instead, you cut the loss while it is small and continue to monitor the situation so you can place another position if the ideal opportunity arrives in the future. You must pay for information in the trading and poker worlds; it will only make you understand the games better.

Don’t forget this rule:

“You must pay for information in the trading and poker worlds; it will only make you understand the games better.”

While poker players are their own characters; stocks are made up of human character traits, similar to the type of people that trade them. Some stocks are risky and volatile while other stocks are conservative and predictable. The market repeats cycles and specific chart patterns because humans repeat their actions and character tendencies. By learning how to target character traits at the poker table, I have started to understand that certain stocks act in predictable ways because the people trading them can’t change their emotional make-up. Many poker players will make the same mistakes and place the same erratic bets no matter how much they try to play differently. Most stocks will act according to historical patterns and follow the trend no matter how much you think the chart will do otherwise.

I won’t get into the exact rules of playing poker but I can tell you that only two players are required to bet per round while the other eight can view their first two cards without risking a cent (my game of choice is Texas Hold’em). The two players required to bet represent the big and small blinds. The dealer and all other player at the table can view the first two cards for free without a bet. If the hand is weak, you can fold and keep your gambling stake.

Here is where it gets interesting; if I have a decent hand, I can decide to call the larger blind and see the next three cards on the flop, which is still a low risk investment. If the flop doesn’t provide me with the cards I need, I can immediately cut my losses short by folding and wait for the next game. The same is true in investing; I can cut a loss short and wait for the next opportunity without risking the farm if I realize an immediate loss. If the cards are good and my probabilities of winning the hand are high, I can call or raise the bet. When I place a trade and it shows a profit, my belief was correct and I will consider adding to the position.

A fourth and fifth card (the turn and the river) are placed on the table after the flop and betting continues with each round. Again, I can decide if I would like to call, raise or cut my losses. The connection I am trying to make with investing in the stock market and playing poker relates directly to cutting losses short (capital preservation and money management) and my odds of winning the game (in the stock market this is called expectancy as explained earlier).

All investors and poker players bring emotions to the table, some people control them better while other people employ more efficient systems and understand the odds on a higher level. The bottom line is to understand the situation around you and to use a sound system to raise your odds. Never bet a hand that represents a low chance of winning and never ride a loss that could multiply overnight. Cut losses short and get out of the game and wait for the next opportunity because they are always around the corner.

While watching a re-run of the 2005 US Poker Championships, a statistic caught my attention so I paused the show, wrote it down and thought to myself that it would serve as an excellent example on expectancy.

Poker expectancy example (this relates directly to trading):
Nine players at the table
34 total hands were played in this round

Player A saw the flop 28 of 34 hands or 82% of the time
Player A won hands 16 out of 28 tries for a 57% winning percentage

Player B saw the flop 11 of 34 hands or 32% of the time
Player B won hands 4 out of 11 tries for a 36% winning percentage

Looking at these numbers and assuming that both players had equal chips (they were close), who do you think made more money during the round?

Most people would guess Player A due to the 57% winning percentage on 16 hands. Player B fails in comparison with only 4 wins, a quarter of the wins of Player A.

Well, Player A actually had a net loss of 5,500 chips while Player B actually had a net gain of 10,000 chips.

So what is my point?

The point is that being active is not a way to guarantee success unless you are following a system with a profitable expectancy. You must formulate a positive expectancy system that balances the opportunities with minimal risk and maximum gain. Player B took on less opportunity but made the most of it when the opportunity arrived.

Player A was erratic and played several hands that gave him poor odds and this is what I see so many traders do when the market is weak. They trade for the sake of trading and they lose. Traders must battle their patience and stick to their rules so they don’t trade erratically and play the game for the sake of playing.

By playing poker, I have cemented my understanding of how people act, how to play the right odds, how to develop expectancies based on the cards I am dealt and how to position my trades properly. Watching these techniques and rules in a live situation really drove home the importance of a system that follows the proven rules. Trading can be a long, tedious and impatient road to travel but following the rules and employing proper position sizing and expectancy calculations will almost guarantee success if the rest of you system does it’s job. If your system is broke, find one that works and understand that you won’t go broke by properly placing your trades or bets and understanding how much you can and will win from each trade and/or bet.

Good luck trading and playing poker!!

• Listen to My Audio Interview
• My Interview at StockTickr
• Position Sizing and Expectancy
• The Holy Grail of Trading: It’s not your System
• How to Create a Successful Stock Watch List
• My CANSLIM Screening and Buying Strategy
• Fundamental Screens and Scans
• CAN SLIM Breakdown
• Understand the ‘M’ in CANSLIM
• Paper Trading: Nothing to Lose, Nothing to Learn
• Focus on You
• Could you Trade Full Time?
• Position Size to Determine How Many Shares to Buy
• Trading Mistakes: Avoid at all Costs
• How to Calculate a Stock’s Pivot Point
• Do Not use Fundamental Analysis Alone!
• How to Short a Stock
• Learn to Focus when Investing
• Markets are not Efficient
• Point and Figure Charts

I will refer to a couple of quotes I have posted numerous times on this blog:

“All through time, people have basically acted and re-acted the same way in the market as a result of: greed, fear, ignorance, and hope – that is why the numerical formations and patterns recur on a constant basis” – Jesse Livermore

“Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes” – Jesse Livermore

The books listed below were found through a fabulous list provided by the Hess Collection from An Exhibit at The University of Toledo ‘s William S. Carlson Library. February 22–April 30, 1999

As you can see, things will never change, as much as we wish they would because it’s in our DNA (we’re human).

Don’t these titles sound familiar:
How to Cope with the Developing Financial Crisis
By Ashby Bladen, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.

Financial Crises
By Theodore E. Burton, New York: Appleton, 1931.

Our Mysterious Panics 1830-1930
By Charles Albert Collman, New York: Morrow, 1931.

Booms and Depressions: Some First Principles
By Irving Fisher, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1933.

The Stock Market Crash–And After
By Irving Fisher, New York: MacMillan, 1930.

When the Merry-Go-Round Breaks Down
By Wilfred J. Funk, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1938.

The Great Crash 1929
By John Kenneth Galbraith, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955.

The Causes of the Panic of 1893.
By W. Jett Lauck, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1907.

The 70s Crash and How to Survive It
By John F. Lawrence and Paul E. Steiger, New York: World Publishing, 1970.

Anatomy of a Crash–1929
By, J.R. Levien, New York: Trader’s Press, 1966.

History of Business Depressions
By Otto C. Lightner, New York: Northeastern, 1922.

Wall Street Panics: 1813-1930
By D.W. Perkins, Waterville, NY, 1931.

Deficits and Depressions
By Dan Throop Smith, New York: Wiley & Sons, 1936.

Prelude to Panic: The Story of the Bank Holiday
By Lawrence Sullivan, Washington, D.C.: Statesman Press, 1936.

Trade Depressions and Stock Panics
By Richard Whitney, New York, 1930.

The Work of the New York Stock Exchange in the Panic of 1929
By Richard Whitney, New York, 1930.

Past Blog posts about “Crisis” Authors/ Books:
Make Millions Selling Fear
‘Crisis Authors’ feed on people’s Fears!

Jesse Livermore says it better than me and he is a big part of the reason why I study chart patterns so intensely. Stock charts organize human behavior in patterns that allow us to anticipate future moves based on past results. Based on this assumption, I wrote a post last October titled: Is Shanghai a Nasdaq Déjà vu

I compared the 1929 Dow Jones to the 2000 NASDAQ (as many have before me) and then the 2000 NASDAQ to the 2007 Shanghai Composite Index. The three looked so eerily similar that I knew I had to write an intense post with excellent graphics to back up the possibilities. The entire post is pasted below or can be found on the link above. This is what I had to say about the future developments of the Shanghai Composite Index based on my studies of 2000 and 1929:

This won’t happen overnight but human nature always repeats so expect a huge decline in the Shanghai Stock Exchange within the next several years.

“The price pattern reminds you that every movement of importance is but a repetition of similar price movements, that just as soon as you familiarize yourself with the actions of the past, you will be able to anticipate and act correctly and profitably upon forthcoming movements” – Jesse Livermore

Well, take a look at what has happened to the Shanghai markets since my post last October: The chart has dropped in almost an exact shape and slope as did the NASDAQ in 2001 and 2002. The index is now down more than 65% since my blog post and more than 70% since its peak.

The moral of this post (I’ll leave it to Livermore one last time):
“Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes” – Jesse Livermore.

Take a look at the charts from 2007 and compare them to the charts above. Human nature!

*************October 3, 2007 Blog Post*************
The rise of NASDAQ in the late 1990’s has been compared to the rise of the Dow of the late 1920’s. Chart overlays are amazingly similar.

Image from BullandBearWise.com

Well, the current two year rise of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index looks remarkably similar to the rise of the NASDAQ of the late 1990’s and the charts below explain better than I can!

The NASDAQ rose from 1,250 to 5,132 from March 1997 to March 2000: 310% gain!
The Shanghai Stock Exchange has moved from 998.23 in June 2005 to 5,552.30 today (10/2/07): 456% gain!

As you can see, the blue line of the late 1990’s NASDAQ has moved meticulously with the Shanghai Index of today.

Will the Shanghai Stock Exchange end up with the same result as the NASDAQ of the late 1990’s. As you can see, the NASDAQ went from 1,250 to 5,132 back down to 1,192 (all within a five year period).

This won’t happen overnight but human nature always repeats so expect a huge decline in the Shanghai Stock Exchange within the next several years.

1929, 1999, 2007, etc…
***************************************

Is Shanghai a Nasdaq Déjà vu

What are the three things (i.e. courses of action, strategies, resources) that you’ve found most helpful in mentoring/coaching yourself as a trader?

And here is how I answered:

• 1. Understand me. The most powerful tool I have found in life and in this specific case, the market, is what I, as a person, am capable of doing as a trader. I finally understand that personal characteristics that are engrained in my DNA will only allow me to trade successfully under specific circumstances. For example, I am much more consistent and profitable as a medium term and longer term trend trader than as a day trader (even more so on the long side). I don’t need to be everything, all the time as long as I continue to focus on the areas that bring me the greatest success. Understanding “me” has been my holy grail of understanding how to trade the market with some type of consistency and profitability.
• 2. Learning to cut losses. It’s almost cliché but not many people can do it (in any aspect of life). I have learned to cut losses in my trading, my career, my hobby of competitive poker and everything else in life where the rule applies. Without this rule, there wouldn’t be a third rule.
• 3. Study and work hard. Sounds so simple but we live in a very lazy society. It is extremely important to my success for me to continuously study the markets on a fundamental and technical level and learn from my successes and mistakes. If you think about it, we would all start at square one on every trade if we didn’t learn from past situations where we succeeded or failed. Applying the knowledge gained from past experiences allows me to properly analyze similar situations in the future with slightly greater odds of success (or at least I would like to think). Never stop learning is a phrase that I will never stop saying as it proves to be truer the older I get.

P.S. – Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few weeks as I have been in and out of town without much focus on the market. It’s better for me to be mostly in cash at this point in time due to the lack of opportunities crossing my screens. Regular posting will resume as soon as my schedule allows me to focus 110% on the market. I will look to post occasionally as long as I have something of value to add.

• 1. Manage Risk: Learn to trade a manageable portion of you portfolio (I recommend to risk less than 2% of you overall portfolio equity on each trade). Always establish a risk/reward ratio before making a trade. Without the ratio, how do you know your risk?
• 2. Understand Position Sizing: All traders must learn to know “how much” to trade on each position. Do not overtrade or you will runt he risk of ruin. Position sizing is rule number one of managing risk.
• 3. Cut Losses: Do not allow losses to run wild. You must learn to cut losses and understand that losses are a part of the game, a large part of the game. Check you ego of winning at the door. We are here to make money, not go undefeated. Play sports if you want to keep score with a record rather than your bankroll.
• 4. Learn when to Sell: You must learn when to sell. Selling is more important than buying as it ties directly to risk management. Use stops if you haven’t yet developed the discipline to get out at your predetermined stop or profit goal.
• 5. Average up in Price: I will never hesitate to add shares in a stock that is moving higher (see Mastercard) but I always avoid averaging down. Remember, cut losses and never throw good money after bad because we know that’s a quick way to the poorhouse.
• 6. Have Patience: It takes years to master trading as an advanced skill; even then, you are never done learning or adapting.
• 7. Buy 52-week Highs, not 52-Week Lows: Don’t be afraid to buy stocks making new highs. The garbage sits at the bottom of the market along with poor earnings, weakness and further downward pressure. Buy strength and the momentum moving higher. Stocks are typically priced at the levels they trade for good reason. This applies to most premium items in life.
• 8. Ignore the Talking Heads: Do not listen to the stories, gossip and rumors flying around on network television, stock forums or the major financial newspapers. It a surefire route to bad information and clueless advice. Do your own research; you’ll come out much further ahead. This applies to crappy blogs and internet sites as well.
• 9. Understand Technical Analysis: Fundamental analysis is a solid part of my trading system but technical analysis brings in the dough. You must learn, understand and use technical analysis on a daily basis. Fundamental analysis tells me what and technical analysis tells me when, where and how.
• 10. Control Emotions: Enough said – You must control your emotions or the game is over! Understand you!

Trading is at least 98% psychological. It’s a mental state of mind based upon your beliefs of what may happen. Books, systems and technical indicators can only take you so far! You must accept and understand that the market is all in your head. It is you versus the other trader. If you don’t understand YOU, how will you ever understand other traders; thus taking advantage of market moves based on their mental state of mind and their underlying beliefs.

Many investors, both novice and experienced, drift from book to book to book and system to system to system, never understanding why they produce inconsistent profits. They are confused, looking at too many things, complicating the entire process while ignoring the essentials to success.

Keep it simple.

Why complicate things when simplicity works; especially when it comes to trading? We know that trading may be the most difficult endeavor that any human may attempt to undertake.

Thousands of different systems work in the stock market so we can conclude that it is the user that ultimately fails because of lack of concentration and motivation to stay the course. Wall Street is not for drifters and most people can’t play the game profitably because they never sharpen their own mental skills while applying basic money management techniques. They focus on the wrong set of skills.

We all see people come and go every day: rags to riches to rags. They are motivated for weeks, months and sometimes years but most fizzle away after they fail and can’t figure out what they are doing wrong. Some investors copy a system from a so-called guru and may find success for a while but they don’t tailor it to their personality, integrate it with their investing style and focus on their mental state of mind, therefore, it will become obsolete and they will fail. Working hard to become successful in the market is fine but understand that working smarter will always take you further.

Our goal as traders and investors is to understand the crowd and anticipate how they will act and react based on the thoughts we had, prior to focusuing on the proper skills, when we were just one of the sheep (waiting to be slaughtered)!

Focus on what is important and the success will follow.

Stop focusing on iffy stochastics, Bollinger bands, MACD, ADX, earnings releases and bogus news stories. Yes they can aid you to success but the main focus is on you!

Personally speaking, I require specific fundamentals, price, volume and basic daily and weekly charts to succeed but they are secondary tools. They can help me make money as long as I am focusing on the overall picture which is my mental focus and my emotional balance.

I know I am getting all “Dr. Perruna” on you but it is true.

Once your conscious mind understands how the beliefs of the crowd work, your subconscious mind takes over and intuition kicks in and you start making some of the best decisions of your life by flawlessly following your system.

As Jesse Livermore said:

“Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes”

Why? Because humans never change!

Once you understand this and learn to trade other humans, you will become successful. Yes, you will need some of the tools mentioned above but don’t focus your attention in this area. Focus when investing by mastering the beliefs of the crowd and you will always be one step ahead.

Traders and investors always seem to blame their systems and/ or indicators for poor performance when 99% of the time they should be looking in the mirror. They need to look in-between the ears to locate the problem. As I have explained in the past, the system is not the Holy Grail of Trading. I wrote a post last year that was missed by many since it was written shortly after the fourth of July holiday. Now seems to be the time to discuss this topic, more so than last summer.

• What do you think?
• What is your Holy Grail of Trading?
• Has your system stopped working or have you disconnected with the changing market environment?

Original Post:
Do you have a wonderful trading system, one that consistently makes you money? You probably believe that you have found your holy grail but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Your system has very little to do with consistent profitability in the markets.

I often here amateur investors talk about that the “best way” or “only way” to invest and argue why their way is better than everyone else’s. The passion and energy exuded by these novice investors is wonderful but they are missing the point completely. No one can say that options are better than stocks, commodities are better than options or forex is better than everything, etc… Each investor develops a system that is suited to their own personal character traits and they use a vehicle (stocks, options, forex, commodities, real estate, etc…) that can help them reach their goals.

Investors also debate systems within a market such as: trend trading, swing trading, scalping, shorting, day trading, buy and hold, fundamental trading, technical trading, Elliot wave theory, moving average crossovers, etc… They all work if the “person” understands the holy grail of trading. And that is being able to understand YOU and how your mind works.

However, it is not the system that makes one successful. It is YOU that makes the system work properly. What do I mean? Each individual must master their own personal psychological impacts on their trading results. You must work on YOU to become consistently successful! I recommend reading The Disciplined Trader by Mark Douglas if you would like to understand the psychological trader in you.

To say that one system or vehicle is the “way to go” is ignorant.

Pick up any Market Wizard book and read how these men and women made hundreds of millions in the markets using different systems. The only thing they all had in common was money management and risk management. That’s ALL! Every one of them traded in different ways and used different vehicles but they all watched their risk, calculated proper position sizing techniques and understood their system’s expectancy.

Money management, also termed as risk management is a major part of the holy grail of investing, NOT THE SYSTEM! Novice investors will eventually understand this after many years of trading (some quicker than others).

So, if someone ever tells you that their “system” is better than yours, turn away and run and run fast because they don’t know what the hell they are talking about.

Here are some examples supporting this idea from the Market Wizard books:

• Michael Marcus turned $30,000 into $80 million trading futures
• Michael Steinhardt ran a fund that averaged 30% annual return over 21 years trading stocks
• Tom Baldwin started with $25,000 and eventually traded $2 billion a day in T-bond futures on the floor or in the pit.
• Paul Tudor Jones ran funds that averaged triple digit returns for five consecutive years trading multiple markets
• Ed Seykota realized an astounding 250,000% return over 16 years (yes that says 250,000%) managing accounts trading in the futures markets – possibly the best trader of our time
• Bill Lipschutz traded currencies with a staring account of $12,000 (started out as an architect – very motivating for me since I started the same way).

The list can go on forever but the point remains the same; they all traded different markets with unique systems from different locations (the floor, an office or their home in the mountains) but they all had one major factor in common: money management and risk management.

Just about every market wizard refers to position sizing as a major part of the “holy grail” of trading. Van Tharp (also featured in Market Wizards) coined the phase in the first edition of his book but he only realized that money management was the holy grail after studying and speaking with hundreds, if not thousands of very successful traders. Tharp’s Book, Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom, is a must read if you would like to understand position sizing and expectancy and learn more about understanding “you”.

Top 20 chrisperruna.com Posts

• Listen to My Audio Interview
• My Interview at StockTickr
• Position Sizing and Expectancy
• The Holy Grail of Trading: It’s not your System
• How to Create a Successful Stock Watch List
• My CANSLIM Screening and Buying Strategy
• Fundamental Screens and Scans
• CAN SLIM Breakdown
• Understand the ‘M’ in CANSLIM
• Paper Trading: Nothing to Lose, Nothing to Learn
• Focus on Decisions, Not Outcomes
• Could you Trade Full Time?
• Position Size to Determine How Many Shares to Buy
• Trading Mistakes: Avoid at all Costs
• How to Calculate a Stock’s Pivot Point
• Do Not use Fundamental Analysis Alone!
• How to Short a Stock
• Learn to Focus when Investing
• Markets are not Efficient
• Point and Figure Charts

Let me know if I am missed an article that you believe should be on this list.