Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

ariel

Position Sizing

Recommended Posts

Hello, I've been reading about the art of position sizing and many people say that is the only "holy grail" of trading.

 

I recently found the articles writed by the Dr. Van Tharp.

 

Does anyone read his books? Are they as good as I heard?

 

I specially interested in his book "The definitive guide to position sizing", I tried to download but I couldn't do it. If someone has the book in pdf, please let me know where you found it

 

Thanks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hello, I've been reading about the art of position sizing and many people say that is the only "holy grail" of trading.

 

I recently found the articles writed by the Dr. Van Tharp.

 

Does anyone read his books? Are they as good as I heard?

 

I specially interested in his book "The definitive guide to position sizing", I tried to download but I couldn't do it. If someone has the book in pdf, please let me know where you found it

 

Thanks.

 

ariel,

 

How about just buying? If it's really the "holy grail" you may regret, to be miserly about the $150...

 

Regards,

idetsc

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Ariel,

 

His books are even better than you heard.

I bought the book "The definitive guide to position sizing" directly from IITM, as soon as it was released.

If you're really interested in position sizing (and you should!), this is a MUST-READ book.

It's definitely worth the money!

 

Also his other books give refreshing insights.

 

Regards,

bmistiaen.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Greetings --

 

I have Dr Tharp's books, including "Definitive Guide to Position Sizing." I also have Ralph Vince's books. There are five of his, the most recent being "The Leverage Space Trading Model." All of these are worth reading. I have exchanged friendly and constructive correspondence with both gentlemen.

 

Both Tharp and Vince begin with the assumption that the system being traded is healthy and always remains healthy. They also both work with single backtest runs or distributions, and with single mean and standard deviations. From those initial conditions, they develop position sizing procedures.

 

I have written a book, "Modeling Trading System Performance," that extends the work of Tharp and Vince. It includes discussion of methods for determining whether a trading system is healthy or is broken, which I believe is extremely important -- perhaps most important. If a system is broken and trading continues, a loss of money will result. My book discusses specific statistical tests that can be applied to help answer that question. The confidence you have in the result depends very much on the distribution of the trades, or of the periodic changes in equity. There is a discussion of the characteristics of trading systems that lend themselves to making these tests most valuable.

 

I discuss distribution of trading results, which can be actual trades, out-of-sample test results, in-sample test results, or any distribution you want to analyze. Based on the distribution, analyze the probability of drawdown. Compare the drawdown that can be expected with your personal tolerance for risk to determine position size. Rerun the simulations with the position sizing method and parameters you have selected. Compute the distribution of annual rate of return and of drawdown and decide whether to trade the system.

 

Everything is completely explained, so you can replicate everything in the book. It is platform independent, so you can use results from any source. Microsoft Excel is used to run the simulations, and a well documented add-in is included.

 

Both Dr. Tharp and Mr. Vince have copies of my book. Mr. Vince is particularly complimentary.

 

You can learn more about the book at its website:

www dot modelingtradingsystemperformance dot com

 

Thanks for listening,

Howard

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi, idetsc, well I'm not saying this book is the holy grial I heard great things about Dr. Van Tharp's books. Buy it it's the logical answer but I should explain a little bit my situation. I from Bolivia and these kind of books are extremely hard to find, the forex or trading topics are practically inexistent so find a such advance book is really an imposible task.

 

I just came back from a long trip, I was almost a year out of my country and due to some new legislation in my country I have to get a new ID card and, of course, get another credit card to purchase these books. So I calculated that all these formalities will take me about 4 weeks ......we have a extremely bureaucratic system.......That's why I was looking for these books on internet.

 

Well I hope somebody already read the Dr. Van Tharp's books and can tell me about some sources about position sizing specially related to Dr. Van Tharp's investigation.

 

Thank you for the reply.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree with the analogy to the holy grail. The discipline of rule based position sizing is an excellent way to stay in the game, even in the face of a maximum loss. Paired with a good exit or adjustment strategy to limit a loss, trading is more like a business.

 

As I recall there is a game which let's one see the effect of position sizing. If you are handy with Excel, you can optimize on the most profitable position size which is usually more than the conventional 2% rule of thumb limit.

 

There a several pdf's available at his website.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hello, I've been reading about the art of position sizing and many people say that is the only "holy grail" of trading.

 

I recently found the articles writed by the Dr. Van Tharp.

 

Does anyone read his books? Are they as good as I heard?

 

I specially interested in his book "The definitive guide to position sizing", I tried to download but I couldn't do it. If someone has the book in pdf, please let me know where you found it

 

Thanks.

 

You don't need to buy any books to read about position sizing. There is around a lot of free material that is even better and more practica, without the hype. Some examples:

 

Position Sizing

 

http://www.priceactionlab.com/Literature/PositionSizing.pdf

 

http://www.priceactionlab.com/Literature/Kelly.pdf

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
You don't need to buy any books to read about position sizing. There is around a lot of free material that is even better and more practica, without the hype. Some examples:

 

Position Sizing

 

The Most Advanced Tool for Analyzing Price Action and Discovering Trading Systems

 

http://www.priceactionlab.com/Literature/Kelly.pdf

 

 

Yeah those resources embrace almost all important aspects of position sizing but lacks real examples. But nevertheless you can use your demo account to check the information for consistency, so to say ;). Position sizing is extremely important for Xau/Usd pair, as well as for other comdoll pairs...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Date: 22nd November 2024.   BTC flirts with $100K, Stocks higher, Eurozone PMI signals recession risk.   Asia & European Sessions:   Geopolitical risks are back in the spotlight on fears of escalation in the Ukraine-Russia after Russia reportedly used a new ICBM to retaliate against Ukraine’s use of US and UK made missiles to attack inside Russia. The markets continue to assess the election results as President-elect Trump fills in his cabinet choices, with the key Treasury Secretary spot still open. The Fed’s rate path continues to be debated with a -25 bp December cut seen as 50-50. Earnings season is coming to an end after mixed reports, though AI remains a major driver. Profit taking and rebalancing into year-end are adding to gyrations too. Wall Street rallied, led by the Dow’s 1.06% broadbased pop. The S&P500 advanced 0.53% and the NASDAQ inched up 0.03%. Asian stocks rose after  Nvidia’s rally. Nikkei added 1% to 38,415.32 after the Tokyo inflation data slowed to 2.3% in October from 2.5% in the prior month, reaching its lowest level since January. The rally was also supported by chip-related stocks tracked Nvidia. Overnight-indexed swaps indicate that it’s certain the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will cut its policy rate by 50 basis points on Nov. 27, with a 22% chance of a 75 basis points reduction. European stocks futures climbed even though German Q3 GDP growth revised down to 0.1% q/q from the 0.2% q/q reported initially. Cryptocurrency market has gained approximately $1 trillion since Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 election. Recent announcement for the SEC boosted cryptos. Chair Gary Gensler will step down on January 20, the day Trump is set to be inaugurated. Gensler has pushed for more protections for crypto investors. MicroStrategy Inc.’s plans to accelerate purchases of the token, and the debut of options on US Bitcoin ETFs also support this rally. Trump’s transition team has begun discussions on the possibility of creating a new White House position focused on digital asset policy.     Financial Markets Performance: The US Dollar recovered overnight and closed at 107.00. Bitcoin currently at 99,300,  flirting with a run toward the 100,000 level. The EURUSD drifts below 1.05, the GBPUSD dips to June’s bottom at 1.2570, while USDJPY rebounded to 154.94. The AUDNZD spiked to 2-year highs amid speculation the RBNZ will cut the official cash rate by more than 50 bps next week. Oil surged 2.12% to $70.46. Gold spiked to 2,697 after escalation alerts between Russia and Ukraine. Heightened geopolitical tensions drove investors toward safe-haven assets. Gold has surged by 30% this year. Haven demand balanced out the pressure from a strong USD following mixed US labor data. Silver rose 0.9% to 31.38, while palladium increased by 0.9% to 1,040.85 per ounce. Platinum remained unchanged. Always trade with strict risk management. Your capital is the single most important aspect of your trading business.   Please note that times displayed based on local time zone and are from time of writing this report.   Click HERE to access the full HFM Economic calendar.   Want to learn to trade and analyse the markets? Join our webinars and get analysis and trading ideas combined with better understanding of how markets work. Click HERE to register for FREE!   Click HERE to READ more Market news. Andria Pichidi HFMarkets Disclaimer: This material is provided as a general marketing communication for information purposes only and does not constitute an independent investment research. Nothing in this communication contains, or should be considered as containing, an investment advice or an investment recommendation or a solicitation for the purpose of buying or selling of any financial instrument. All information provided is gathered from reputable sources and any information containing an indication of past performance is not a guarantee or reliable indicator of future performance. Users acknowledge that any investment in FX and CFDs products is characterized by a certain degree of uncertainty and that any investment of this nature involves a high level of risk for which the users are solely responsible and liable. We assume no liability for any loss arising from any investment made based on the information provided in this communication. This communication must not be reproduced or further distributed without our prior written permission.
    • A few trending stocks at support BAM MNKD RBBN at https://stockconsultant.com/?MNKD
    • BMBL Bumble stock watch, pull back to 7.94 support area with high trade quality at https://stockconsultant.com/?BMBL
    • LUMN Lumen Technologies stock watch, pull back to 7.43 support area with bullish indicators at https://stockconsultant.com/?LUMN
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.