New here, quick question on position sizing for new strategies

asked by u/anjali29 · 5d · 2 answers

Hey everyone, just joined the forum. Been trading for a few years, mostly focusing on equities, but I'm trying to diversify into FX and commodities. I'm struggling a bit with how to appropriately size positions when I'm still in the learning phase of a new market or strategy. I get the whole 'risk 1-2% per trade' thing, but when you're still figuring out your edge and your win rate is all over the place, it feels like that standard 1-2% can still lead to a pretty fast drawdown if you hit a string of losers while learning. Do you guys scale back your risk significantly more when you're testing new waters, like down to 0.25% or even less, until you have some actual performance data to go on?

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Top answers

  • u/fokafor· 1 pts· 5d

    It's a common dilemma. While 1-2% is standard, for new strategies or markets, I've found it helpful to start even smaller, maybe 0.5% or less, until I have a statistically significant sample of trades to evaluate. This allows for learning without the pressure of significant capital at risk.

  • u/ishaan59· -2 pts· 5d

    For new strategies, I typically start with a much smaller risk percentage, like 0.25% or even 0.1%, until I have at least 50-100 trades to establish a clearer picture of the win rate and average R. Scaling up too fast on something unproven is a good way to blow up an account.

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