Scaling into trades and position sizing
Hey all, been trying to get a handle on risk management and one thing I'm struggling with is scaling into positions. I get the concept of adding to a winner or averaging down cautiously, but how do you guys really define your initial position size when you plan to scale?
Let's say I'm looking at $TSLA, expecting a bounce off a key support, but also aware of downside risk to the next level. If I want to end up with X shares total, do I start with 25% of X, then add another 25% if it confirms, leaving 50% for a deeper dip? Or is it more dynamic, based on price action after the first entry? My main concern is balancing capital utilization with not overexposing myself too early.
Specifically, what's your go-to strategy for an initial entry percentage when you fully intend to scale in multiple times? And how do you keep your overall risk, per trade, consistent across these scaling entries without it ballooning?
For scaling, I often work backward from my full intended position size and then determine my initial entry as a fraction of that, based on where my first stop loss would be. This allows me to define risk for the total trade even before the full position is built.