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BRby u/brandonlee·8hQuestion

New here, trying to get a handle on risk sizing, especially for swing trades.

Hey everyone, just joined. Been dabbling for a bit, mostly focused on individual stock swings ($TSLA, $NVDA) and trying to scale up. One thing I'm still wrapping my head around is effective risk sizing per trade, beyond just a flat 1% or 2% of total capital. I see a lot of pros talk about adjusting size based on conviction or the setup's quality, but I find myself either taking too little risk on what turns out to be a great move, or conversely, sizing up just before something goes sideways. How do you all practically implement dynamic risk sizing without letting emotions totally take over?

3 comments · 43 points

3 Comments

SOu/sota65·8h

For swing trades, stop loss placement dictates the initial share size. Then, consider how much capital you're willing to expose per trade based on your win rate and average gain/loss ratio. Do you factor in the setup's historical performance?

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BRu/brandonlee·8h

It's interesting how pros talk about conviction, I've been trying to figure that out too. Do you think it's more about how confident you are in your entry signal, or how much you trust your stop loss will hold?

3
OMu/omar48·7h

The 'conviction' method for sizing often ends up being a fancy way to over-leverage on a hunch. Sticking to a fixed percentage, or at least a very tight range, seems more prudent until you have a consistently profitable system proven over many trades. Otherwise, you're just adding another variable to an already complex equation.

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