How to Manage Risk Easily and Effectively
An observational study of 12 million actual forex trades made in the course of one year showed that traders are right more frequently than they are wrong. They win 59 percent of the time and lose only 41 percent.
Yet most traders lose money overall.
How is that possible?
Because their losing trades are 80% larger than their winning trades.
Wow, do you realize what that means?
It means there is a simple tactic to help you and anyone else become a successful trader.
Unfortunately, there is also a desire to “outperform” this simple tactic, and it is the exact reason traders lose money.
This desire to outperform is grounded in human nature.
In other words: You are the reason you lose … I am the reason I lose … and that “day trading” neighbor down the street is the reason he loses.
We want control – it’s our nature. So we convince ourselves we can do the impossible and outmaneuver the market.
Guilty as charged.
I started winning consistently only after loosed my grip. I stepped back and accepted this core truth: You don’t need to know what is going to happen next in order to make money in the market.
Before that, I let myself get in the way of success more times than I care to remember. But I’ve been doing this for 25 years because I’ve learned valuable lessons.
The most valuable lesson you can learn is risk management.
Practice risk management on every trade. Admit you don’t know where the market is going and that your trade is merely a probability bet. Your risk tolerance is simply the amount you’re willing to pay to play.
So get yourself and your ego out of the way and implement an effective risk management strategy with this one basic rule:
Use a stop-loss with every trade. Period.
That rule is hugely effective. And I have proof. My year-to-date results are exactly opposite those from the study I mentioned at the outset.
I am wrong more frequently than I am right. But I still make money trading (about 85% ROI so far this year and 84% in 2013).
How?
Because my average winning trade is roughly 177 percent larger than my average losing trade.
Do you realize what that means?
Using a stop-loss is a simple and effective risk management tactic. Here’s a trade alert I issued on Monday that’ll show you how I implement this tactic …
Note: Adjusted EUR/USD stop-loss to break even entry this morning…per Issue #1451
We want control over our success.
We can have it, but only if we understand success isn’t determined by controlling how we win as much as it is by controlling how we lose.
Once you control how you lose, you will win.
My results this year speak volumes to that claim. And I hope they speak to you too.
As a reminder, today you’ll receive ALL of my Black Swan Forex (BSFX) trade alerts, updates and analysis.
Tomorrow, I’ll be explaining another important facet of BSFX that also contributes to the success I’ve had the last two years. It’s about making adjustments on the fly so you can maximize profits and minimize losses.
-Jack
