Friday, May 11, 2012

Fri. 5/11

1:45pm CDT - Another nice day.  This latest system (only 2 days of live trading) has 10 tick target, 30 tick stop loss and if price moves 15 ticks against position, target moves to a 5 tick loss.  No -$300 trades the past 2 days but they do happen in backtesting.  For the week, net gain of $302.

RESULTS FOR DAY
CL Contracts:10
Net $P/L:506
Wins:7
Losses:3
Win%:70
Avg$Win:96
Avg$Loss:-54

16 comments:

  1. I see plenty of mention invert risk/reward ratio but not negative target strategy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cory - can you explain "negative target strategy?" I've never heard the term.

    As far as 1:3 Reward:Risk ratio, that can work, with high enough winning percentage. As I'm sure MBA and most here know, it all come down to positive expectancy (positive trader's equation).

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. >target moves to a 5 tick loss.

    that is negative target strategy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think what's most important has already been mentioned above. If MBA's back tested method has win% is high enough, a 1:3 ratio could easily work. A 1:1 ratio may not be realistic if MBA tries for a 30 tick target.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Always a good thing to finish the week on a positive note.

    I take it the determination of risk/reward as well as where to place the negative target trigger was done via backtesting results?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for comments.
    Yes, this was backtested and I realize having more risk than reward is against what everyone preaches. But I've never been a conformist. I'm still testing various filters to improve results but don't want to over optimize either. Kevin is right, it all comes down to overall positive expectancy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1:3 80% win
    1:1 60% win
    2:1 40% win

    All have the same .2 expectancy. I think a 1:1 strategy is a little better but they should all be similar.

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Anon -

    Actually, 1:3 Reward:Risk with 80% wins yields expectancy of 0.0666. (You need 90% win rate with 1:3 to get 0.2 expectancy).

    A 1:2 Reward:Risk with 80% wins yield expectancy of 0.2.

    Your other two examples are correct.

    ReplyDelete
  10. (1*.8)+(-3*.2) = 0.8-0.6 = 0.2

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anon -
    My apologies. We are talking about 2 different expectancy calculations:

    Your method - http://www.tradermike.net/2004/05/trading_101_expectancy/
    which is also the average profit per trade.

    My method - http://unicorn.us.com/trading/expectancy.html
    which is the average net profit divided by the average loss


    I think the confusion was created by Dr. Van Tharp. In "Trade Your Way To Financial Freedon" he shows the formula you use. In a later book "Definitive Guide To Position Sizing" he says that method 2 is correct, and method 1 is incorrect.

    Dr. Tharp also states that this "error" was corrected in the Second Edition of "TYWTFF." So, the second edition of the book uses method 2.

    If anyone wants further info (it is confusing), just drop my an e-mail.

    Sorry for the confusion!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have posted Van Tharp's Expectancy explanation here:

    http://www.kjtradingsystems.com/expectancy.jpg


    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  14. ok - I havent read van Tharp. I use expectancy to mean average profit/trade. I also use a calculation similar to what you mention called profit factor or $win per $ risk. So if you risk $300 to make $100 then your PF = (100 * .8) / (300 * .2) = 80 / 60 = 1.33. The 1:1 risk example has a PF of 1.5 which is why I said it was preferable.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks guys. Everything I've ever wanted to know about expectancy calcs but was afraid to ask! LOL

    ReplyDelete