FinanceNook.com™
Your One-Stop Quality Finance Article Source 		 
Submit Your Articles On Auto-Pilot
Automatically submit your articles to thousands of publishers - save time, and get massive publicity for your website! CLICK HERE!

Properly Funding Your Trading Account

Authored By: Tony Spann

Although many will suggest that you can trade with the minimum margin requirement we do not necessarily recommend it.

Let's say that you are about to start trading an S&P 500 futures daytrading system. Let's say that the exchange minimum margin requirement is $25,000 and the system drawdown is $25,000.

Let us further assume that you want to get started using the absolute minimum account size. Since we are talking about a daytrading system, many of you may be able to trade for half of the required margin or $12,500.

The lure of starting with the smallest amount of capital possible is obvious. We feel that we are getting more bang for our buck. If the system makes $100,000 profit by the end of the year we feel great because we made 800% on our initial investment of $12,500.

If we initially funded our account with $50,000 we would have made 200% on our initial investment of $50,000. Although we made the same amount of net profit we may feel better about using the smaller amount because the return on investment is greater.

In reality trading these two examples can look quite a bit different. If we fund an account with $12,500 and immediately go into a $10,000 drawdown we will not be able to trade the system any more until sufficient funds are added.

In many cases funds are not added and the trader is left with a loss in his account and the words in his mouth, "This system doesn't work". If we initially fund our account with, say, $50,000 we can withstand a $10,000 or even a $25,000 drawdown and still have sufficient funds in the account to trade another day.

Properly funding an account is similar to using stops. We use stops because we do not know if our next trade will be a winner or loser. We properly fund an account because we don't know if a trading system will enter a drawdown period 2 days, 2 months, or 2 years from now. In both cases it makes sense to control our risk.

In some respects a trading system is similar to an automobile. It needs sufficient fuel in order to continue to move forward. If you knew exactly how much gas you needed to put in your car to make a typical 200 mile highway trip would you put only that much in? What happens to you if there is 10 miles of backed-up construction traffic and you find yourself inching along and burning more fuel than expected?

Properly funding your account puts you on the road to successful trading.

Tony Spann is a systems researcher, developer, and consultant to traders, investors, and institutions worldwide. His company, SP Strategies specializes in trading systems that help traders replace fear, greed, and losses with confidence, discipline, and profitability.==> www.spstrategies.com © SP Strategies- All Rights reserved

Article Source: http://www.FinanceNook.com
Your One-Stop Quality Finance Article Source

Home | Finance | Investing

Read Additional Related Articles from the Investing Category

Listed below are more articles related to the above article.

People interested in the above article "Properly Funding Your Trading Account" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

Read more related articles in Home | Finance | Investing
Return Home
FinanceNook.com Home
Featured Sites
Internet Marketing
Website marketing strategies and tips for promoting a business online

Small Business Marketing
How to get more customers or clients than you ever dreamed possible
Social Bookmarking
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Bookmark on Furl
Bookmark on Digg
Popular Articles
Article Listings
RSS Feeds
Article RSS Feeds

FinanceNook.com Home  |  Top of Page
Copyright © 2006 - by Larry Lim, Singapore - FinanceNook.com™: Finance Article Search Engine Directory.
All Rights Reserved. All Trademarks and Servicemarks are the property of the respective owners.

United States of America . United Kingdom . Canada . Afghanistan . Albania . Algeria . American Samoa . Andorra . Angola . Anguilla . Antarctica . Antigua & Barbuda . Argentina . Armenia . Aruba . Australia . Austria . Azerbaijan . Bahamas . Bahrain . Bangladesh . Barbados . Belarus . Belgium . Belize . Benin . Bermuda . Bhutan . Bolivia . Bosnia-Herzegovina . Botswana . Brazil . British Virgin Islands . Brunei Darrusalam. Bulgaria . Burkina Faso . Burundi . Cambodia . Cameroon . Cape Verde . Cayman Islands . Central African Republic . Chad . Chile . China . Colombia . Comoros . Congo . Congo (Dem. Rep.) . Cook Islands . Costa Rica . Côte d'Ivoire . Croatia . Cuba . Cyprus . Czech Republic . Denmark . Djibouti . Dominica . Dominican Republic . East Timor . Ecuador . Egypt . El Salvador . Equatorial Guinea . Eritrea . Estonia . Ethiopia . Falkland Islands and Dependencies . Faroe Islands . Fiji . Finland . France . French Guiana . French Polynesia . Gabon . Gambia . Georgia . Germany . Ghana . Gibraltar . Greece . Greenland . Grenada . Guadeloupe . Guam . Guatemala . Guinea . Guinea Bissau . Guyana . Haiti . Honduras . Hong Kong . Hungary . Iceland . India . Indonesia . Iran . Iraq . Ireland . Isle Of Man . Israel . Italy . Ivory Coast . Jamaica . Japan . Jordan . Kazakhstan . Kenya . Kiribati . Korea (North) . Korea (South) . Kuwait . Kyrgyzstan . Laos . Latvia . Lebanon . Lesotho . Liberia . Libya . Liechtenstein . Lithuania . Luxembourg . Macau . Macedonia . Madagascar . Malawi . Malaysia . Maldives . Mali . Malta . Marshall Islands . Martinique . Mauritania . Mauritius . Mexico . Micronesia (Federated States) . Moldova . Monaco . Mongolia . Morocco . Mozambique . Myanmar (Burma) . Namibia . Nauru . Nepal . Netherlands . Netherlands Antilles . New Caledonia . New Zealand . Nicaragua . Niger . Nigeria . Niue . Norfolk Island . Northern Mariana Islands . Norway . Oman . Pakistan . Palau . Palestine . Panama . Papua New Guinea . Paraguay . Peru . Philippines . Poland . Portugal . Puerto Rico . Qatar . Reunion . Romania . Russia . Rwanda . Sahara . Saint Helena . Saint Kitts and Nevis . Saint Lucia . Saint Pierre & Miquelon . Saint Vincent & The Grenadines . Samoa . San Marino . São Tomé & Príncipe . Saudi Arabia . Senegal . Serbia . Seychelles . Sierra Leone . Singapore . Slovakia . Slovenia . Solomon Islands . Somalia . South Africa . Spain . Sri Lanka . Sudan . Suriname . Swaziland . Sweden . Switzerland . Syria . Taiwan . Tajikistan . Tanzania . Thailand . Togo . Tongo . Trinidad & Tobago . Tunisia . Turkey . Turkmenistan . Tuvalu . Uganda . Ukraine . United Arab Emirates . Uruguay . Uzbekistan . Vanuatu . Vatican City (Holy See) . Venezuela . Vietnam . Yemen . Zaire . Zambia . Zimbabwe


Template Design by Larry Lim | Powered by Article Dashboard

Powered by Article Dashboard