Tag: position sizing

  • Swing Trading in a Volatile Market: How to Navigate the Uncertainty

    Swing trading is a popular investment strategy that involves holding a stock or other security for a short period of time, usually a few days to a few weeks, in the hopes of profiting from short-term price movements. However, when markets are volatile, it can be difficult to navigate the uncertainty and make informed trading decisions. In this blog post, we will discuss strategies for swing trading in a volatile market.

    Use technical analysis
    Technical analysis is the study of past market data to identify patterns and trends that can be used to make trading decisions. It is an essential tool for swing traders, as it can help you identify entry and exit points, as well as potential areas of support and resistance. In a volatile market, it is important to pay attention to indicators such as moving averages, relative strength index (RSI), and Bollinger Bands, which can help you identify potential trend changes.

    Keep an eye on the news
    In a volatile market, keeping an eye on the news is especially important. Economic news, such as interest rate decisions and GDP reports, can have a big impact on the markets. Additionally, company-specific news, such as earnings reports and management changes, can also affect the price of a stock. By staying informed and aware of the latest developments, you can make more informed trading decisions.

    Use stop-loss orders
    Stop-loss orders are an important risk management tool for swing traders. They allow you to set a specific price at which your position will be closed, in order to limit your potential losses. In a volatile market, it is especially important to use stop-loss orders, as they can help you protect your capital.

    Be flexible
    In a volatile market, it is important to be flexible and adapt to changing conditions. This means being willing to change your trading plan as necessary, and being open to new ideas and strategies. Additionally, it is important to be willing to take profits when they are available, rather than holding on to a position in the hopes of making more money.

    Stay disciplined
    Finally, it is important to stay disciplined and stick to your trading plan in a volatile market. It can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of a market swing and make impulsive decisions. By staying disciplined and sticking to your plan, you can avoid making mistakes and increase your chances of success.

    In conclusion, swing trading in a volatile market can be a challenging task. However, by using technical analysis, keeping an eye on the news, using stop-loss orders, being flexible, and staying disciplined, you can navigate the uncertainty and increase your chances of success as a swing trader. Remember, the key is to always have a plan in place before entering a trade and stick to it even in the most volatile conditions.

  • 5 Essential Things That Every Swing Trader Should Do

    What is Swing Trading?
    Swing trading is a popular way to invest. It involves holding a stock or other security for a short time, usually a few days to a few weeks, in the hopes of making money from short-term price changes. Swing trading is a good way to make money, but it also has its own challenges and risks. To be a successful swing trader, you need to know a lot about the markets and have a clear plan.

    In this blog post, we’ll talk about the five most important strategies for swing trading.

    Have a trading plan that is clear
    As a swing trader, having a clear plan for how to trade is one of the most important things you can do. This plan should include where you will enter and leave the market, as well as how you will handle risks. Your trading plan should also include the tools and indicators you will use to make decisions. Having a clear plan will help you stay focused and follow through, and it will also keep you from making decisions on the spot.

    Make use of technical analysis
    Technical analysis is the study of past market data to find patterns and trends that can be used to make trading decisions. It is an important tool for swing traders because it can help you find entry and exit points as well as possible areas of support and resistance. For technical analysis, you can use many different tools and indicators, such as moving averages, the relative strength index (RSI), and Bollinger Bands.

    Check out the news
    Keep an eye on the news is another important tip for swing trading. This includes both news about the economy, like decisions about interest rates and GDP reports, and news about a specific company, like earnings reports and changes in management. The news can have a big effect on the markets, and knowing what’s going on can help you make better trading choices.

    Care for your risks
    Managing risk is an important part of swing trading. Because you only have a stock or other investment for a short time, you are more likely to lose money. To avoid this risk as much as possible, you should know how much you can lose and use stop-loss orders to protect yourself. Also, it’s important not to trade too much and to keep the size of your positions at a level you’re comfortable with.

    Stay patient
    Lastly, one of the most important things you can do to make money swing trading is to wait. It’s important not to make decisions on the spot and to wait for the best times to enter and leave the market. Also, it’s important not to trade too much because doing so can cause you to lose money you don’t need to. As a swing trader, you can increase your chances of success by being patient and following rules.

    In conclusion, swing trading can be a great way to make money, but it also has its own challenges and risks. To be a successful swing trader, you need a clear trading plan, to use technical analysis, to keep up with the news, to manage your risk, and to be patient. By using these five tips, you can improve your chances of success and make more money swing trading.

  • The five best ways to manage risk and protect your capital when intraday trading

    Intraday trading, also known as day trading, is a popular trading strategy that involves buying and selling securities within the same day. While this type of trading can be a lucrative way to make money, it also comes with a certain amount of risk. In this article, we will take a look at the five best ways to manage risk and protect your capital when intraday trading.

    Use stop-loss orders: A stop-loss order is an order to sell a security if it falls to a certain price. This can be a useful tool for intraday traders because it allows them to limit their potential losses on a trade. For example, if you buy a stock for Rs 50 and place a stop-loss order at Rs 48, the stock will be sold automatically if it falls to Rs 48, preventing you from losing any more money on the trade.

    Trade with a plan: Before you enter any trade, it’s important to have a plan in place. This means knowing exactly why you are buying or selling a particular security and what your exit strategy will be. This can help you stay focused and disciplined during the trade, which can in turn help you manage your risk.

    Use risk-management techniques: There are several techniques that you can use to manage your risk when intraday trading. One of the most popular is called the “1% rule,” which states that you should never risk more than 1% of your capital on any single trade. This can help you avoid taking on too much risk and protect your capital.

    Diversify your portfolio: Diversification is a key principle of risk management. By investing in a variety of different securities, you can reduce the overall risk of your portfolio. This means that if one of your trades goes bad, it won’t have a major impact on your overall performance.

    Keep a trading journal: A trading journal is a record of your trades, including the reasons why you made them and how they turned out. This can be a valuable tool for intraday traders because it allows them to track their performance and identify areas where they can improve. By regularly reviewing your trading journal, you can gain a better understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses as a trader and make more informed decisions in the future.

    In conclusion, intraday trading can be a profitable way to make money, but it also comes with a certain amount of risk. By using stop-loss orders, trading with a plan, using risk-management techniques, diversifying your portfolio, and keeping a trading journal, you can manage your risk and protect your capital when intraday trading.

  • The Art Of Placing The Perfect Stoploss

    Stop loss is like a gauge that tells you how much you could lose on a trade. It’s important to set your stop loss ahead of time so you can be ready if a trade goes in a different direction. A stop-loss order is used to cut down on the loss if the price of a stock doesn’t move as expected and makes the traders lose money.

    A day trader sets her stop loss level before she makes her trade. When the cost hits the predetermined stop loss level, the trade ends automatically. The trader can keep the rest of the money she has put in. One can start making a plan for getting the lost money back. By putting in a stop-loss order, a losing trade doesn’t lose any more money.

    How does Stop Loss work?

    Let’s look at an example to see how a stop loss would show up on a trade. You must now decide where to put your stop loss. For example, if you want to buy a stock that is selling for 105 right now, you must decide where to put your stop loss. Keeping the stop loss below 100, at 99, is a great goal. This means you are willing to lose Rs 6 on this particular trade.

    You should also set your target at 1.5 times the percentage of the stop loss. In this case, the stop loss was set at Rs 6, which you were willing to lose. So, you should try to get at least 9 points, which would bring you to 105 + 9 = 114.

    Where should your stop loss be?

    Most new traders have a hard time figuring out where to put their stop loss settings. If the stop loss level is set too high and the stock moves against you, you could lose a lot of money. Instead, traders who put their stop loss level too close to the purchase price lose money because their trades are closed out too quickly.

    There are different ways to figure out how much each trade’s stop loss should be. From these strategies, you can figure out three ways to choose where to put your stop loss:

    How does Stop Loss work?

    Intraday traders often use the percentage method to figure out where their stop losses are. With the percentage approach, all a trader has to do is say what percentage of the stock price they are willing to lose before they close the position.

    Think about the case where you don’t mind if your stock loses 10% of its value before you sell it. And let’s say that one share of your stock is currently worth 50 cents. So, your stop loss would be Rs 60 x 10%, or Rs 6, less than what the stock is worth on the market right now.

    Determine Stop Loss Using the Method of Support

    Using the support method to figure out stop loss is a little harder for intraday traders than using the percentage method. But it is often used by intraday traders who know what they are doing. For this strategy to work, you need to know what your stock’s last support level was.

    Zones of support and resistance are places where the stock price often stops going up or down. Once you’ve found the support level, you only need to set your stop loss price point below that level. Let’s say you own stock that is now selling for Rs 500 per share, and the most recent support level you can find is Rs 490. It is recommended that you put your stop loss just under 490.

    Most of the time, the levels of support and resistance are not exact. Before quitting a trade, it’s smart to give your stock a chance to fall and then bounce back from the support level. Set the bar just a little bit below the support level to give your stock some room to move before you decide to close the deal.

    Using the Moving Averages Method to Figure Out the Stop Loss

    Compared to the support method, the moving average method makes it easier for intraday traders to decide where to put their stop loss. A moving average has to be put on the stock chart first. A longer-term moving average is better because it keeps you from putting your stop loss too close to the stock price and getting out of your trade too soon. Once you’ve put in the moving average, set your stop loss a little below it so it has more room to move in either direction.

  • The Basic Rules Of Position Sizing

    The Basic Rules Of Position Sizing
    Most successful traders, whether they trade the forex, index, equity, or commodities markets, vouch for the relevance of position sizing in their performance.

    And why shouldn’t they? Without proper position sizing strategies, you could be putting a large portion of your trading capital in danger. Finally, the higher the risk you incur in each trade, the more likely it is that your trading account will be closed.

    While it is true that the trade might sometimes provide the much-desired large win, most skilled traders will tell you that it is advisable to limit your position size rather than raise your risk needlessly.

    Before you secure your trades with position sizing rules, ensure that you use the best broker for trading with the lowest brokerage on offer. Zebu empowers your online stock trading journey with a state-of-the-art trading platform as well.

    Let’s take a look at what position sizing is and why it’s so important, as well as the best position sizing tactics you’ll need to learn in order to enhance your trading.

    What exactly is position sizing?

    Setting the correct transaction size to buy or sell a certain instrument, or determining the Rupees amount that a trader will use to start a new trade, is the most basic definition of position sizing.

    It may appear easy, but it can be rather complex. Before you enter a trade, you should understand how much risk you are incurring and how it will affect your trading account.

    Furthermore, traders must regularly review their positions to ensure that everything is under control. Keep in mind that markets move swiftly! Furthermore, traders must keep margin requirements and margin stop out levels in mind.

    What is the significance of position sizing?

    As you can expect, opening positions with arbitrary position sizes or based on gut instinct will result in disaster. Position sizing is concerned with avoiding excessive losses. If you have a good risk management strategy and stick to it, you are unlikely to lose a large amount of your cash on a single trade. It will also provide you with an opportunity to retain your focus on your account as a whole and all your open positions. It is especially common for short-term traders who must react rapidly to new developments to lose oversight and forget how much risk they already have running before opening fresh positions. This is why it is so important: a successful trader is also a good risk manager.

    However, position sizing is about more than just avoiding excessive losses. It also provides you with the opportunity to improve your performance. A risk-averse trader who is only ready to risk a small fraction of his capital must realise that he will never generate significant returns. As you can see, position sizing is all about striking the appropriate balance – allowing yourself to maximise profits while avoiding excessive losses.

    Proper position sizing along with profit-taking tactics can assist traders in developing the optimal strategy for entering and leaving all trades.

    How do you calculate the size of your position?
    Let’s have a look at a handful of popular position sizing approaches you can use to improve your trading and make better use of position size.

    Position sizing strategies that work well

    1. Fixed rupee value

    The simplest method to include position sizing into your trading strategy is to use a fixed Rupees amount. This may be especially useful for those who are new to trading or have a little quantity of capital. All you have to do is set aside a certain amount of money for each trade you make.

    For example, if you have Rs 10,000 in trading capital, you could want to set aside Rs 1,000 for each trade. That is, instead of investing the entire cash into one deal, you can divide it into ten.

    This instantly reduces the amount of risk you take with each trade. It will also aid in the preservation of your capital if the first few deals you make turn out to be losses.

    2. Fixed percentage

    The most often utilised position sizing approach by traders is a fixed percentage risk each trade. On each trade, you put a small portion of your total cash at risk.

    Depending on the financial asset you’re trading — for example, equity, metals, oil, or indices – most successful traders would agree that a 1 – 2 percent per trade risk is a decent starting point.

    If you employ the set % risk per trade strategy with a Rs 10,000 trading capital, you should only risk Rs 100 – Rs 200 per trade.

    The beautiful thing about this method is that it forces you to focus on the percentage risk rather than the monetary value. Then, as your capital rises from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000, your 1% risk every trade rises from Rs 100 to Rs 200. Similarly, if your capital falls, you still risk 1%, but it will be a smaller Rupees amount.

    If you don’t, you’ll quickly discover that the large risks you incur in each trade will quickly deplete your trading cash.

    3. Use of leverage

    While leverage is one of the primary draws for traders to the equity, index, and commodities markets, we all know that leverage can be a double-edged sword. It has the ability to amplify both successes and defeats.

    Many trading platforms give leverage ranging from 3:1, 5:1, 10:1, or even 20:1.

    However, when it comes to leverage, keep in mind that you do not have to employ the utmost level of leverage. Just because it’s on sale doesn’t mean you have to take advantage of it.

    It is preferable to utilise less leverage to ensure that you are limiting your risk exposure.

    If you use too much leverage, you increase your chances of experiencing a capital loss or a margin call if a trade goes against you.

    4. Kelly’s Criterion

    Let’s have a look at the Kelly Criterion formula:


    W − [(1-W)/R] = Kelly %


    It computes the percentage of your account you should put at risk (K per cent). It is equal to your trading strategy’s historical win % minus the inverse of the strategy win ratio divided by your profit/loss ratio.

    The proportion you receive from that equation represents the stance you should take. For example, if you get 0.05, you should risk 5% of your capital per trade.

    These are 4 of the very basic position sizing rules and points to keep in mind while trading. In a world where trading is one of the riskiest businesses to be in, following the rules of position sizing can drastically improve your risk management.

    As we mentioned before, we at Zebu offer the lowest brokeragefor trading and, as a result, have emerged at as one of the best brokers for trading. Take your online stock trading to the next level with us – please get in touch with us to know more.