Disliked{quote} No, my float is around breakeven....... My broker allows 50:1, so all of my positions total currently 4:1. That is how much leverage I am using to maintain my positions. The key to trading this way for me is to keep the margin man way while collecting pips for the wave motion of the market.Ignored
Thank you. If I read that question correctly, your margin percentage would be 1250%, and your broker would happily let you let him carry over 12 times the debt he is carrying now.
If your principle goes up, so does the amount he is willing to carry. On the MT-4, IBFX prints a line just below the list of Active trades.
I estimate your principle/ debt load to be well over 1000%. Others tell me not to worry until This drops down to 50%.
I suggest not waiting for this. If you see your current margin (currently at 4:1) Increasing, Look to increase the weight of the trades going in your favor: (the problem is, of course, those pesky things keep dropping out on take profit. The ones in loss do not drop out: However, they may be going in your favor by moving closer to profit.
If the profit, loss column is getting less and less negative this is the case.
I guess what I am saying is that the size of the margin ratio is not as important as the question whether it is shrinking on a month to month basis.
The fastest indicator of this is the profit/loss number (the very last number on this line).
I keep a journal in notepad on my computer. (notepad is the simplest text program offered by windows without going to the command prompt.
I sometimes get concerned about this number ( I call it debt load, because it is negative the way I operate. If that number is positive, I would start Reaping the harvest. The "lesson" I will down load next).
Then I put a separate section in my journal (separated by a line of equal signs) the looks like this.
debt load watch:
1893.55/1917.44 1912.20
the first number is the number at which I started getting concerned. After the division sign, the second number is the largest I've seen to date. After a tab (which works in notepad just like on an old typewriter except that you can't change the size) I record the number I see whenever I pass the screen. If the last two numbers agree, that is not a good sign. If the first two numbers agree, that is a very, very good sign. That is the condition I strive for.
Think of it as a race between your principle and this number. If the principle grows larger than this number does, good, good, good. If this number grows larger than the principle, bad, bad, bad. If it is bad, bad, bad, Revisit the four tools I listed in the post called "Weeding the Garden" (post number 1676) , Select a tool, and start weeding.