DislikedUm...do you mean net versus gross? If you only included gains without losses, that's called cheating. LIke only counting losses on your taxes but ignoring the gains, or reading a 10k and only the revenues, but not the net after expenses.
I assume the original question is for net, not gross.
Second, I stand by what I say earlier about pips not $ gains. Though others are more experienced with me.
If I make 100 pips in a mini, and you make 10 pips in a standard, 10x$10 equals 100 bucks. 100 x $1 is $100. And if you did more than one lot, you'd always win over me.
In that case, how is it a fair question? I will never make more, and I will have had to make 100 pips compared to your 10 just to keep up.
I'd love to have it made so I only need to make 10 instead of 100 pips, but isn't 100 pips the bigger number? Why doesn't the 100 win?
Should the deck be stacked against EVERYONE who is trading with lower money accounts?
If I'm trading in stocks, 10% is a loser for small accounts, and 10% is a huge winner for larger accounts. 10% doesn't cover commision sometimes. I like pips.
I stay with the original question. What is your NET pips. If everyone did my trade with however many lots, your pips would be the same, but your account will vary. And I agree with...i forget the posters name but has the Tiger Woods Avatar. You can have positive pips and negative account, but aren't you halfway there!
So Net this 24 hours, 5 pips. I shouldn't have taken an ozzie/dollar trade last night...those pairs don't move well enough for shorter plays. But I did good trading some binaries today! 180 and 300% gains. Doens't matter my $ amounts. That's per contract.5 contracts will pay more than 1 everytime, that factor skews the question.
Not all of us start with the same deposit.Ignored
What everyone is trying to point out is that the solution being outlined is just as bad as the problem. You may have made 300% today on 180 pips, but I would almost guarantee your taking on more risk then your system can support. It's all about return on risk.
What are you risking to make that return? 1% of your account? 10%? 50%? If your risking even 5% of your account, without a wicked winrate, your going to get killed long before you have a chance to accumulate enough pips to mention. There is a very simple formula that is used to compare systems, and when you understand it your returns will begin to improve dramatically.
Lets use a hypothetical trading system, with 20 pip stoplosses and 40 pip takeprofits.
Start out by defining an R variable of 1. The 20 pip stoploss is equal to R1. That 20 pips can be 1% of your $100 account, 5 contracts times 20 pips, or the GDP of china. The metric you use to define R1 is irrelivant but R is always 1.
We need another variable called P. P is the multiple of Rs we win with a winning trade. Divide the number of pips you win on your average winner by the number of pips you lose on your average loser. In this case P is 2. 20/10=2
Now whats the winrate of the system? I don't know and neither do you. The only way you can figure it out is to test the system over 100+ trades. If you haven't done that, then there is no point in talking about how good or bad a system is. Because this is hypothetical, lets say after 200 trades our winrate is 60%.
Ready for for the solution to your problem?
Multiply P by the number of winners. 120 X 2 = 240
Multiply R by the number of losers. 80 x 1= 80
Subtract your net R from your net P. 240-80= 160
Then devide that number by the number of trades in the sample to find E or the expectancy of the system. 160/200= 0.8
That number is the key. What does it represent? The expected return your system will generate over a large sample of trades. You will make $0.80 for every $1 you risk.
It doesn't matter if you have a $1m account risking 0.1% or a $100 account risking 50%, that number won't change.
The last factor you need to look at is the frequency of trades. Our sample was 200 trades, so lets multiply our E times 200. 0.8X200= 160
That is your R multiple over 200 trades. We express that as 160R. But how long did it take you to make those 200 trades? A week? A month? A year? A system that generates 160R in 1 week is 52 times more profitable then one that generates 160R over 1 year. If you don't understand why, just do the math. I highly reccommend you try plugging in different variables to see how they perform.
So if you want to ask people a relevant question that might in fact help you to gauge your progress as a trader, ask them there average R over a given time period. If they can't answer it, their opinion isn't even worth hearing because they have no idea what their doing.
Luck be with you.
Note:/ These calculations are not just for explicitly defined systems either. If your a discretionary trader you just utilize your avarages for wins and losses over all your trades. Don't let yourself off the hook because the variables are always changing.
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