Draw Down compared to Maximum Draw-down in Metals Trading

In a business in order to make profit a trader must learn how to manage the risks. To make profits in trading you need to learn about the various metals money management strategies discussed on this learn Metals guide website.

When it comes to trading, the risks to be managed are potential trading losses. Using metals trading money management guidelines will not only protect your metals account but also make you profitable in long run.

Draw-down

As traders the number one risk is known as draw-down - this is the amount of money you have lost in your metal trading account on a single metals trading transaction.

If you have $10,000 capital & you make a loss in a single trade of $500, then your drawdown is $500 divided by $10,000 which is 5% draw-down.

Maximum Draw-down

This is the total amount of money you have lost in your metal trading account before you begin making profitable trades. For examples if you have $10,000 capital & make 5 consecutive losing trades with a total of $1,500 loss before making 10 winning trade positions with a total of $4,000 profit. Then draw-down is $1,500 divided by $10,000, which is 15 % maximum draw down.

Draw-Down is $442.82 (4.4%)

Maximum Draw-Down is $1,499.39 (13.56%)

To learn how to generate the above reports using MT4 platform: Generate Reports in MT4 Guide

Metal Trading Money Management

The examples illustrated & described below shows the difference between risking a small percent of your capital compared to risking a higher percent. Good investment principles requires you as a investor not to risk more than 2% of your total account equity.

Percentage Risk Technique

2% & 10% Risk Rule

There is a big difference between risking 2% of your equity compared to risking 10% of your equity on a single transaction.

If you happened to go through a losing streak and lost only 20 trades in a row, you would have gone from beginning account balance of $50,000 to having only $6,750 left in your account if you risked 10 % on each trade. You would have lost over 87.50% of your equity.

However, if you risked only 2 % you would have still had $34,055 which is only a 32 % loss of your total equity. This is why it's best to use the 2% risk management strategy

Difference between risking 2 % & 10 % is that if you risked 2 % you would still have $34,055after 20 losing trades.

However, if you risked 10 % you would only have $32,805 after only 5 losing trades that is less than what you would have if you risked only 2 % of your trading account and lost all 20 trades.

The point is you want to setup your rules so that when you do have a loss making period, you will still have enough capital to trade next time.

If you lost 87.50% of your capital you would have to make 640 % profit to get back to breakeven.

As compared to if you lost 32 % of your capital you would have to make 47% profit to get back to breakeven. To compare it with the example 47% is much easier to break-even than 640% is.

The chart below shows what percent you would have to make to get back to break even if you were to lose a certain percentage of your capital.

Concept of Break Even

Account Equity & Break Even

At 50% draw down, one would have to earn 100 % on their invested capital - a feat accomplished by less than 5% of all traders worldwide - just to break even on an account with a 50% loss.

At 80% draw-down, one must quadruple their equity just to bring it back to its original equity. This is what is called to "break-even" i.e. Get back to your original account balance which you deposited.

The more you lose, the harder it is to make it back to your original account size.

This is the reason why you should do everything you can to PROTECT your equity. Do not accept to lose more than 2% of your equity on any 1 single transaction.

Metals money management is about only risking a small percentage of your capital in each transaction so that you can survive your losing streaks and avoid a large draw-down on your trading account.

In Metals, traders use stop loss metals orders which are put in order to minimize losses. Controlling risks it involves putting a stop loss metals order after placing an order.

Effective Risk Management in Metals Trading

Effective risk management requires controlling all risks. A trader should come up with a clear metals trading money management system and a plan. To be in Metals or any other business you must make decisions involving some risk. All factors should be measured to keep risk to a minimum and use the above tips on this article.

Ask yourself? Some Tips

1. Can the risks to your investing activities be identified, what forms do they take? & are they clearly understood & planned for? All the risks should be taken care of in your Metals plan.

2. Do you grade the risks faced by you when trading in a structured way? - Do you've a trading plan? - have you read about this course which is thoroughly covered discussed here on this Web Site.

3. Do you know the maximum potential risk of each exposure for each transaction that you place?

4. Are decisions made on the basis of reliable and timely data & based on a strategy or not? Have you read about metals systems here on this website tutorial tutorials.

5. Are the risks large in relation to the turnover of your invested capital & what impact could they have on your profits margins & your margin requirements?

6. Over what time periods do risks of your trading activities exist? - Do you hold trades long-term or short-term? what type of trader are you?

7. Are the exposures a one-off or are they recurring?

8. Do you know enough about the ways in which your Metals risks can be reduced or hedged and what it would cost if you did not include these measures to reduce potential loss, & what impact would it make to any up side of your profit?

9. Have your rules been adequately addressed, to ensure that you make and keep your profits.