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Risk-Management

filtering aggressively in high vol - survival mode not growth mode
week 2 may. VIX still elevated. aggressive filtering required. current market conditions # VIX range: 19-26 this week
first week february - choppy conditions, tighter risk
first week february done. choppy as expected. tighter risk working. week 1 february trades (feb 1-2, 5-7) # thursday 2/1: 2 trades, 1 win. +$480
first day full risk - testing my psychology
ramped to 0.5% risk thursday. first 2 days at full size. psychology test passed. wednesday 11/15 - final day 0.25% risk # trades: 2 setups, both winners
gap detection filter preventing losses
added gap detection after august 14 loss. been running it 4 days. already proving useful. the filter logic # skip trading if:
analyzed correlation between my strategies - found hidden risk
ran correlation analysis on my strategies. found something i didn’t expect. what i analyzed # all trades from may-july (3 months, 65 trades).
testing tighter stops - early results mixed
started testing tighter stop losses today. goal: reduce avg loss from $660 to $600. early results: mixed. the change # old stops: -150% of credit received
lost one, saved three - vol detection paying off
thursday was rough but could’ve been way worse. what happened # thursday 6/8: TLT put spread: -$315 (stopped during bond market dump) account: $341,720 → $341,405 lost $315 on one trade. sucks but manageable.
IB increased my margin - didn't ask for it
woke up to email from interactive brokers. “Your account has been approved for portfolio margin” didn’t apply for it. they just gave it to me. what is portfolio margin # reg-t margin (what i have now):
correlation risk - learned the hard way
lost $1,400 yesterday because i didn’t track correlation between my positions. dumb mistake. what happened # may 10, 2pm:
may day 1 - smaller position sizes
cut position sizes in half. only trading 3 strategies now. first day of may went… fine? +$180 on one trade. nothing else triggered. new risk rules # old position sizing: 2.5% risk per trade = $850 max loss (on $340k account)