This Tactic Made the Difference Between $13 Million and Bankruptcy

Editor's Note: The Total Wealth Family has grown by leaps and bounds lately, which means that it's time we do something very important... go back to the basics. It doesn't matter whether you're a seasoned professional or an absolute rank beginner, reviewing the toolkit of tactics at your disposal is valuable and, more importantly, profitable. So, for the next few Fridays we're going to be reviewing the Total Wealth Tactics you'll need to maximize your wealth in today's complicated markets.

There's an old joke that's made its way around financial circles over the years. It goes something like this:

An investment banker walks into a room where his cohorts are in a meeting. "I've got good news and bad news," he announces. "The bad news is, we've just lost $100 million. The good news is, it wasn't ours." An associate raises his hand. "What was the bad news again?"

It's dark financial humor no doubt, but there's more than a grain of truth to the story. Whether we're talking about brokers, bankers, or even your most trusted financial advisor, you cannot rely on anyone else to care about your money and keep it safe.

At the end of the day, the only thing standing between your portfolio and catastrophic loss is your own caution and proper risk management.

It All Starts with Something Called Position Sizing...

I know it's not the most exciting part of investing. But there's zero doubt in my mind it is the most important.

Why?

Proper position sizing:

  1. Helps cut risk to the absolute minimum before you buy; and
  2. Can dramatically boost your profits by making sure your money is being used most efficiently.

I cannot overstate how important these two things are for the simple reason that most investors don't think about risk management until after they buy, when sadly, it's too late.

Worse, they don't understand the concept of efficiency, so they wind up investing too much in specific stocks and getting taken to the cleaners when that goes against them. Or they invest too little and get left way behind when the markets start to run.

I don't want you to make either of those mistakes.

Proper position sizing can make the difference between living out your golden years on your terms and working under the "golden arches" on somebody else's.

Consider this anecdote from trading psychologist Dr. Van Tharp:

"We've done many simulated games in which everyone gets the same trades. At the end of the simulation, 100 different people will have 100 different final equities. And after 50 trades, we've seen final equities that range from bankrupt to $13 million - yet everyone started with $100,000, and they all got the same trades. Position sizing and individual psychology were the only two factors involved - which shows just how important position sizing really is."

Here's how I recommend you start using it right now...

Position Sizing Is the Single Most Powerful Risk Management Tool of All

If you've never heard the term, don't worry. You're not alone. I've run across a lot of seasoned professionals over the last 35+ years who have a hard time explaining exactly what position sizing is, let alone why it can lead to bigger profits.

It sounds impossible, yet the concept is actually really simple.

What most investors miss is something that you will understand instinctively after reading along today - controlling the amount of money you place in each trade ahead of time can lead to bigger profits and mitigate the risk of a catastrophic loss later.

Many investors are simply amazed at the difference it makes in their results once they get used to thinking like this - large and small, beginner and expert alike.

While there are many things to like when it comes to position sizing, there are two elements I find particularly compelling:

You never have to worry about a large chunk of your capital getting vaporized; and,

You implement this risk management tool before you invest a single penny, which automatically boosts your probability of profit.

It's one of the single most important concepts any investor can learn... or relearn.

Don't Get Caught by This Beginner's Mistake

Many investors start out by swearing to themselves that they won't risk a penny more than a certain amount on any trade. That there's a line they won't cross, no matter how glittering of an opportunity they face or how caught up in the moment they are. The major problem with this is that very few investors actually see their plan the entire way through.

In theory, they apportion no more than 10% (or whatever the figure they deem appropriate) to the risky stocks that they hope will become home runs. But it's a difficult commitment to stick to at times. Many an investor has allowed himself to make an exception, just for this one stock, and gotten burned.

Other times, an investor might stay true to her commitment to never expose more than 15% of her portfolio to riskier stocks. But she puts 10% of her capital into an exciting company that's nonetheless a flash in the pan, and takes a big hit to her portfolio - despite staying true to her original risk guidelines.

The worst offenders by far though are the investors who bet the ranch on a stock, even one they've thoroughly researched, and who end up with nothing. And while that's sad to see, many millions of investors hurt themselves with minor-seeming positioning mistakes that their portfolios nonetheless take months or even years to recover from.

What these investors don't understand is the science of managing and controlling risk, and eliminating it where possible. And that brings us back to position sizing.

Position sizing is the science of cutting risk in your portfolio down to the bone. It answers the question, "How big should I make my position for any one trade?"

Many investors think they have this covered with trailing stops that take them out of an investment when some predetermined limit is hit. Usually, it's a percent loss or a dollar figure.

Position sizing is different. It's about determining how much of something you can buy for maximum profits, or even if you can afford to buy in the first place.

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Three Methods for Sizing Your Positions

The 2% Rule

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First, the simplest method - and a good rule of thumb - is to make sure you have no more than 2% of your risk capital at stake in any single recommendation. Even if you never think about position sizing again, this is a great place to start.

For an investor with $100,000, that would be buying no more than $2,000 worth of any given stock. If 100 shares cost $5,000, then either you've got to buy fewer shares or find another stock at a less expensive price.

The advantages to this model are simplicity and the fact that you can use it even with far smaller sums of money or much more expensive stocks a la Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) or even Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL), which are just a few of the big tech names we discuss frequently. The disadvantages are that there's no accommodation for different types of investments and small accounts can get overexposed if you're not careful.

The Percent Risk Model

Second, other traders prefer the "percent risk" model. This means they are taking positions and using the overall change in value as a function of the risk they can withstand.

With only three variables, the "percent risk position sizing" formula is clear and concise. Best of all, it serves as a great indicator for the appropriate amount of risk for you to take on... whether you're a seasoned and successful investor, or someone who's just getting started.

Here's the formula:

Dollar Risk Size ÷ (Buy Price - Stop Price) = Number of Shares to Buy

So, for example, let's say you want to buy a $20 stock with an $18 stop loss, and the maximum amount you've resolved to risk is $2,000. The formula suggests you buy 1,000 shares.

$2,000 ÷ ($20 - $18) = 1,000

This model is great for long-term investors and trend followers, in particular. That's because it regards the risks associated with each trade equally.

Volatility-Adjusted Position Sizing

Third, another way to do it is to adjust risk according to volatility.

This gets a little more sophisticated, but here's the formula:

(CE * %PE) / SV = Position Size

  • CE is the current portfolio size.
  • %PE is the percentage of portfolio equity that a trader is prepared to risk per trade.
  • SV is volatility over some predetermined range, like the preceding 10 trading days, for instance.

If a trader with a $100,000 portfolio is prepared to risk 2% of total equity and the volatility is $1.50 over the past 10 days, the result is 1,333 shares initially. However, as volatility drops, a trader using this model would add to his position. As volatility rises, he would cut back. In other words, you can't just set it and forget it with this method.

The percent volatility model is fabulous for those who like tight stops because it can provide a flexible balance between opportunity and the risk needed to capture it. It's also adjustable.

Obviously, we've just scratched the surface. There are literally thousands of position sizing models you can choose from that accommodate everything from liquidity to personal risk tolerances, currencies, expectancy, and more.

At the end of the day, though, none of that matters.

What I want you to understand today is that you can make position sizing as complicated as you want or as simple as you need.

My preference is for "simple" every time, for one simple reason... you never want to play the game - meaning mess with the markets - if you don't have the cash to back it up.

Understanding position sizing puts you and your money miles ahead of other investors who spend their time wondering what to buy while ignoring the critical question of how much.

Must See: What do billionaires Peter Lynch, President Trump, and a retired cop from Northridge have in common? They've all benefited enormously from a curious Great Depression-era "program." And even though most have no idea this exists, it could be worth $68,870 or more to the average American. Continue reading

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About the Author

Keith is a seasoned market analyst and professional trader with more than 37 years of global experience. He is one of very few experts to correctly see both the dot.bomb crisis and the ongoing financial crisis coming ahead of time - and one of even fewer to help millions of investors around the world successfully navigate them both. Forbes hailed him as a "Market Visionary." He is a regular on FOX Business News and Yahoo! Finance, and his observations have been featured in Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, and MarketWatch. Keith previously led The Money Map Report, Money Map's flagship newsletter, as Chief Investment Strategist, from 20007 to 2020. Keith holds a BS in management and finance from Skidmore College and an MS in international finance (with a focus on Japanese business science) from Chaminade University. He regularly travels the world in search of investment opportunities others don't yet see or understand.

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