This article was originally published in The Option Strategist Newsletter Volume 17, No. 15 on August 15, 2008.
Trading or investing involves several facets of operation: trade analysis, money management (including trade execution and position size), and follow-up action (including exiting the trade). Most successful and experienced traders agree that trade analysis is the least important – contrary to what a novice would expect. In fact, I have seen a successful system trader state that he could turn any reasonable system into a profit through proper money management (i.e., through proper position sizing and follow-up action).
If one is too conservative, he can ruin a successful system (by stopping himself out at the tiniest hint of a loss, for example). On the other hand, if one is too aggressive – say, leveraging position size up too aggressively when profits exist, he will also fail because one small downturn will eventually be a disastrous loss.
