2 months paternity leave plus lots of international travel. The positions didn't change significantly from what I originally listed, although they did double when I doubled my capital base. So everything has been long treasuries and short corn the whole way through with some minor AUD trades. I just deposited another $20k bringing the total deposits to $60k.
My gut feeling is diversification is better. However this topic keeps coming up so it will be the subject of a research project and a blog post, sometime in the next couple of weeks hopefully. GAT
Oh and congratulations on the new arrival. Bet you're glad to be systematic - I'd hate to be a discretionary trader with a young baby. (My youngest daughter was born in November .... 2008. Stressful times all round!) GAT
Yes. There's definitely advantages to being systematic, particularly while traveling. I had a simple cronjob running on my desktop and sending me a daily email with trades that I'd execute manually on my phone while overseas. I was amazed how well it worked.
Account is up to $43.75k, so $3.75k profit. Current positions: Code: GE DEC17 4 ZC MAR16 -4 ZT MAR16 2 Waiting on additional funds to clear. The total deposits will be $80k shortly, at which point I'll extend some of these positions. I should probably redesign my portfolio at some point soon to achieve more diversification now that I have a larger capital base. The original portfolio was designed for an account of $20k so I can likely expand into a broader range of asset classes now. I'm currently thinking about swapping out the Nikkei for the euro stoxx 50 and adding in some metals.
New high water mark. $65.27k, which consists of $60k deposits and $5.27k profit. Current positions: Code: GE DEC17 5 ZC MAR16 -6 ZT MAR16 2
I've finally got round to answering this question. http://qoppac.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/diversification-and-small-account-size.html It looks like the former (as I thought). I'd say with five positions you're probably about right for the capital you have. With $80K you can probably add a couple more instruments. GAT
Great article. Thank you! One thing worth noting is that KR3 and V2X are not available to US residents sadly. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/?f=/en/trading/eligibleProducts.php With those removed the top 6 become US2, EDOLLAR, MXP, CORN, EUROSTX, VIX