I don't I guess, leverage is only analyzed post mortem. My app keeps track of used margin etc. so I really just care about trade size vs size of my account, size of loss at SL, and volatility (the latter which my app doesn't auto-calc for unfortunately). I said NQ but I am on CFD based on NQ so this might not exactly be the same as on your end.
I would like to achieve semi-automation eventually (in fact I spent a few years writing trading algos before I decided I would do manual trading again). But yeah, semi-automation could pick the SL for me based on vol, and that would have been better under these circumstances.
At the very min it is an ATTEMPT at predicton....to the chagrin...of those traders who openly, and perhaps proudly, declare they are not, cannot, and do not, attempt to predict the markets. Truth be known ANYBODY who places a trade thereby taking a position isn’t doing it just for the “hell” of it but they are doing it because they “think” the market will go in their favor. Sadly, or with great happiness, trading IS an attempt at prediction. Feeble though it may be. It is extremely difficult because there are so many variables. Then there are the unknown variables. On top that there are the unknowable “potential yet to be discovered” variables. The unknowns that cannot yet be known as their existence has not yet appeared on the scene and MAY never appear. This is precisely why math cannot be the answer to trading. It can be useful..to some degree...but you cannot trust it 100% when it comes to trading because you cannot calculate what you do not know or cannot conceive, regardless of how scientific it all appears to be. APPEARS. NEVERTHELESS, fundamentals control the general direction of the market. The day to day movements are the meandering of the market as it strives to get to its destination. The tug of war so to speak between the bullish and bearsh institutions as each one fights for a piece of the pie. People like myself and Fedex we just want the crumbs that fall under the table which reside on the floor awaiting someone to pick them up. Or better yet catch them before they even hit the floor. But that entails prediction ...an estimation of where they will “likely” or “unlikely” fall off the table and in what quantity. ...."..So we are trying to “guess” or shall I clearly say we are trying to “predict” how many will fall off the table, where they will land at, and what end of the table the crumbling will take place so we can POSITION ourselves to catch the limited crumbs before the other birds ..i mean buzzards..get them....ROFLMAO
Algos, in the final analysis, are a waste of time but they can render some $$$ until they become obsolete. So...they, are useful, to some degree , until they no longer work. It is hard to code what is not yet known...but coding what IS known will render or rather MAY render some $$$ ROFLMAO.
The more winning trades you have, the smaller your problem will be. The more losing trades you have, the bigger the problem. Each trade will confirm how good, or bad, you are. That drives you nuts. Especially with lots of losing trades. So the problem is not the constant attempt of projecting predictions, the problem is the bad quality of the prediction. This should stimulate a trader to improve his predictions.
Based up the LATEST statistical algos coded below in the green space I PREDICT: ALABAMA will win the national championship jan 7, 2019. IF the unknown, yet to be discovered variables don’t throw a monkey wrench into the tool box. NEVERTHELESS, fundamentals indicate the general outcome of price...i mean the score. But it is difficult as the entire event is shrouded in a gray fog of uncertainty.........however, best estimations..i mean predictions...appear to indicate Bama will get the crumbs...