your idea of a mix of several EA's is probably a good one, as that will probably reduce the overall drawdowns, wishing you luck with that ...
actually I understand far better than you: You first must understand that leverage available is not necessarily used....trading the same with an account that 1:50 vs. 1:500....if you still trade the same the only difference is the amount of capital to start...I thought that I explained this completely in the opening post...I guess I did not. I am completly out of an EA way before there is a margin call...15% intraday drawdown is ideal...but i have seen 30% which is uncomforatable for my liking. Some traders have even had the nerve to admonish me to suffer greater DD's ES
I think I get the idea now, but no, it was not clearly explained ... and it needs some further expansion to be really sure what is is you exactly mean ... it could mean several things to me ...
The EA's are always in separate accounts with their own balances. The tradesize is not dependant on the balance tied up.... ES
look... Leverage of 1:50 verses leverage of 1:500 is no different if you are trading a microlot or a minilot...simply no different. The pip value is the same... Where the problem lies is when a trader gambles by changing the WAY HE TRADES WITH TRADESIZE just because of the leverage AVAILABLE. ES P.S. you will hear from all of the novice traders "who want to sound good and post good posts" that leverage is a bad, bad thing. And you need disipline...and have a plan...bla bla bla...I was even one of those "sound good in post traders". P.P.S. TRADERS YOU NEED AN EDGE AND WHEN YOU FIND THAT THEN YOU WILL START QUESTIONING YIELD AND HOW MUCH YOU TIE UP....YOU WILL SEE...I KNOW WHICH TRADERS HAVE AN EDGE BY HOW THEY POST
if you think in fixed terms like 1 lot then you are perfectly right, but don't forget a lot of traders use a flexible approach with leverage related to their account size in other words they up their size with their account size and lower it if in a drawdown. I don't advise that but if you trade too big a leverage you might get forced to do that if your edge is not too consistent and has big drawdowns; if you do that and use too much leverage it's a killer. Some edges are hard to quantify so you can't really know in beforehand where you are going to wind up, that's why a lot of traders are really prudent about that and stress not to overleverage. you only know in hindsight what exactly your drawdown is going to be ...
I wanted to add also: edges come and go; nothing lasts forever in this game as I know too well from experience.
agreed... Know when to stop before giving it back is hard. I also am a believer in trading efficiently and correctly no matter what the account conditions may be...I measure things very differently (sometimes in PIPS rather than dollars)...I think my problem is that I just cannot find a good EA or an edge...believe me I have looked. ES
Paragraph 2 of the opening post: I have discovered that EA's are the best for me. I prefer monitoring automatic trades rather than placing them. I must multitask throughout the day and I cannot be glued to the trading charts. But one very important point I would like to make....EA's do not work always. Some of them work in trending and some of them work in chop...also ALL of them eventually stop making profit. So it is my job to try and discover WHEN to stop using them. I have not found an adaptive EA that is set and forget.