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Money Management Strategies for Futures Traders (Wiley Finance)

by Nauzer J. Balsara

ISBN-10: 9780471522157
ISBN-10: 0-471-52215-5
ISBN-13: 9780471522157
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-52215-7
Hardcover
1992-03-16
Wiley


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Editorials


Product Description
Distills complex theories for the benefit of the average trader with little or no background in finance or mathematics by offering a wide range of valuable, practical strategies for limiting risk, avoiding catastrophic losses and managing the futures portfolio to maximize profits. Numerous topics are explored including: why most traders lose at the futures game most of the time; why most mechanical trading systems are apt to fail; the probabilistic approach to trading; how to make stop-loss orders work for, rather than against you; the pros and cons of options versus futures trading; and how to limit risk through diversification.

Reviews


A Money Management Classic
This book was released in 1992 -- and is still as essential today to traders as it was 16 years ago. It seems like it is a secret gem of a book since there are only 2 Amazon.com reviews posted (both of which are five and four stars) in all these years.

Maybe it's time for this classic to be re-discovered by a new generation of traders and investors. Surprising to me that the book "The Trading Game - Playing by the Numbers to Make Millions" sells so many books. The gimmick title "...Make Millions..." should make you wonder if it is authentic -- get Professor Balsara's book instead and learn the true principles of managing and understanding your risk.

There is a reason Balsara's book is cited by 34 other books (most of which are written by the master traders of our time) and it is because this is the textbook that the master traders refer to to create their money management strategies. This book has the formulas and the theory you need to manate your risk and avoid the risk-of-ruin.

I found out about Balsara's book from Bennett McDowell, he recommends Balsara's book in his book "A Trader's Money Management System" and encourages his students to use Balsara's risk-of-ruin tables when designing their own personal money management system. It improves your bottom line when you calculate your current payoff ratio and win ratio and accurately determine the risk you should be taking on each trade by referring to the risk-of-ruin tables.

For some traders they should risk 2% of their trading capital on each trade. For other more experienced traders they can benefit by risking 10%. The key is to do the calculations and know where you stand at any given moment.

Do yourself a favor, buy this book or McDowell's book instead of "The Trading Game".

A Complete Insight Into Money Management Strategies for FT
While a large percentage of individuals do not achieve financial success in the futures markets, traders who do succeed possess a solid understanding of risk and exercise a disciplined program of loss containment and money management. Nazer J. Balsara's Money Management Strategies For Futures Traders provides a wealth of materials for futures and stocks traders alike. The book is a must-read and a relatively easy-read for those who wish to enhance their risk management sophistication with complex tools and who believe that the best way to survive and prosper in the markets it to contain your losses, play defensively and let profits ride.

All trading opportunities are not created equally and part of a trader's job is ferreting out the best markets to trade. The chapter on commodity selection presents four approaches to market selection, based largely on the work of J. Welles Wilder, the father of ADX (Average Directional Index Indicator) and RSI (Relative Strength Index). Here, the book is a good review of Wilder's ADX but focuses on the less-known aspect of his work: the commodity selection index. Wilder's approach uses ADX to identify futures yielding the greatest dollar-value price-moves for a given margin investment, in short, getting you in on the most appealing trades. Balsara also shows the utility of Wilder's price movement index when it is it is not possible to determine or estimate reward, thereby enhancing the analysis and return in mechanical trading systems. Sharpe ratios are also considered as a way of measuring risk-adjusted returns.

The text gives useful approaches to managing risk through stop-loss orders by laying out the usage of time stops, dollar-value stops and volatility stops. There is also a presentation on how to survive locked-limit markets by creating synthetic options positions, spreads or offsetting positions in the cash markets.

A studied read of this finance professor's work will help traders develop both the skill and the art of disciplined risk-taking.


Do not enter the futures game/war without this book!
I only wish I had utilized the statistical tools the author provides earlier in my trading career. However, I did find the book in time. Don't let the reference to statistics scare you. The author uses basic alegebra to aid you in trade selection and risk control.

This book may not guarantee you success in trading, but I do believe that if one does not apply the basic money management principles presented by Prof. Balsara, sooner or later, failure in the futures market is almost certain.

If you can't name the 5 basic steps of money management, I suggest you stop trading immediately, get this book with a couple of ticks worth of money you'll not be losing while your not trading. Read it a few times, set up your money management spreadsheet and may you trade with clarity previously unknown in your endeavors in the futures market.



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