RMM strategy ( risk & money management )

Protection of individual positions is standard in most trading platforms with stop loss, target, trailing and so forth.
What is not discussed and used by many traders is protection of the trading account itself.
 
Why is this so important? It gives the trader a complete risk & money management profile (RMM) with both individual position protection and account protection. When many positions are opened it's hard for the trader to have control on how the trading session is actually progressing. Are we in loss or in profit totally since the session started? When should we stop trading when the market goes against us and when is it time to take profit when we are on the upside? These are questions that have to be decided upon before the trading session is in progress. A predefined RMM strategy is needed. I will make a list of the most important ones that should be considered in a RMM strategy.

1. How high of a risk of the account should we take on a single position?
It all depends on the strategy and the traders risk tolerance and the account size. 0.5%-1.5% is a good and safe choice.

2. How many positions should we have maximum opened at the same time?
This again depends on the traders risk tolerance and on the risk per position in number (1). I give an example here. Lets say you choose 1% risk per position and 3 opened positions as max. you would then loose 3% total of the trading account if the stop loss was hit on all three positions opened. So 2-4 positions max is recommended.

3. How much should we risk of the trading account during a session?
This depends on the length of the trading session and the account size. If it is on a daily based trading session 1-4% is a proper risk management loss for the day.

4. When should we decide to lock in the profit on the upside?
This can very depending on the strategy at hand. If we are having a really good trading day and the account is growing we can keep on trading. A stop loss protection of the account should be in place with the balance and equity growth. An example is in place here. If you are in 3% profit totally for the day an account stop loss should be set at around 1% profit, if the market happens to turn to the downside. Or if it is 5% profit move the account stop loss up to 3%. Having a proper account stop loss will lock in profit on the upside and secure the trading account at that level.

These are just a few suggestion of a RMM strategy. By applying them the balance and equity curve will follow each other closely. The trader will be in control of the draw downs as well as the balance growth.