A Complete Trading System covers each of the decisions required for successful
trading:
Markets - What to buy or sell
Position Sizing - How much to buy or sell
Entries - When to buy or sell
Stops - When to get out of a losing position
Exits - When to get out of a winning position
Tactics - How to buy or sell
Markets – What to buy or sell
The first decision is what to buy and sell, or essentially, what markets to trade. If you trade too few markets you greatly reduce your chances of getting aboard a trend. At the same time, you don’t want to trade Markets that have too low a trading volume, or that don’t trend well.
Position Sizing – How much to buy or sell
The decision about how much to buy or sell is absolutely fundamental, and yet is often glossed over or handled improperly by most traders. How much to buy or sell affects both diversification and money management. Diversification is an attempt to spread risk across many instruments, and to increase the opportunity for profit by increasing the opportunities for catching successful trades. Proper diversification requires making similar, if not identical bets on many different instruments. Money management is really about controlling risk by not betting so much that you run out of money before the good trends come.
How much to buy or sell is the single most important aspect of trading. Most beginning traders risk far too much on each trade, and greatly increase their chances of going bust, even if they have an otherwise valid trading style.
Entries – When to buy or sell
The decision of when to buy or sell is often called the entry decision. Automated systems generate entry signals which define the exact price and market conditions to enter the market, whether by buying or selling.
Stops – When to get out of a losing position Traders who do not cut their losses will not be successful in the long term. The most important thing about cutting your losses is to predefine the point where you will get out before you enter a position.
Exits – When to get out of a winning position Many “trading systems” that are sold as complete trading systems do not specifically address the exit of winning positions. Yet the question of when to get out of a winning position is crucial to the profitability of the system. Any trading system that does not address the exit of winning positions is not a Complete Trading System.
Tactics – How to buy or sell Once a signal has been generated, tactical considerations regarding the mechanics of execution become important. This is especially true for larger accounts, where the entry and exit of positions can result in significant adverse price movement, or market impact.
