Profit as a % of Bank

[walshy]

Hi,

Been trying to get a view on my progress over the past year and wondered what the experienced people out there would consider a good return on bank.

I think I remember a similar thread a couple of years ago where it was thought that a profit of 10% of bank as a daily average was considered to be reasonably good.

Just wondered whether this was still thought to be the case. I appreciate there is obviously an upper limit on this but I'm talking generally with a realistic trading bank.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[mister man]

tbh anything above -0.01%

[Sunnyclimes]

Walshy,

If you returned 3% each trading day, and compounded the interest, you would double your bank in 25 days.

Personally I think that this is an unreasonably high target. Even inexperienced people will know that the higher the potential return, the higher the risk.

Personally I could double my bank in one day but I would be taking unacceptably high risks which when replicated day after day would lead to high losses.

Therefore it is not so much about targetting a daily return, but rather it is about adopting a methodology and finding an edge which over a year will generate a profit. Once you have found that edge you then need to see if it scales up.

In other words, it does not work for me to target a return, but rather start with your methodology and then see what your return becomes.

I hope that helps.

Regards,
Sunnyclimes

[superfrank]

it kind of depends on how much of your trading bank you utilise and how often.

it can be a pretty meaningless measure.

i prefer to use other measures to monitor performance.

e.g.

(profits / (profits + losses)) * 100

to get a profits percentage (100% = no losses, 50% = breakeven).

i consider anything above 80 to be a good day/week/month and anything under 60 a bad one (horse racing).

i'm sure there are much better measures that others use.

[Euler]

Depending on your trading style it is actually possible to work out your max profit or loss. If you mess around completely at random you will break even but lose a little due to commission. Most traders end up earning relatively small % returns on total turnover.

[LeTiss]

In 2011, my average daily earnings (after all deductions, including PC) worked out at 2.86% of my BF bank

[walshy]

Thanks for the replys fellas. Its interesting seeing how other people evaluate their performance. I've been looking at it from a point of view of my bank is x amount Im averaging an x% daily return on it, but maybe thats not the best way to look at it or that that approach is mainly suited to a small bank.

I suppose there is no right or wrong way of doing it really, as its only a benchmark to judge current performance against previous. I just wondered if there was a generally agreed amount that a competent trader should achieve.

Thanks again for the replys

[rubysglory]

Hi Walshy,

For me personally I prefer to measure performance as a percentage of turnover.

This way, no matter wether you trade 1 event or 100 events per day, you can directly measure your performance on the basis of volume.


rg

[walshy]

Hi Rubysglory,

Yeah fair enough that certainly makes sense, i've had some really good suggestions here. I'll give them all a good look over the next few days.

Cheers

[andyfuller]

I have used to same bank for some time and just look at the Profit and Loss report from Betfair, I tend to use the rolling 30 days.

[Alpha322]

Depending on your trading style it is actually possible to work out your max profit or loss. If you mess around completely at random you will break even but lose a little due to commission. Most traders end up earning relatively small % returns on total turnover.

I have worked out to trade a max return of 2.4% (Pre race trades) and 1.67% per football match (Premier league when there on making a total of 4.07% as the bank growth arrives so does sweaty palms to grow with it

[walshy]

I do the same Andy, my original post was relating to whether you consider your profit as a % of the bank as an indicator of how your trading and if so what that % would be either daily weekly or monthly when your trading well.

[RentonT]

This is a really interesting subject IMO, how people measure their performance.

Ultimately profits are key because they directly relate to your Salary so to speak. Although so many factors play a part for instance, bank size, risk etc.

However I am interested in recording my % of turnover... anybody have the best way to do this please?

Thanks