- Only use margin once you have been able to turn a string of monthly profits for 3 straight months day trading.
- Only use 10% of available margin on any one trade. So, if you have 250,000 cash or 1 million on margin, only use $100,000 per trade.
- Only hold 3 trades at-a-time. This way in the above example your maximum exposure would be $300,000 dollars or 20% above your available cash.
- Never lose more than 2% of your available cash on a trade. That would translate to a maximum loss of 2.5% on any trade.
- Never hold a position overnight. If you are day trading, then do just that – trade during the day.
- If you have a losing week, reduce the amount of margin by 25%