Thanks Tomasz, I will try the future approach again & compare. I did like using the margin approach, its quite simple. I had read the manual carefully and thought that using the margin setting was appropriate for CFD's. I checked thru the trade database & was happy with the position size & trade log so have continued using that method. I found that it gives me the correct position sizing as long as I set the position size correctly as it references position value not the capital outlay. CFD's seem pretty much the same at the 50% margin accounts in the US, just the margin is lower. Just reading the futures method again, this would mean for every stock I am using I would need to set the margin of -10 %, but I suppose the 'margindeposit' function is global yes? Anyway, I really didn't want to give someone the wrong advice, thanks for describing the alternatives. As an aside, then, CFD's have another feature, that interest is charge on long positions, & credited (at a lower rate of course) on short positions. Would you consider adding this function in the future. Also will the account manager be able to handle margin in the future? Cheers, Dave
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tomasz Janeczko Sent: Tuesday, 1 May 2007 11:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: Account Margin Hello, The idea behind CFD is very similar to futures, forex and other leveraged instruments. Therefore personally I would use futures mode and MarginDeposit = -10 (negative deposit represents percentage). But you are of course free to use account margin if you like it better. Best regards, Tomasz Janeczko amibroker.com ----- Original Message ----- From: David Smith <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[email protected]> ps.com Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 2:48 PM Subject: RE: [amibroker] Re: Account Margin Hi Tomasz. I am using the margin setting for CFD trading of stocks on the ASX Australian market which allow 10% margin trading. I did not mean to use it as a deposit function like futures, perhaps I have used the wrong terminology. For CFD's on 10 % margin, I can put up $1000 for a position size of $10,000. I thought that was how I should use the margin setting at 10 %, then all calls to position size have to refer to the cash*leverage. Have I used the margin function incorrectly for this? Cheers, David -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tomasz Janeczko Sent: Tuesday, 1 May 2007 10:34 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: Account Margin All these "explanations" below are wrong. When everything fails - read the manual. This "MarginRequirement" setting is the property of the BROKERAGE ACCOUNT - account margin (not position margin). It decides how much borrowed funds can be used. US regulations allow 50% margin ONLY. When account margin is set to 50% it allows position sizes of upto 200% of your cash. It does NOT involve deposits. This is for STOCKS, not for futures. This is completely different from futures-like margins and other leveraged instruments. You should read the manual about futures margins: http://www.amibroke <http://www.amibroker.com/guide/h_futbacktest.html> r.com/guide/h_futbacktest.html Best regards, Tomasz Janeczko amibroker.com ----- Original Message ----- From: David Smith <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[email protected]> ps.com Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 1:09 PM Subject: RE: [amibroker] Re: Account Margin Hi Bernard, try the following. As I understand position sizing, when you set position size it is setting the actual postion bought, so a $1000 deposit on 10 % margin will be a position size of $10000. It also depends if you meant actual risk per trade or you meant a deposit of $1000 per trade (this is also called fixed position size). For fixed position size, this is simply as follows ( I like to set everything in my code rather than using the tester). Capital = 10000; // Initial Capital $10,000 Margin = 10; // Margin 10 % CFDs // Position Sizing PercentCapitalpertrade = 10; // ie $1000 out of a $10K account PositionSize = Capital * PercentCapitalPerTrade / Margin; // Initial Trade Parameters SetOption("InitialEquity", Capital ); SetOption("MarginRequirement", Margin); // CFD trading requiring 10 % margin Alternatively you can just set PositionSize =10000; // ie $1000 deposit on 10 % margin For $1000 risk, you need to set the risk according to the stop value. Check the user manual for this full explanation of this. Positionsize = -2*BuyPrice/(StopDelta); Cheers, Dave etc.... -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of bernardedmond01 Sent: Tuesday, 1 May 2007 11:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [amibroker] Re: Account Margin David Further to my earlier post - if I can't use "positionsize = -10", how do I go about saying therefore that I have a starting equity of say, $10,000, with purchasing power of $100,000 (account margin of 10) but I only want to risk $1,000 per trade? Bernard --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:amibroker%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com, "David Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Have you overriden the margin settings in your code & set to 100, or perhaps > set PositionSize in code to a fixed value. This would cause this to occur. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:amibroker%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:amibroker%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com] On Behalf > Of bernardedmond01 > Sent: Monday, 30 April 2007 9:56 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:amibroker%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com > Subject: [amibroker] Account Margin > > > > Hi All > Why is that when I change my account margin setting (e.g. from 100 to > 10) it does not change/affect my position size? I have read through the > manual and searched on here for any clues but I can't find what I'm > doing wrong. Any ideas? > Cheers >
