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Educational: The issue with high risk to reward
🔶Introduction
A high win rate—that is, the proportion of trades that result in profits—is appealing to many traders. They might believe that being lucrative requires a high win rate, or that it will increase their self-assurance and lessen their tension. A trader's performance may be negatively impacted over time if they have a high win rate, which is not a guarantee that they will be profitable. We will discuss the problem with high risk to reward and win rates in trading in this publication and why they are not the best measures of success.
🔶Risk to reward and win rate
Two ideas that are frequently used to gauge the effectiveness of a trading system or strategy are the risk to reward ratio and win rate. The risk to reward ratio calculates how much a trader is prepared to lose in exchange for a possible gain. A trader's risk to reward ratio, for instance, is 1:2 if they stake $100 in order to gain $200. The win rate calculates the percentage of trades that a trader wins out of all the trades they place. For instance, a trader's win rate is 80% if they win 80 out of every 100 trades.
🔶Inverse Relationship between Risk to Reward Ratio and Win Rate
One would believe that a successful trader should have a high win rate together with a high risk to reward ratio. This isn't always the case, though. In fact, the risk to reward ratio and win rate have an inverse connection, which means that when one goes up, the other goes down. This is due to the fact that the likelihood of achieving a reward decreases as it increases in potential, and vice versa. For example, if a trader aims for a 10:1 risk to reward ratio, they will have to find a very rare opportunity where they can risk $100 to make $1000, which is unlikely to happen often. On the other hand, if a trader aims for a 1:1 risk to reward ratio, they will have more chances of finding trades where they can risk $100 to make $100, but they will also have to win more than half of their trades to be profitable.
🔶Importance of Positive Expectation
Therefore, unless a trader also has a positive expectation, which is the average amount of money they gain or lose every deal, having a high win rate does not necessarily indicate that they are a profitable trader. The risk to reward ratio is multiplied by the win rate, and the loss rate—which equals 1 less than the win rate—is subtracted to determine the expectation. For instance, a trader's expectation is as follows if they have a 2:1 risk to reward ratio and a 60% win rate:
Expectancy = (2 x 0.6) - (1 x 0.4) = 0.8
This indicates that they profit by $0.8 every trade on average. However, if their win rate remains at 60% and their risk to reward ratio falls to 1:1, their anticipation changes to:
Expectancy = (1 x 0.6) - (1 x 0.4) = 0.2
This means that on average, they make only $0.2 per trade. As you can see, having a high win rate does not guarantee profitability, unless it is accompanied by a high enough risk to reward ratio.
🔶 The Limitations of High Risk-to-Reward Ratio and Win Rate
High win rates can also be problematic because they might make traders overconfident and complacent. They might neglect the risks and uncertainties associated with trading because they believe they have discovered a perfect technique or plan that will always work in their favor. A second possibility is that they grow emotionally attached to their winning streaks and worry about losing them, which can lead them to stray from their trading strategy or take unwarranted risks. Furthermore, a high success rate may make traders more susceptible to cognitive errors like confirmation bias and hindsight bias, which can skew their judgment.
🔶Conclusion
It may not be as desirable as it may seem to have a high risk-to-reward ratio and win rate when trading. It does not necessarily imply that a trader is successful or profitable, and it may also have some negatives that adversely impact their performance. For long-term trading success, traders should pay more attention to other elements than only these indicators, such as expectancy, consistency, risk management, and emotional control.
A high win rate—that is, the proportion of trades that result in profits—is appealing to many traders. They might believe that being lucrative requires a high win rate, or that it will increase their self-assurance and lessen their tension. A trader's performance may be negatively impacted over time if they have a high win rate, which is not a guarantee that they will be profitable. We will discuss the problem with high risk to reward and win rates in trading in this publication and why they are not the best measures of success.
🔶Risk to reward and win rate
Two ideas that are frequently used to gauge the effectiveness of a trading system or strategy are the risk to reward ratio and win rate. The risk to reward ratio calculates how much a trader is prepared to lose in exchange for a possible gain. A trader's risk to reward ratio, for instance, is 1:2 if they stake $100 in order to gain $200. The win rate calculates the percentage of trades that a trader wins out of all the trades they place. For instance, a trader's win rate is 80% if they win 80 out of every 100 trades.
🔶Inverse Relationship between Risk to Reward Ratio and Win Rate
One would believe that a successful trader should have a high win rate together with a high risk to reward ratio. This isn't always the case, though. In fact, the risk to reward ratio and win rate have an inverse connection, which means that when one goes up, the other goes down. This is due to the fact that the likelihood of achieving a reward decreases as it increases in potential, and vice versa. For example, if a trader aims for a 10:1 risk to reward ratio, they will have to find a very rare opportunity where they can risk $100 to make $1000, which is unlikely to happen often. On the other hand, if a trader aims for a 1:1 risk to reward ratio, they will have more chances of finding trades where they can risk $100 to make $100, but they will also have to win more than half of their trades to be profitable.
🔶Importance of Positive Expectation
Therefore, unless a trader also has a positive expectation, which is the average amount of money they gain or lose every deal, having a high win rate does not necessarily indicate that they are a profitable trader. The risk to reward ratio is multiplied by the win rate, and the loss rate—which equals 1 less than the win rate—is subtracted to determine the expectation. For instance, a trader's expectation is as follows if they have a 2:1 risk to reward ratio and a 60% win rate:
Expectancy = (2 x 0.6) - (1 x 0.4) = 0.8
This indicates that they profit by $0.8 every trade on average. However, if their win rate remains at 60% and their risk to reward ratio falls to 1:1, their anticipation changes to:
Expectancy = (1 x 0.6) - (1 x 0.4) = 0.2
This means that on average, they make only $0.2 per trade. As you can see, having a high win rate does not guarantee profitability, unless it is accompanied by a high enough risk to reward ratio.
🔶 The Limitations of High Risk-to-Reward Ratio and Win Rate
High win rates can also be problematic because they might make traders overconfident and complacent. They might neglect the risks and uncertainties associated with trading because they believe they have discovered a perfect technique or plan that will always work in their favor. A second possibility is that they grow emotionally attached to their winning streaks and worry about losing them, which can lead them to stray from their trading strategy or take unwarranted risks. Furthermore, a high success rate may make traders more susceptible to cognitive errors like confirmation bias and hindsight bias, which can skew their judgment.
🔶Conclusion
It may not be as desirable as it may seem to have a high risk-to-reward ratio and win rate when trading. It does not necessarily imply that a trader is successful or profitable, and it may also have some negatives that adversely impact their performance. For long-term trading success, traders should pay more attention to other elements than only these indicators, such as expectancy, consistency, risk management, and emotional control.
C Nicholas Downie
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