LONG & SHORT POSITION TOOL📚An In-Depth Look at Using This ToolThis illustration explains the functionality of TradingView's Long/Short Position Tool and is intended to help new people looking for more information on this tool in a "novice friendly" format. TradingView’s position tool will aid you in pre-planning and pre-evaluating trades and as such should be an essential part of every trader's toolkit .
Note:
At its simplest, the position tool can quickly show you the R:R (Risk-To-Reward) of a single trade. By doing a little extra work, you’ll be able to then use this tool to properly plan for the risk of all trades you are taking compared to your total account size.
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Important terms:
Tick = A tick is a measure of the minimum upward or downward movement in price.
Trade outcome statistics = Used to track the outcome of a trade.
Example:
“Current XYZ position closed
+5.25% gain
10840 account balance after trade impact”
P&L = A representation of current Profit & Loss. Be careful where you position the tool, as the P&L is calculated based on the position of the tool.
Here are two uses for the Position Tool:
1. Only R:R = To quickly find only the R:R of a trade. This method does not bother changing account balance and such is only acceptable if you are tracking your current account balance and doing risk calculations off-platform in something such as a google spreadsheet.
2. Risk+R:R = To ensure your current trade idea meets both your R:R and max risk tolerance (risk amount; in our case, 1%). This is achieved by changing the “Account Size” option every time you are building a new position. This is the advised method to use, since like your trade journal, it’ll help keep you accurate and accountable.
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We will now explain the options contained within the tool’s input on-chart menu:
Account size = The current available balance within your account, the keyword here is available. If you are using the "Risk" option explained below then this needs to be updated upon starting to create a new trade setup.
Risk = Your max tolerable risk amount (either in absolute numbers or as a % of your account size). The default option is "absolute numbers," this uses the base currency of the on chart asset (If you were on ETHBTC, then the base currency would be BTC; for SPX500USD it is USD since this asset is displayed in its USD value). As you know, we suggest you stick to %.
Entry Price = The price you will be entering the position at.
PROFIT LEVEL:
Ticks = The tick difference from the entry price to the profit target.
Price = The take profit price.
STOP LEVEL:
Ticks = The tick difference from the entry price to the stop loss.
Price = The stop losses price.
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We will now explain all metrics being displayed on the tool while it is plotted on the chart:
Top info panel:
1. The difference in base currency (USD) from the entry price to the take profit price.
2. The difference in percentage change from the entry price to the take profit price.
3. The difference in ticks from the entry price to the take profit price.
4. The hypothetical account balance after the take profit target is achieved.
Middle info panel:
1. Simulated P&L from the entry price to where the current live price is.
(Displayed in the base currency of the on chart asset, USD in this example)
2. The quantity of the asset that should be purchased at the entry price.
This is calculated as follows: Qty = Risk / (Entry Price – Stop Price)
3. The risk to reward ratio, this is how much you could gain compared to how much you could lose.
The calculation is as follows:
Risk/Reward Ratio = ((Take profit price - Entry price) / (Entry price - Stop loss price))
Bottom info panel:
1. The base currency (USD) difference from the entry price to the stop-loss price.
2. The difference in percentage change from the entry to the stop-loss price.
3. The difference in ticks from the entry price to the stop-loss price.
4. The hypothetical account balance after the stop-loss is hit.
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Lastly, we will explain how Position Size and Account Balance are being calculated by TradingView:
Long Position Variant
Position Size:
Qty = RiskSize / (EntryPrice - StopPrice)
Account Balance when a position is closed after reaching the Take Profit level:
Amount = AccountSize + (ProfitLevel – EntryPrice) * Qty
Account Balance when position is closed after reaching the Stop Loss level:
Amount = AccountSize – (EntryPrice – StopLevel) * Qty
Short Position Variant
Position Size:
Qty = RiskSize / (StopPrice - EntryPrice)
Account Balance when a position is closed after reaching the Take Profit level:
Amount = AccountSize + (EntryPrice - ProfitLevel) * Qty
Account Balance when a position is closed after reaching the Stop Loss level:
Amount = AccountSize – (StopLevel – EntryPrice) * Qty
AccountSize:
Initial account size specified in the settings
RiskSize:
If the "Risk" option is set to "absolute numbers" = Risk
If the "Risk" option is set to "percentage of account size" = Risk / 100 * AccountSize
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Reference: www.tradingview.com
If we made any mistakes please let us know in the comments. There was a lot of formatting we needed to do to best display all of this information for you guys!
Enjoy. :)
