position-sizing

Position Sizing

Position sizing is the single most important risk management decision in trading. Your entry signal determines direction; your position size determines survival. A mediocre strategy with proper sizing will outperform a great strategy with reckless sizing over any meaningful time horizon.

Core principle: Size determines survival, not entries. Two traders with the same signals but different sizing will have wildly different outcomes. The one who sizes conservatively survives drawdowns and compounds capital; the one who oversizes blows up.

Methods Covered

Method	Best For	Key Input
Fixed Fractional	General trading, most recommended	Account risk %
Volatility-Adjusted	Volatile markets, multi-asset	ATR or realized vol
Kelly Criterion	Quantified edge with track record	Win rate + payoff ratio
Liquidity-Constrained	Low-liquidity Solana tokens	Pool depth
Anti-Martingale	Trend-following strategies	Recent P&L streak

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1. Fixed Fractional Sizing

The most recommended method for most traders. Risk a fixed percentage of your account on each trade.

Formula

risk_amount = account_value * risk_percentage
price_risk_per_unit = entry_price - stop_loss_price
position_size_units = risk_amount / price_risk_per_unit
position_value = position_size_units * entry_price

Risk Tiers

Tier	Risk Per Trade	Use Case
Conservative	0.5–1%	New strategies, drawdown recovery
Standard	1–2%	Most traders, proven strategies
Aggressive	3–5%	High-conviction setups with strong, measured edge

Example

account = 10_000  # $10,000 or 100 SOL
risk_pct = 0.02   # 2%
entry = 1.50
stop_loss = 1.30

risk_amount = account * risk_pct          # $200
price_risk = entry - stop_loss            # $0.20
position_units = risk_amount / price_risk # 1,000 tokens
position_value = position_units * entry   # $1,500

With this sizing, if the stop loss is hit, you lose exactly 2% of your account regardless of the token's price or volatility.

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2. Volatility-Adjusted Sizing

Scale position size inversely with volatility. When volatility is high, take smaller positions; when low, take larger positions. This normalizes the dollar risk across different market conditions.

Formula

adjusted_size = base_size * (target_vol / current_vol)

Where:

• target_vol: your desired daily portfolio volatility (e.g., 2%)
• current_vol: the token's current daily volatility (from ATR or realized vol)

Using ATR

atr_14 = 0.12          # 14-period ATR
close_price = 1.50
daily_vol_pct = atr_14 / close_price  # 8%

target_daily_vol = account * 0.02      # $200 target daily move
position_size = target_daily_vol / atr_14  # 1,667 units

This automatically reduces exposure in volatile markets and increases it in calm ones.

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3. Kelly Criterion

The mathematically optimal fraction of capital to risk, maximizing long-term growth rate. Derived from maximizing expected logarithmic utility.

Formula

f* = (p * b - q) / b

Where:

• p = win rate (probability of winning trade)
• q = 1 - p (probability of losing trade)
• b = average win / average loss (payoff ratio)
• f* = optimal fraction of capital to risk

Equivalent form: f* = (p * (b + 1) - 1) / b

Critical Rule: NEVER Use Full Kelly

Full Kelly assumes perfect knowledge of your edge. In practice, edge estimates are noisy. Always use fractional Kelly:

Fraction	Use Case	Notes
0.25x Kelly	Conservative, recommended default	Robust to edge estimation error
0.50x Kelly	Moderate, for well-measured edges	Still significant drawdown risk
1.0x Kelly	Never in practice	Theoretical maximum, catastrophic if edge is overestimated

Example

win_rate = 0.55       # 55% win rate
avg_win = 2.0         # Average win is 2x the average loss
avg_loss = 1.0
payoff_ratio = avg_win / avg_loss  # b = 2.0

kelly = (win_rate * payoff_ratio - (1 - win_rate)) / payoff_ratio
# kelly = (0.55 * 2.0 - 0.45) / 2.0 = 0.325 = 32.5%

quarter_kelly = kelly * 0.25  # 8.1% — use this
half_kelly = kelly * 0.50     # 16.25%

If Kelly is negative, you have no edge. Do not trade.

See references/sizing_formulas.md for the full mathematical derivation.

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4. Liquidity-Constrained Sizing

Critical for Solana tokens. Even if your risk model says you can take a large position, the pool may not support it without unacceptable slippage.

Formula (Constant-Product AMM)

slippage ≈ trade_size / pool_liquidity
max_trade = pool_liquidity * max_slippage_pct

Rules of Thumb

Constraint	Guideline
Max single trade	2% of pool liquidity
Max position	5% of pool liquidity
Minimum pool depth	10x your desired position size

Example

pool_sol = 500          # 500 SOL in pool
max_slippage = 0.02     # 2% max slippage

max_trade_sol = pool_sol * max_slippage  # 10 SOL
# For a $150 SOL price, that's $1,500 max per trade

Always check all pools, not just the largest. Aggregate liquidity across Raydium, Orca, and Meteora for the full picture. See the liquidity-analysis skill for pool depth assessment.

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5. Anti-Martingale Sizing

Increase size after wins, decrease after losses. This is the opposite of the gambler's fallacy (Martingale). The logic: winning streaks may indicate your strategy is in sync with the market; losing streaks may indicate regime change.

Implementation

def anti_martingale_size(
    base_size: float,
    consecutive_wins: int,
    consecutive_losses: int,
    scale_factor: float = 0.25,
    max_multiplier: float = 2.0,
    min_multiplier: float = 0.5,
) -> float:
    if consecutive_losses > 0:
        multiplier = max(min_multiplier, 1.0 - consecutive_losses * scale_factor)
    elif consecutive_wins > 0:
        multiplier = min(max_multiplier, 1.0 + consecutive_wins * scale_factor)
    else:
        multiplier = 1.0
    return base_size * multiplier

Use conservatively. After 3+ consecutive losses, reducing size by 50% protects capital during drawdowns.

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Position Sizing Ladder

Combine all methods and take the most conservative result:

1. Calculate Kelly size          → theoretical max based on edge
2. Calculate fixed fractional    → risk-based size
3. Calculate volatility-adjusted → vol-normalized size
4. Calculate liquidity-constrained max → market-based ceiling
5. Final size = min(all four)    → binding constraint wins

The binding constraint tells you what is limiting your size:

• Kelly-bound: your edge is small, size accordingly
• Risk-bound: standard risk management is the limit
• Volatility-bound: market is too volatile for larger size
• Liquidity-bound: pool cannot absorb more without slippage

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Account-Level Limits

Individual position sizing is necessary but not sufficient. You also need portfolio-level constraints:

Limit	Guideline	Rationale
Max single position	10% of portfolio	Diversification floor
Max correlated exposure	25% of portfolio	Correlated assets move together
Max total exposure	50–80% of portfolio	Cash reserve for opportunities/margin
Max positions	5–10 concurrent	Attention and management bandwidth

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PumpFun / Meme Token Sizing

PumpFun and early-stage meme tokens require special sizing discipline:

• Very small positions: 0.1–1 SOL per trade due to extreme risk
• Scale with bonding curve fill %: smaller when early (high rug risk), slightly larger when proven (graduated to Raydium)
• Never size based on expected return — size based on acceptable total loss
• Treat as lottery tickets: expect most to go to zero
• Position limit: no more than 5–10% of portfolio across all meme positions combined

# PumpFun sizing example
account_sol = 100
meme_budget = account_sol * 0.05   # 5 SOL total for memes
per_trade = meme_budget / 10       # 0.5 SOL each, 10 shots

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Integration with Other Skills

Skill	Integration
risk-management	Portfolio-level limits, drawdown rules
liquidity-analysis	Pool depth data for liquidity constraints
kelly-criterion	Deeper Kelly math, edge estimation
exit-strategies	Stop loss placement affects fixed fractional sizing
volatility-modeling	Better vol estimates for volatility-adjusted sizing
slippage-modeling	Precise slippage estimates for liquidity constraints

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Files

References

• references/sizing_formulas.md — Mathematical derivations for all sizing methods with worked examples
• references/practical_guide.md — Sizing by account size, token type, and common mistakes

Scripts

• scripts/size_calculator.py — Calculates position size using all methods, shows binding constraint
• scripts/portfolio_sizer.py — Portfolio risk dashboard with per-position risk and available budget

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Quick Reference

# Minimal fixed fractional sizing — copy-paste starter
def calc_position_size(
    account: float, risk_pct: float, entry: float, stop: float
) -> float:
    """Return number of units to buy."""
    risk_amount = account * risk_pct
    price_risk = abs(entry - stop)
    if price_risk == 0:
        return 0.0
    return risk_amount / price_risk