The Real Edge Isn’t Where You Think.
Most traders believe success comes from finding the perfect strategy.
The one with:
• the highest win rate
• the smoothest equity curve
• the best backtest
But after thousands of backtests and now hundreds of live trades, one thing has become clear:
The edge is rarely in the entry.
In fact, many strategies can work.
What separates profitable systematic traders from everyone else is how they build, manage and execute those strategies over time.
These are the 5 rules that actually make the difference.
This is the one most people underestimate.
You can take the exact same strategy and make a ton of money with one sizing approach and you can blow up with another.
This is why two traders using the same strategy can end up with completely different results, because risk management is the real driver of returns and survival.
Early on, I used static position sizing.
It worked… until volatility picked up.
Drawdowns got deeper. Equity became unstable.
The shift to volatility-adjusted position sizing (ATR-based) changed everything:
• more consistent risk per trade
• better control of drawdowns
• smoother equity curve
I have a whole article where I describe my position sizing in detail here:
A mediocre entry with good sizing beats a perfect entry with bad sizing.
Most traders are looking for something that doesn’t exist.
A strategy that:
• wins 70%+ of the time
• never draws down
• prints money immediately
Reality looks very different.
Most profitable strategies:
• win ~50–55% of the time
• have a modest edge per trade
• rely on repetition
For example, my own live trading:
• ~52% win rate
• 469 trades
• average holding time ~2 days
Nothing extraordinary on a per-trade basis.
But over time, it compounds.
You’re not looking for a big edge. You’re looking for a repeatable one.
Every system has drawdowns. Even good ones.
In my case, the portfolio went through a -42% drawdown.
That’s the reality of systematic trading.
And more importantly:
It’s the part most traders are not prepared for.
Drawdowns are where strategies get abandoned.
Where rules get broken.
Where good systems get labeled as “not working.”
Not because the edge is gone but because the trader can’t stick through it.
And it forced a change:
• reduce risk per trade
• improve position sizing
• think at the portfolio level
Complex strategies look great in backtests.
Until you trade them.
More parameters → more curve fitting
More filters → less robustness
Markets change. Regimes shift.
Simple strategies:
• adapt better
• generalize better
• survive longer
Most of what I trade today is built on simple ideas:
• trend
• mean reversion
• breakouts
No unnecessary complexity.
If it only works in the backtest, it doesn’t work.
A single strategy can stop working at any time.
You can reduce that risk with good design and robustness testing but you can never be 100% certain that a strategy will continue performing in the future. That’s just part of the game.
I’ve written more about this in detail, including 8 practical ways I use to avoid curve fitting and improve robustness:
When I backtest individual strategies, many of them look solid on their own.
They can be profitable and add real value but often come with long and uneven drawdowns, especially trend-following systems.
That’s where most traders struggle.
A portfolio changes that.
Instead of relying on one strategy, you combine several, allowing them to offset each other’s weaknesses.
When one system is in a drawdown, another is often performing.
The result isn’t perfect performance but a much smoother and more resilient equity curve over time.
This is the shift from:
“Does this strategy work?”
to:
“Does this portfolio hold up over time?”
One strategy can fail. A portfolio is much harder to break.
If you strip it down, profitable systematic trading comes down to this:
• Position sizing > entries
• Small edges compound
• Drawdowns are part of the process
• Simplicity wins
• Portfolios scale
Understanding these rules is one thing.
Applying them consistently is another.
Everything I share is built around these principles:
• Simple, rules-based strategies
• Proper backtesting
• Robustness testing
• Portfolio construction
Not just ideas, but systems that can actually be traded.
Premium members get:
• Full strategy code & parameters
• Access to the full strategy library
• All future strategies
Quick note:
I’m currently running a 15% discount on Premium, but it ends in 24 hours.
After that, it goes back to the full price of 399€.
If you’ve been following along and want full access to everything I build going forward, this is the best time to join.
→ Get access here:
Do you have any questions?
Drop a comment below. I read every single one, and the best discussions happen in the comments section.
If this article changed how you think about position sizing, share it with another trader. They’ll thank you later.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor and I don’t recommend you to trade my strategies. This article is for informational and educational purposes only. Trading involves risk, and you can lose money. Always do your own research.
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