For the
first time since 2002, Dr. Tharp has updated his Position SizingTM
Game!
Download
Levels 1-3 for Free
What's
New?
New
Screen Designs: The
game’s new “look and feel” makes it simpler to play, easier to
understand, and more like what you are used to seeing when you trade.
Realistic
Mode: Play
the game at whole new level -
in realistic mode. Slippage,
commissions, taxes, and trader mistakes eat into your equity - just
like real trading.
Track
Drawdowns “Playing” Your Own System: “Play” your
own trading system in simulation mode and the game tracks the
drawdowns for you. Get
some idea what your system’s drawdowns feel like, how deep they
might get, and how long they might last.
Easy to
Read Instructions and Help Section: The easy to read
instructions and extensive guide help new players learn the game
faster and provide some position sizing ideas.
Works on
New PCs:
Play the game on any Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC (or on a Mac
operating in Windows mode). Also this version still works great
in XP.
Hands
Free Updates:
The game now automatically checks for software updates so you will
always run the most updated code for the version available.
The
feedback on all of the improvements from our beta testers has been
glowing. We took a lot of time to make the game an excellent
teaching tool as well as a fun activity. Based on the initial
feedback, it looks like ”Job Done”.
What's
the Game About?
While
people always look for "real" secrets of top traders, they
tend to look in all the wrong places and at all the wrong things.
To so many traders, success seems to come from finding the ultimate
stock picking methods or a magical trading system with 80%+ winning
trades. Let me be clear about what my research has proven to me:
Picking
the right stocks has nothing to do with trading success and neither do
amazing trading systems with high percentage wins.
How then do
you become a master trader? The Market Wizards agree that
there are three keys to trading success:
(1) Follow
the golden rule of trading—cut your losses short and let your
profits run.
(2) Master
the part of your trading that tells you how much.
(3) Develop
the discipline to follow both of those elements.
The
Position Sizing Game helps you with all three of these keys!
First,
you start to learn to answer the question “how much?” through
position sizing™ strategies.
Second,
playing the game helps you learn how to let your profits run—and
protect them as well.
Third,
playing the game using your own system’s results in simulation mode
allows you to practice proper position sizing for your own trading.
Trading simulation helps you develop the discipline to follow
the other two keys for trading success.
Furthermore,
you can master these three keys – without risking one cent of your
valuable capital in the markets! Tuition
there is a lot more expensive!
Game
Play
The overall
objective of the game is to make 50% return in each of the ten levels
without going bankrupt.
As
with real trades, there’s only one position sizing question to
answer as you play the game: “How much do I risk on each
position?” You establish your risk amount in two ways: through
the initial stop price (your risk per share) and by how many shares to
buy (which determines your total risk). Do this well and you are
on your way to profits. Do it poorly and you blow up your
account.
The
first levels of this game teach you position sizing strategies and the
importance of large R-multiples. What you win or lose will be
expressed as R-multiples. If
you aren’t familiar yet with how R-multiples work, the game is a
great way to learn it hands on. You
even get exposed to some more advanced systems concepts like separate
probability statistics and expectancy statistics. (Learn
more about expectancy verses probability.)
Sample of screens in the game
As
you progress, the game changes systems you trade so you can experience
what it’s like to trade different probabilities and expectancies.
Beginning with Level 5, you have the option of going long or
short on a trade, which means that you can go with the probability or
with the expectancy. Hopefully, you'll learn how dangerous it is
to bet against the expectancy, even though you get to win (or be
right) more often.
In
levels six through ten, you have to earn your big R-multiples by
letting your profits run on a winning position.
Losing trades happen quickly, but winning trades take time to
develop fully. When a winning trade starts, it is probably just a 1R
win but chances are that it will continue to be a winner as the trade
progresses. Once a winning trade starts, you have to decide how much
to risk - time period by time period.
Do you want to risk a portion of your profits for a further
gain or all of your profits for a shot at the moon?
In the process, you learn not only about position sizing but
your emotional experiences along the way which helps you exercise and
develop your discipline.
To complete the game and
make it through all 10 levels, you have to prove your proficiency in
four key principles: (1) the importance of R-multiples; (2) the
difference between expectancy and probability; (3) letting profits run
without letting them escape; and (4) using position sizing strategies
to make sure you have a low-risk trade. The Position Sizing Game
is designed to drive these principles home by giving you the
experience of making (or losing) money in a game environment where
losing is safer. Through the game, you begin to understand these
principles experientially without having real money at stake. My
book, The
Definitive Guide to Position Sizing, explains all of these
ideas conceptually if you are interested.
Recommendations
Some people
play this game once or twice, shoot for the moon and try to make a
billion in their equity. While that might be fun, you could
choose to play the game in a way that helps you earn equity – in
your real account.
You get the
most out of the game by following these steps:
1.
Play the game multiple times
2.
Experiment with different position sizing techniques
3.
Apply the position sizing lessons you learned finally in
simulated game mode trading your own system.
Follow that
process and you internalize the three keys of success identified by
the Market Wizards.
Then find are ready for the final step –
4.
Apply the position sizing lessons you learned in simulation
game mode in your live trading and the effect of that knowledge on
your real equity.
You won’t
find any stock picking tips or amazing systems in this game – only
seeds of trading success that you can nurture into reality.
My game gives a new twist to the old saying “Play to Win”.
Register Here to Go Free Download Site
Levels
1-3 are free, so give it a try!
(If you
recently purchased the 3.0 game, you are entitled to a substantial
discount. Email us for
more information, info@iitm.com.
We know you’ll love the new version based on what we’ve heard from
our other clients.)
"I have found the game to
be very
helpful, and I’ve played it over and over again with different money
management programs. It’s one thing to read about the mind traps
that traders create regarding probabilities and the gambler’s
fallacy, or to read that random number series can contain protracted
winning and losing streaks, but playing a simulation that feels like
trading really drives home the lessons about disciple, systems, and
expectancy. Playing the game over time helps reinforce the idea that
you get the same probability distributions as everyone else, and that
your trading plan will need to address this fact through money
management, position sizing, trading rules etc.
