Skip to content
GetProfitable
Search
Dictionary

Full port

Committing the entire portfolio to one position, leaving no capital for anything else and no room for being wrong.

Going full port removes diversification, reserve capital, and the ability to add or to trade anything else. It also removes any distinction between the trade being wrong and the trader being finished.

The justification is usually conviction, and conviction is not a risk control. A position can be your best idea and still be sized at a fraction of the account; those are separate decisions, and collapsing them into one is what makes blown-up accounts possible. See position-sizing.

Related: yolo, position-sizing, blown-up, size-up

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

How a position size is worked outAccount size, risk per trade and stop distance feed into one box giving the number of shares.ACCOUNT SIZE$25,000your capitalRISK PER TRADE1%of the accountSTOP DISTANCE$0.50entry to stopPOSITION SIZE500 sharesrisk budget: $25,000 × 1% = $250position size: $250 ÷ $0.50 = 500 shares
Working out a position size. Three numbers decide how big a trade is: the account, the share of it put at risk, and the distance from entry to stop. One percent of $25,000 is a $250 budget, and a $0.50 stop divides into that 500 times.

Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.