Percentage of winning trades

HappyHarry said: "What do you consider a good percentage? I'd think 75% of trades in the black would be a very good percentage."

Grifter said: "I think anything over 50% is fine. As long as the amount that you win always averages to more than the amount that you lose, further reinforcing the fact that you should have your preset stops."

lil dickie said: "William O'Neill always claimed that if you set your Stop-loss for 8% you only needed a 33% success rate."

jhealey said: "I think it really depends on percentage change on each trade and the weight held in each security. My heaviest weight in my port is down 3% while my smallest weight is up 22%. Over all, I am in the green more than the red which makes me smile. The weight of each holding is the most crucial measure though."

AlfredSokol said: "I made a profit in 2003 and I lost on 80% of my trades. It was one big one that saved me from all the mistakes."

thezster said: "[QUOTE=AlfredSokol]I made a profit in 2003 and I lost on 80% of my trades. It was one big one that saved me from all the mistakes.[/QUOTE] that's not a good number. Congrats on being lucky rather than being good. Personally, I shoot for a 90% "positive" on my trades..... Unfortunately, it's the 10% that really hit hard."

alhamid said: "i lost on all 4 trades i did last year."

BenHouston said: "I've lost on every trade this year. Go ME :)"

HappyHarry said: "[QUOTE=BenHouston]I've lost on every trade this year. Go ME :)[/QUOTE] Might be time to re-think your strategy. What have you been investing in?"

BenHouston said: "HTE-UN.TO an income trust that is 75% oil aquisition and 25% natural gas THI.TO - Tim Hortons I dont even rememer the ticker symbol, I tried to speculate on something and lost 400 dollars on it :( At the very start of the year I think I had afew shares of GZFX that I sold for a slight loss as well. Finally PLNI."

breakingwallstreet said: "My options trades are about 65% - 75% successful, and my stock trades are about 55% successful. However, my winners make much more money than my losers lose, and I'm profitable 9 - 10 months out of the year. Greg P"

lil dickie said: "Is it certain months you're not profitable?"

DBishop said: "So far this year I have made 4 buys, and 2 sells that were in the green. Much better than last year."

HappyHarry said: "[QUOTE=DBishop]So far this year I have made 4 buys, and 2 sells that were in the green. Much better than last year.[/QUOTE] What's different for you this year?"

PoppinPilz said: "Let me just say i have been gone for awhile, not really paying much attention to new stocks, i was only looking in the ones i own. Now here i come back and lancej isn't talking (lets just say hypeing) about PLNI, has he given up on it? It really hasn't done much at all in the last 6 months, acctually going down, as my ALTI stock that i was recommending (not much because lance thought it was bad) in the last 6 months has arounf 2.30 and now around 4. and it is now recommended by Cramer...his stock picks under ten dollars...well anyway its good to be back, but i may not reply as often good luck to all"

DBishop said: "[QUOTE=HappyHarry]What's different for you this year?[/QUOTE] I'm being more selective, more patient, and doing alot more reading. I was paying for Motley Fool to give me advice, ( which I lost BIG on ) now I am spending the time to do it myself."

AlfredSokol said: "You have to think for yourself. Almost everyone is hyping stocks. It's a good thing there's a ton of info on the net."

ascendant said: "There's an old saying, generally in the context of anecdotes about some old, rich, wise man, who says, [QUOTE] I lost more often than I won. But when I lost, I lost small- and when I won, I won [I]tremendous.[/I] [/QUOTE] I think a person could win only 20% of the time and still make a lot of money- if that's what they based their strategy on. Sadly, so far this year, my story has been the opposite- I've won about 80% of the time, but that 20% has been a pricy tuition I paid to Mr. Market..."

GQ_Model said: "i have lost on many many trades... but i learned from my mistakes... and hoping i have learned enough to re-coop my losses :("

techtrader said: "I'm not sure if percent of winning trades is a true measure of how well you are doing in the market. For example, if I invest a lot of money in a few stocks that barely move and several small stocks that move a lot you could have a big winning percentage but make little money. Conversly, if you had a few large investments that moved a ton but a lot of small investments that lost high percentages I could make a lot of money but have a poor percent of winning trades. I think its better to measure the change in value of your trading account as a whole i.e. making $3,000 on $10,000 in a year (30%). Does that make any sense or am I way off here? Or is that how it's done? None the less... I'm positive in all my trades, but one, this year (first year investing). The trade I'm lossing in is PHLY (-1.83%) and that's because I got in on friday at a good price but the market took a bit of a down turn. I expect to be positive by the week's end in that trade."