Al Brooks said that the most important thing in trading is that everything has a mathematical basis. Win rate * Profit - Loss rate * Risk = Expectation. Every successful quantitative trade calculates mathematical expectation for each trade. All successful traders are proficient in the trader's equation. The trader's equation, as mentioned by Al Brooks, is actually the formula for what is known as expected value. How much profit you can make depends entirely on the win rate. Multiply by the profit and the odds of losing, multiplied by the difference between risk. The most intuitive and easiest to understand is that the odds of flipping a fair coin are 50% for heads and 50% for tails. If we make a bet based on this, I will give you 1000 yuan for heads.
Diary I used to think that it was the operators controlling the ups and downs, then I thought it was the market makers controlling them, but both have logical flaws and cannot form a complete logical loop. The concept of operators became so popular partly because, when regulation was lax, there were indeed many operators in the A-shares harvesting retail investors. But now with strict regulation, the risks of operating have become too high compared to the profits. Moreover, in such a vast market as futures, no one can truly manipulate it— not even the giants like hedge funds and quantitative institutions, which are just a very small part of the entire market. Once you try to manipulate, larger funds will come to counter you. There have been too many schemes of forced shorts and longs in the history of futures; methods like spoofing which caused the flash crash in U.S. stocks in 2010 have long been banned today with global regulation tightening. Later I learned that there are not only market makers providing orders in the market. Furthermore, the trading strategies of quantitative institutions, hedge funds, and market makers are commercial secrets; once leaked, they will be targeted by other institutions, leading to the failure of the strategy. Therefore, it is almost impossible for ordinary people to fully understand these.
$SENT The head and shoulders pattern can also be referred to as a wedge top, with a reversal success rate of 40%. In the profit and loss chart, of course, entering the market here might present a profit-loss ratio of more than 3 times. However, the market is currently attempting to reverse this head and shoulders pattern, which may slightly lower the win rate. Nonetheless, the mathematical expectation for entering the market is quite positive.
$KITE Bearish on the expansion triangle, bearish on the wedge's third upward breakout failure, there is also a double top, bearish on everything with profit and loss stops as shown in the picture. Although I have many losing positions, in reality, the strategy of entering two and exiting one has been quite good.
$XPL was a bit late, but still has a 40% win rate with a double profit and loss ratio. A profit and loss ratio of 1.9 or 1.8 also maintains the principal with this win rate...
The success rate of wedge reversal trades is not a fixed value, but fluctuates between 40% and 82% depending on the type of wedge, market context, and trading strategy. Key statistical data Statistical dimension success rate/probability description for descending wedge bullish exit is about 82%. The probability of ascending after a descending wedge breakout is about 75%. The probability of ascending after a descending channel/bull flag breakout is about 75%. The probability of descending after a wedge top breakdown is about 75%. The probability of descending after an ascending channel/bear flag breakdown is about 75%. The probability of reaching the target price for the descending wedge is between 63% and 88%. The probability of achieving theoretical measurement targets after a breakout is about 40%. The success rate for major reversal trades is about 40%, indicating the probability of successfully exiting the reverse wave after entering at the first reversal signal. The false breakout rate is between 10% and 27%, indicating the probability of quickly retracing and failing after a pattern breakout.
$LQTY Bearish wedge ~ Short below the low of the big bearish candle, take profit and stop loss as shown, two times profit-loss ratio with a win rate of 40% mathematical expectation 0.2
$Q It looked like a wedge, so I went short, with a risk-reward ratio slightly above 2, a win rate of about 40%. I feel that going short here is reasonable in terms of mathematical expectation, as shown in the take profit and stop loss chart.
$YFI Every day I look at dozens of targets to find trading opportunities, and there are also some missed opportunities. A wedge reversal has a 40% probability to achieve a 2:1 profit-loss ratio with a mathematical expectation of 0.2, as shown in the profit and loss chart.
In the trading market, if the profit and loss ratio is 2:1 (i.e., the average profit is twice the average loss), to achieve stable profits (i.e., the mathematical expectation is positive), the minimum winning rate required is 33.33%.
The calculation principle is as follows:
Let the winning rate be P, and the profit and loss ratio be R (here R=2).
The expected value formula is: expected return = P * R - (1-P) * 1.
Let the expected value be greater than 0: P * 2 - (1-P) > 0.
Solving gives: 2P - 1 + P > 0 → 3P > 1 → P > 1/3 ≈ 33.33%.
Key points:
Critical point: When the winning rate is exactly 33.33%, from a long-term statistical perspective, trading will reach breakeven. Slightly above this value can achieve stable profits.
Strategic significance: This demonstrates the advantage of high profit and loss ratio strategies— even with a low winning rate, profits can still be made. For example, winning just once (earning 2 units) can cover the cost of losing twice (each losing 1 unit).
Important reminder:
This is a theoretical simplified model, assuming zero trading costs and fixed profit and loss. In practice, transaction fees, slippage, etc., need to be considered.
"Stable profits" also rely on strict risk management and emotional discipline to ensure that strategies can be executed consistently over the long term.
In practical applications, to cope with uncertainty, a higher safety margin winning rate than 33.33% is usually required. I am currently achieving 40% with a two-fold profit and loss ratio and have basically reached a 40% winning rate. Once the volume increases, the winning rate will roughly maintain around 40%. Of course, there is an even higher realm of 47% with a two-fold profit and loss ratio, where a higher Z-score trade can earn an additional 7% winning rate, potentially doubling the profits.
$MAVIA two-hour level wedge, three attempts to break through upward have failed, the market needs to look down for the fair price, two times the profit-loss ratio, take profit and stop loss in the chart
$HYPE The long signal is very strong, both the structure and the signal are bullish. This coin can have a one-to-one profit-loss ratio or a two-to-one profit-loss ratio. In terms of daily lines, there will be more than ten days of upward movement, and the stop loss should be set at the lowest point of yesterday's daily line.
$LAB I was a bit late to play the king, wedge + double top, the mathematical expectation is reasonable so I shorted it, with a two-fold profit-loss ratio for take profit and stop loss as shown in the image
When gold is in a pullback, it can be bought; it’s almost at a new high. If it breaks the new high, it will achieve a two-to-one profit-loss ratio. If someone has done this, they should exit when it breaks the new high. In the past, with such strong declines, there were a large number of institutions placing limit short orders at the new high. If it breaks the new high, they should take profits in a timely manner.
This trade with a two-fold profit-loss ratio has arrived, but this coin can be held for longer. The target is around 0.01 at the extreme. I normally took profits, but if you want to hold it, that's fine too; the structure looks good, still bearish.