Stake strategiesUpdated 2 min readBy the FXNOD team
Flat stake: why the same stake every trade is the baseline
A flat stake means risking the same amount on every trade, whatever happened on the last one. It is the baseline every other staking system should be compared with, because it shows a strategy's real result without distortion. The worst case is easy to calculate: the stake multiplied by the number of losses. Start here.
Why it is the honest test
With a flat stake, the profit or loss after a few hundred trades is simply the strategy's edge multiplied by the number of trades. If that number is negative, the strategy loses, and no progression will fix it. A progression applied first hides the answer behind a smooth balance line.
Sizing the stake
| Stake as a share of the session's stop loss | Net losses the session can absorb |
|---|---|
| 1% | 100 |
| 2% | 50 |
| 5% | 20 |
| 10% | 10 |
One to two per cent gives a strategy enough trades to show what it is. Ten per cent ends the session on a streak that occurs by chance many times a day on a fast bot.
What a flat stake shows you
- The true win rate, undisturbed by stake size.
- The real cost of the contract, as a slow drift in the balance.
- How long losing streaks actually are.
- Whether you can follow a plan when it is boring.
Fixed amount or fixed percentage
A fixed amount stakes the same sum every trade. A fixed percentage stakes the same share of the current balance, so the stake shrinks after losses and grows after wins. Fixed percentage protects the account automatically in a drawdown and compounds gains. Both are flat in the sense that matters: the last result does not trigger a bigger bet to recover.
The objection
People say a flat stake is too slow. It is slow because it shows the truth: a strategy with a small edge earns a small amount per trade, and one with no edge loses a small amount per trade. Systems that feel faster are borrowing from a future loss.
In FXNOD
Same stake is the recommended setting in Bot Forge, and about half of the Auto Hub bots use the same stake on every trade. Combined with the required stop loss, the most a session can lose is known before it starts.
Questions people ask
- Is flat staking profitable?
- Only if the strategy has an edge. That is the point: it tells you whether there is one.
- How much should a flat stake be?
- About 1% to 2% of the amount you are prepared to lose in the session.
- Why do bots default to Martingale if flat is better?
- Because Martingale produces impressive short-term results that are easy to sell. A flat stake produces honest ones.
See the stakes before you start
Bot Forge shows the stakes of a losing streak before a bot runs, will not start without a stop loss, and caps the largest stake. Try any stake setting on your Deriv demo account.
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