Trading binary options using Martingale strategy

One of the most discussed strategies for binary options traders is whether it is possible to be profitable using a martingale system for losing trades. Martingale strategy is based on the idea that for each losing trade a trader should increase the stake for the next trade in order to recoup the losses for the previous number of trades and also gain a small profit. This is often based on the idea of ‘doubling-up’ each losing stake and until a winning binary options trade is made. For binary options traders, this has been considered as a potentially profitable way to eliminate losses due to the fact that binary options are considered as all-or-nothing investments.

What is required to trade binary options with martingale?

Martingale strategies require, alongside nerves of steel, very deep pockets and the ability to finance a long run of losing trades. Unlike a regular streak of losing binary options trades, martingale magnifies each loss as the stake increases. The rationale behind this is that no losing run can go on for ever and eventually a successful trade will be made which will cover all previous losses. The basis for this, however, is flawed by the fact that a losing run can go on for a considerable amount of time as there is no reason why the market will be required to offer a profitable trade. Whilst it is unlikely that a losing run will continue infinitely, with the increasing and losing of each stake even a short run of several losing trades is likely to deplete a normal trading account.

Why trading with Martingale should be avoided

The Martingale strategy is not only flawed in requiring binary options traders to have a large amount of capital to trade, but the design of binary options returns are also not be suitable for this strategy. In order to work effectively, Martingale ideally relies on a 50-50 outcome with equal returns. Given that binary options returns are usually around 80% of the investment, the higher losses will require the trade size to be increased even further to account for the larger winning amount required to cover the losses. This will not only require an even larger trading account, but also means that many traders would find themselves investing considerable amounts of money with only a few losing trades.

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What are the alternatives to Martingale for binary options traders?

Martingale is not a suitable trading strategy to combat losses for those who do not have very large trading accounts. Despite this, a movement has emerged which is considered as the ‘anti-Martingale’ strategy whereby traders increase the size of their trades with each winning trade and returning to standard trade size following every losing investment. Although this creates a positive spin on the Martingale strategy, it is still likely to suffer from some of the same issues as the original strategy.

Those trading systems which, historically, have proven to have very few losing trades may benefit from scaling-up positions to cover these losses. However, for those who can accept losses as part of binary options trading, the use of a solid trading strategy to limit the number of these is the most effective alternative to Martingale. The risk of depleting a trading account through a period of poor results is too great for many traders to consider trading with martingale.