In a sense, every successful trader employs money management principles
in the course of futures trading, even if only unconsciously. The
goal of this book is to facilitate a more conscious and rigorous adoption
of these principles in everyday trading. This chapter outlines the money
management process in terms of market selection, exposure control,
trade-specific risk assessment, and the allocation of capital across competing
opportunities. In doing so, it gives the reader a broad overview
of the book.
A signal to buy or sell a commodity may be generated by a technical
or chart-based study of historical data. Fundamental analysis, or a study
of demand and supply forces influencing the price of a commodity, could
also be used to generate trading signals. Important as signal generation
is, it is not the focus of this book. The focus of this book is on the
decision-making process that follows a signal.