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Strategies
Updated 2025-06-04·Editorial policy·Trading system

What is Martingale Strategy?

Martingale increases bet size after each loss to recover prior losses plus small profit when win eventually comes.

Formula

Sequence: Loss → Loss → Loss → Win Sizes: 1 → 2 → 4 → 8 P&L: -1 → -2 → -4 → +8 = net +1 unit

Indian market context (NSE)

Reference levels: Nifty 50 at 24,300, Reliance Industries at ₹1,300, Bank Nifty futures at 55,000 (lot size 30). Examples below show how Martingale Strategy shows up on Indian index, equity, and futures books — update to live quotes in your journal.

Nifty 50 perspective

Martingale Strategy on Nifty (24,300): backtest includes 9:15 liquidity and expiry-day behaviour; edge on index may vanish outside 10:00–14:30 window.

Reliance Industries perspective

Martingale Strategy on Reliance (₹1,300): liquidity is deep but event gaps dominate — strategy rules need explicit earnings blackout weeks.

Bank Nifty futures perspective

Martingale Strategy on Bank Nifty futures (55,000): high beta suits shorter holds; overnight martingale strategy must state NRML risk and gap plan in writing.

How to validate

  • Validate Martingale Strategy only after costs — gross win rate can hide negative expectancy.
  • Use walk-forward windows (e.g. last 60 / prior 60 trades) for stability.
  • Retire or refactor the tag if Martingale Strategy expectancy turns negative with 50+ trades.
  • Ensure no overlapping tags duplicate the same trades.

How to track in TradeLyser

  • Define Martingale Strategy in Strategy Board with entry/exit/skip criteria.
  • Enforce single-tag discipline — no secondary discretionary entries.
  • Review expectancy, win rate, and avg R monthly on the tag only.
  • Archive tag version when rules change; do not blend old and new trades.

Best practices

  • One playbook page per Martingale Strategy strategy with non-negotiable rules.
  • Paper trade rule changes for two weeks before live size.
  • Track costs explicitly on high-frequency Martingale Strategy variants.
  • Compare versioned tags after each rule amendment.

Common pitfalls

  • Adding discretionary trades under the Martingale Strategy tag.
  • Scaling up after one lucky week of Martingale Strategy results.
  • Ignoring brokerage drag on high-frequency variants.
  • Retiring a tag without exporting final statistics.

How to use this in TradeLyser

Tag any martingale-like sizing as violation; sim-only study if curious.

Related terms

FAQ

Martingale on Nifty options?

Tail loss enormous — avoid live.

Modified martingale safer?

Still negative EV without edge — math unchanged.

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