What is Pyramiding?
Pyramiding increases exposure as trade moves favourably, not against.
Formula
Pyramiding Example: Initial: Buy 100 shares at ₹100 = ₹10,000 Stock rises to ₹115, trend confirmed: Add 75 shares at ₹115 = ₹8,625 Stock rises to ₹130, trend strong: Add 50 shares at ₹130 = ₹6,500 Total: 225 shares, ₹25,125 invested Average Cost: ₹111.67 Current Value: ₹29,250 (at ₹130) Profit: ₹4,125 (16.4%) All shares profitable. Maximum exposure in winner.
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 Pyramiding shows up on Indian index, equity, and futures books — update to live quotes in your journal.
Nifty 50 perspective
Pyramiding 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
Pyramiding on Reliance (₹1,300): liquidity is deep but event gaps dominate — strategy rules need explicit earnings blackout weeks.
Bank Nifty futures perspective
Pyramiding on Bank Nifty futures (55,000): high beta suits shorter holds; overnight pyramiding must state NRML risk and gap plan in writing.
How to validate
- Validate Pyramiding 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 Pyramiding expectancy turns negative with 50+ trades.
- Ensure no overlapping tags duplicate the same trades.
How to track in TradeLyser
- Define Pyramiding 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 Pyramiding strategy with non-negotiable rules.
- Paper trade rule changes for two weeks before live size.
- Track costs explicitly on high-frequency Pyramiding variants.
- Compare versioned tags after each rule amendment.
Common pitfalls
- Adding discretionary trades under the Pyramiding tag.
- Scaling up after one lucky week of Pyramiding results.
- Ignoring brokerage drag on high-frequency variants.
- Retiring a tag without exporting final statistics.
How to use this in TradeLyser
Log add level and reduced stop after each add; review pyramid tag separately.
Related terms
Anti-martingale scales exposure up after wins and down after losses, compounding hot streaks while capping cold streak damage.
Scaling in builds position through multiple entries toward full planned size.
Trade management covers adjustments after entry — stops, targets, adds, and exits.
Trend following enters in direction of the prevailing trend and holds until trend rules exit.
FAQ
Pyramid on scalps?
Usually too fast — better on swing trends.
Move stop after add?
Mandatory to keep net risk bounded — note rule.
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