Articles on divide-by-20 rule — StaxInvesting Blog

trading automation options trading software engineering

Automated Options Trading: A Complete Technical Guide

Automation is the most misunderstood word in retail trading. It is not a strategy, not an edge, and not a way to make money while you sleep — it is a transmission system that executes rules you define, faster and more consistently than you can by hand. This is the complete technical guide: the signal-to-fill pipeline, the architecture that carries it, the engineering failure modes that break real systems, and an honest accounting of what automation genuinely solves and what it leaves entirely untouched.

Stax TeamJul 18, 2026

risk management options trading position sizing

Position Sizing for Automated Options: Fixed-Dollar vs. Percent-of-Account (Damage Control, Not an Edge)

Let's be honest up front: position sizing does not make a strategy profitable, and most retail options traders lose money. Sizing is damage control, not an edge. Within that reality, there's a real argument for fixed-dollar sizing over percent-of-account — percentage sizing scales your losses up alongside your wins, so a single bad drawdown at a high account value can erase a long run of gains. Here's the honest math, a worked example of the divide-by-20 rule, and where each approach actually fits.

Stax TeamJul 17, 2026

Articles about divide-by-20 rule

Automated Options Trading: A Complete Technical Guide

Position Sizing for Automated Options: Fixed-Dollar vs. Percent-of-Account (Damage Control, Not an Edge)