The system itself was built around the model of making an initial deposit and allowing an account to grow in value, much like a certificate of deposit or a real estate investment. In situations where new money goes into the trading account or part of the account value is withdrawn, there are some necessary steps to ensure that the change in total equity is applied to the account in a manner which preserves the effectiveness of the diversification and risk management structures.

If you are a new subscriber, you'll probably see that the newsletter reflects a good number of existing positions. Entering positions established before you became a subscriber isn't impossible, but there are a few basic guidelines to do so effectively while managing risks. See the table below for a complete breakdown.

• Positions with hard profit less than zero and soft profit less than zero:

  Stay out of this position until the soft profit moves to be greater than zero

• Positions with hard profit less than zero and soft profit greater than zero:

  Enter the position as if it were a new entry. Take the "units" number from the portfolio summary and multiply this by your equity. The result of this multiplication is the appropriate position size.

• Positions with hard profit greater than zero:

  Take the "units" number from the portfolio summary and multiply this by your equity. Divide the result by 2. Enter the position for this many units.

The system is built around the idea of making an initial deposit and letting it grow by following the system rules. If you want to add to an existing portfolio which is currently traded using the iSigma newsletters, you can enter new positions as they occur and leave your existing positions at their existing size, or you can add to your existing positions according to the rules above as though the deposit of new money were actually the initial deposit into a new account.

In the event that you need to make a withdrawal from your trading account, first determine how much you need to withdraw as a percentage of your account. If you need to withdraw 20% of the money in the account, it's important to do so consistently. This means that you would withdraw 20% from your noncommitted funds and reduce the size of each position by 20%.

About once a year, you might see that the system is still in a position when your broker has exited based on a stop order or conversely, that the newsletter no longer reports the position as open but your broker never exited. If your broker stops you out while the newsletter is still in the position, you can ensure that your account follows the newsletter portfolio by getting back in and establishing the stop listed in the letter. If the newsletter no longer indicates that the position is open but your broker has not exited per the stop order you placed, you can keep in sync with the newsletter by placing the order to exit at the current price. If either of these scenarios begin to occur very frequently, you may want to consider finding a different broker.

If you are working with a small pool of risk capital, you can still use the newsletters but you may need to customize your approach. In the forex market, you'll need to find a broker that offers "mini" accounts, which allow traders to execute smaller lot sizes. There are also some brokers that will allow you to place trades in single units rather than predetermined lot sizes.