That doesn't make sense. Of course the start balance has no effect on the results of the system itself but how can you calculate an effective % return figure unless you know how much you started with?

Poor people and rich people can all start with the same notional "arbitrary balance" and come up with the same system.

I have looked at those pages and they don't make sense either. You can't adjust your lot size by using margin unless you know your leverage.

If I have a balance of £1000 and I want to risk 2% per trade then I want to risk £20. If I am using a stop loss of 100 pips then I want to trade at £0.20p per pip. The cost per pip on eurusd is usually around 0.065p per pip so I can trade with 3 micro lots. How does manipulating the margin change this unless you know the leverage?

I know I am still thinking in a mt4 mindset but I would appreciate help with this. Thanks.