http://www.businessinsider.com/man-group-ahl-hedge-fund-videos-explain-quant-investing-2016-9 One of the biggest hedge funds in the world has released a video to 'demystify' how it makes money "We hope that our new set of videos, which approaches fundamental concepts in an accessible and engaging way, will further demystify quantitative investing and provide an insight into what we do at Man AHL," Sandy Rattray, CEO of Man AHL and CIO of Man Group, said in a statement. Breakout trading Trend/Momentum Trading
I would estimate that the majority of Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) like AHL use "techinical analysis," although it is much more model/quant driven. These guys don't stare at charts and look for double bottoms, cup and handles or Elliot Wave patterns, they model and test price movements. EVERYTHING is automated, although sometimes human traders will "work" the entry and exit orders because they don't want to push the market around too much. @globalarbtrader worked at AHL and can probably explain it 50x better than me.
In watching their videos, it seems they aren't looking at indicator a and indicator b but at tendencies. The momentum video does a good job of explaining how they view momentum comparing time series vs. some type of indicator.
If I tell this I get all bashers from ET over me. Mathematical models are the way to go. But there is not much useful info available on the internet. And as people are lazy they prefer charts and look for double bottoms, cup and handles or Elliot Wave patterns.
As long as your exits are good, you can have shitty entries and still be profitable? I envy that...never could do that way. Good entries mean less stop outs...for me. Both are equally important...in my opinion!
Use some math in trading, but I NEVER use classical technical analysis. I like the sound of "tendencies" and trading!
Exactly, as the profit is the difference between entry and exit. If either one changes, the result changes too. But the advantage of good entries is that you buy time and less risk. If you have a bad entry your risk is bigger as from start you are already in a bad position. Good entries give you a better feeling when the markets don't move. Better to sit for hours in a profitable situation then in a losing situation. It's like buying a house. If you can buy it cheap you will have a good feeling from start as you know you can always sell it at a good price if needed, and get your money back. If you buy it expensive you will not have that good feeling and maybe lose a lot of money when you have to sell it. And even risk to make, under the pressure, stupid decisions.
Anyone have AHL track record? What are these guys averaging a year? Im sure they did well in 2008/09 as nearly every technical system killed it during that time. Trade with the trend, cut losers, ride winners, manage risk. The usual stuff will make small returns most years, and make killing during really volatile periods. Will also have periods (multi year) where little or no money is made. Long term outlook required to make money using simple probabilistic technical trading systems.