1) is there any software that will backtest a whole lot of stocks and spit out the results? Currently Im backtesting using eSignal and to backtest a lot of stocks I have to manually type in each stock symbol, copy and paste the results to excel, and then ask it to calculate the averages. Is there a better way to do this? Can I backtest all NYSE stocks and get an average for the whole lot? Maybe a different software? 2) Again, using esignal for alerts of when to get in and out of the market: I have to manually type in all the stocks im interested in and look for the little green arrow at the very last bar (current bar) to see if I should get into this stock. This results in me sitting there typing through 100 different stocks, staring at the monitor for the little green arrow at the last bar. Is there any software that realtime alerts you to when your "formula" tells you to get in? this has limited me to trading the daily chart because i have the whole day after markets have closed to type in and evaluate stocks that have fulfilled my strategy conditions. Thanks for all the help. So tired of alt-tabbing.
If you backtest a large number of stocks you will get a few on which the system worked. This is called survivorship bias. It is like saying that playing the lottery is a good strategy because someone wins the prize. For example you test 10 stocks and 2 of them, S1 and S2, have profit factor 5. The rest have profit factor 1. The average profit factor is 1.8. Do you think this tells you anything about the probability of making money trading S1 or S2 signals, or even all signals? The answer is, absolutely nothing it says. Most serious traders I know concentrate on a few instruments and securities and learn well how those market behave.
"Most serious traders I know concentrate on a few instruments and securities and learn well how those market behave." good advice especially for newbs