Who am I? This guy. Why a trader? To free myself. Why algorithmic? To capitalize past experience. Why make my journey public? (i) To get advice along the way. (ii) To help others in a similar position. (iii) To inform future partners on my background. July 30th 2025 Practiced for SIG's online problem solving assessment. Intend to take it tomorrow. Prep comprised solving the sample questions (see link) by hand, noting down formulas used in a cheat sheet. Solution speed is varying, but mostly low. Skimmed through Philip B. Stark's SticiGui book (to return to it later, along with E. T. Jaynes' Probability Theory). Overall plan: do no serious work in August. Start with Rob Carver, Ernie Chan and Larry Harris in September. Keep an eye out for all math involved. Use my own software. Knowledge is power. Beach read: A Man for All Markets by Edward O. Thorp. Currently in Chapter 2.
All the best. +1 to Ernie Chan, he gave me a point of view that was eye-opening. Bear in mind that at some point, he highlighted that it is challenging to outperform a buy-and-hold strategy on the S&P 500. He essentially tried every corner to find out that being a systematic algorithmic trader is a tough life, against a calm buy-and-forget strategy. +1 to Rob's books, he is around on this forum, and also a top writer. He has a journal on this site where he also points out that systematic algorithmic trading has many hurdles to jump on. I had no idea about Larry Harris. I should read something by him.
How to beat everyone else is the main question, Who wants to Settle for an index Average just to be in line with every unoriginal, impotent, cattle, sheep, braindead zombie under the sun out there,