Thank you for the responses. There appears to be consensus to get the basics of understanding the market dynamics first, and quite a few people rely on charts. To clarify I don't code strategies straight away. I get hold of data and visualise the data using various tools; often overlaying instruments with their derivatives. Then I identify a strategy that may appear to work with some regularity and finally backtest with hard data to measure the performance. But yes, in the early stages I did attempt to build a general model using machine learning and let's just say I won't be doing it again. One of the things I picked up from the market wizards book is that you have to find your own trading style based on your strengths and emotional comfort. I don't mind coding hence I picked the algo route and I'm exploring trades within a day since I'm not comfortable with all the moving parts affecting prices for longer time frames. I must admit I'm a bit surprised with the number of people that use charts as the primary source for developing the positions. Chart patterns always seemed subjective to me so haven't pursued it. How do you get understanding of market dynamics manifested in the charts? Other than market announcements, isn't this a bit of guesswork?
by studying. it is never easy making money doing anything.....competition is stiff..... the difference between pros and amateurs in anything is huge.......take pro golf and amateur golf...or even cooking for a family as against cooking for money
Just make sure to understand that when many many people said they failed in certain things after so much hard work and so many years, it only means it is probably very hard, but not impossible. In reality, the probability to achieve the best outcome in certain domains is often one out of 10000, 100000 or even less.