Yeah, decades ago I remember when people were saying that about cooking. But you still can't roast a turkey in a microwave, can you?
It's over. You can put it on the booooard! You can't roast anything in the microwave. Well, other than maybe this other slimeball..
Hello, Very good question. I believe both are needed to find a trading strategy or edge. I believe a trader needs to have an idea how he/she wants to trade and use historical price data to practice that edge for simplicity and profitability. It sounds tedious but I believe putting a few indicators on a chart and watching the price action for a few months and writing down trading ideas, then back test those trading ideas is the best way to go. So, you want to do 2 things, 1) think of a trading idea 2) verify the trading idea. Do 1 and 2, till you find something profitable over X amount historical trades. I think this is the best route. It will give you confidence as well. Also, I am learning to believe an edge in the market is also protecting your cash flow or capital. From my own experiences, trading paper would have prevented many unnecessary losses that I made simply cause I didn't know what I was doing. What I mean is, you can have the best trading strategy in the world, but if you have loss all your money making many many mistakes, then you can't make money with that strategy. Take your time. No rush and enjoy this.
It's a difficult task. To put it broadly, you're building your own measuring stick and trying to figure out how, where, and when to use it.
Neopthytes generally don't take simulation seriously until the market burns a hole in their pocket. Once you do start simulating properly, the primary goal becomes to walk back as little as possible for convincing evidence, and then forward real-time ASAP. Every month is a giant leap of faith. It's the nature of the beast.
Does anyone know or have a link handy on what the median and average returns, sharpe ratios have been for quant funds in the past 5 years?
Generally, yes, I think. Regardless of what you do, there's still the thousands of hours you need to invest in order to learn how price moves. Most people don't have a photographic memory. I know I don't. So, unless you're some savant, I'm skeptical towards anyone being able to trade based on memory or instinct. If you still insist on being a chartist and not using statistics, I think you need to pre-define set-ups where you do a certain thing when a certain condition arises. But just trading based on feel and gut instinct by looking at a chart? I highly doubt anyone will ever make big bucks doing that.