pitfalls: When I first started I was probably addicted to the thrill. So I used real money instead of paper. I would have done that differently. Then I learned to test something first in paper, then move to super small then get bigger. Another thing I learned was to trust the system. But that only came after continuing to see that "had I trusted the system" I would have done better. So I think that comes with a little time.. for me that took about a year or so. The other thing I learned is not to waste time with others. It's most likely just a distraction. It takes away time from what you have been working on. And, more than likely they don't have anything worthwhile. I've found that people are lazy and want something for free, without spending the hard earned time invested.. the nights of little sleep etc. Best to you. And don't give up
Thanks for your response. Would you say that your strategies are anything extraordinarily different to anything that has ever been posted on this site? Or would you say that most of the ideas are already out there but just need to be combined with sound money management and automated so discretionary trades and lack of discipline cannot ruin the system.
I don't pay much attention to other people's ideas these days. But I did start out testing lots of different ones. I don't regret it now. I'd say it was a learning experience. From all I studied, I picked a little of this, a little of that, then formed my own. As for "sound money management", I say if you have something that you think will work, test it back to before 08 or so (at least).
What I meant was I would not have gone into testing ideas at great expense. It was a pitfall I had. I jumped into live not realizing that the backtesting algos don't work as expected. So first when going live, take it into the market at little cost to capital to see what live looks like. Then I'd maybe take it bigger or chunk it out the window.
So far we have one successful automated trader help us out. Surely there must be more out there, come on guys please reply to this thread. It would really help the rest of us losers out.
i am a 100% system trader...always have been. 1) stop arching for the Holy Grail 2) Trade with the trend. 3) Keep it low risk. 4) Profits bigger than losses. i'll bet my mechanical are as good as any "discretional trader" and lot less time consuming and less stressful. The trouble with this place is you have some people that can't accept anything but "their way if you come up with a different view to them they attack it..you'll see. Very childish. oh and 2013 I am up over 35% About 10 minutes a day to manage. I feel sorry for day traders. Life is that? Goof luck....don't waste time here.
I had some success this year trading a mechanical system but with no direct automation because I'm not that advanced yet but I followed all the trades. There are many experts in this area. One key to developing a successful system is finding a hypothesis that carries very low data-mining bias. You could start thinking about various hypotheses but the chances of finding one that has not been exploited is virtually nil. The only way that makes sense is to try to data-mine one and then make sure the bias of the process is minimum. Along these lines Dave Aronson comes to mind. Michael Harris has a program based on parameter free patterns and he publishes performance results in his blog. For more advanced traders with programming skills Qusma is a good blog. There are also many others. I would stay away from those who use charts only.
Thanks. Would you say your strategy is simple or very complicated. Does it involve heavy math and statistics and very complex algorithmic models? Or is it simply following trend based methods with good money management. Why i am asking these questions is because i often favor common sense approach and i find my best strategies (backtested that is) are the most simple ones. Then i figure this has to be too simple to ever work , the market is complex so my strategies must be complex (this is my biggest problem when devising strategies).
Thanks Sergio. I will have a look at blogs posted. I like the Qusma blog - i find the guy has similar approach to mine but i must say my strategies are probably alot more complicated in many aspects to his. Maybe mine are more curve fitted then? Only time will tell. Keep posting guys.