The sad truth about trading is

Now you are being unkind to Pikers.

Personally I think that you are still hunting too far up the food chain.

 

Thank you very much for posting your system with an edge. It was a real eye opener for me as it relates to my so called backtesting.

I work days so I’m relegated to backtesting with end of day data looking for an edge in the short to intermediate term. I have not been at it too long but can tell you it’s been entirely focused on the OHLC. Additionally, I have most certainly not found any edge what so ever worth committing real hard earned money to.

Anyway, I had not considered any thing outside of the daily/weekly/monthly bars and all their respective derivatives. Now, per your excellent post, I will do my best to broaden my thinking as to where I might find an edge. Also please know that I will do my homework on the subject you put forth.

Thank you for your generosity.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/98347-a-bad-year-for-s-p-500-additions

 

wanker comes to mind

but feel free to correct and add your own suggestions

 

Thanks for finding this. Keep in mind that these are excess returns (excess of the market) which is why you have to hedge with SPY if there's no offsetting pair.

If you do a little bit more searching you can find a lot more information on this concept. As I said, it's one of the best documented inefficiencies but it keeps working year after year.

 

looks like all the losers came out to play.

you're gonna have good company with index pikey, lurefo, jjf and the assorted half-wits that populate this site!

 

you know who you are, just look in the mirror.

 

I generally agree with the sentiment of your posts, and I think they are a good warning to anyone wanting to trade as a counterpoint to the largely bogus (in my opinion) claims that there's a sufficient "learning process" that one can go through and automatically become successful at trading -- likening it to medical school is particularly absurd.

However, there clearly are skills involved in this field (although skills that by no means guarantee success), and it's also very clear that hundreds, if not thousands, of traders achieve returns far beyond what luck/leverage would predict (just look at GS or RenTech).

That said, I agree that the majority of people who attempt trading would be better off having used a passive strategy involving infrequent trading.

 

I decided to start a new thread since I don't agree with "the sad truth about trading" and that's not why i'm posting here. Index Piker, sorry for interjecting a way to make money into your thread! [joke]

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=181368

 

Some of you could stand to revisit the concept found in "the Tortoise and the Hare" my friend.