Trading better with TS6 ?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by TraderBob, Apr 12, 2002.

  1. Kymar

    Kymar

    vhehn,

    You and I actually agree in large part, both in theory and, apparently, trading approach.

    As I've confessed elsewhere, I'm a junkie for the TS software - the whole set-up, warts and all... I mostly dig the platform, too, though I'm disappointed that it's taken them this long to implement certain promised daytrader-friendly improvements.

    As for the problem with most indicators, Cynthia Kase pointed out that many of the popular ones were conceived during a pre-PC era - in many cases around the time that Reverse Polish Notation on calculators was still cutting edge...

    If they were so darn terrific, then why did Welles Wilder end up hawking astro-finance instead of ADX-ing and Parabolic SAR-ing his way to a Bill Gates fortune?

    There are a handful of "indicators" that I use and like a lot- major MAs, a couple of Chande things, some Constance Brown tools, mainly for shorthand/confirmation on broad market analysis - and I'd need TS or a TS-like customizable platform to use some of them, but mostly what I get out of TS has to do with highlighting and exploiting price-levels and S/R.
     
    #11     Apr 13, 2002
  2. Traders have made (and are making) money using both approaches (systems and intuitive) so there's little to be gained about arguing which is better.

    I would point out to Kymar that just because someone has coded his approach doesn't immediately imply it is a "get-rich-quick" (GRQ anyone?) scheme. A mechanical system may simply produce a slight mathematical advantage that you exploit by grinding it out day after day year after year (and presto you're rich!).

    The greatest advantage mechanical systems have, I believe, over an intuitive approach is that they _can_ be coded and backtested. By then applying a set of statistical analyses on the data (though _NOT_ the pointless crap you find in tradestation)you can determine what sort of results you can expect from it in the future.

    I can't verify this, but I believe that there is some sort of a trade off between a completely mechanical approach and an intuitive one. That is, a brilliant system won't do aswell as a brilliant trader, but even a bad system (with entry and exit rules) if followed ( a big IF) won't do as badly as a bad "gut feel" trader.

    Daniel
     
    #12     Apr 13, 2002
  3. Kymar
    the more i play with ts the more i am liking it too.thanks to your suggestion about opening multiple pages i can overlook the linking thing for now.there is a lot there and when they release the next version it should be great.
     
    #13     Apr 13, 2002
  4. tntneo

    tntneo Moderator

    well.. this topic comes up from time to time. In the past I was always first one to jump in the thread. Now it's a bit frustrating to hear the same arguments on both sides, again and again.

    so a quick response :
    of course there are hedge funds which beats the S&P long term. there are all kind of ways to manage hedge funds and those with a business model (as opposed to an investment model) may beat the S&P long term.

    of course there are some of them using partly or totally automated trading (full automation or signal generation).

    trading can be as difficult or as simple as you make it. the simpler, usually the better.
    that's why often, traders who make money (or firms for that matter) do simple things, over and over again. This is what I call a business model, although i mean : treating trading as a business, not an investment.

    of course, you can make consistent money trading with 'guts'. but to be successful at it, you need to trade for quite a while with a very systematic approach. then you just 'programmed' yourself and you don't need a software beside your brain.

    coding the trading style of one trader can be very difficult if this trader does complex things (all kind of rules and exceptions).
    it can be also very simple, since some traders have straightforward methods (think don's open play), very easy to automate.

    tntneo
     
    #14     Apr 13, 2002
  5. nkhoi

    nkhoi

    it's kind of like shouting against the wind. After awhile ask yourself "wait a minute, is the wind that stupid or it's just me?":D
     
    #15     Apr 15, 2002