I have to agree with DT-waw..."Virtually every successful trader I know ultimately ended up with a trading style suited to his personality"...Randy McKay "The mismatch of trading style and personality is one of the key reasons why purchased trading systems rarely make profits for those who buy them, even if the system is a good one"...Jack D. Schwager
I agree as well, I guess I am just comming from the automated world. These over the counter systems sell themselves as if anyone can make money.
Yea, It's funny how they forget to mention "this system may not fit your style of trading" It's always "My mother made a million dollars trading this system!"...LOL
thank you for the views on system trading. to play the devils advocate, would not a random entry method of trading also produce large gains and large drawdowns ?? if so, what is the advantage of a system ?? best, surf
Well, really effective systems are so because the system actually has a edge over the regular retail trader. That could be from use of a computer for analytical purposes or mere execution speed where miliseconds count. Believe me, most of the vendors actually have very SLOW execution speeds and real-time quotes are actually delayed to some. Most people don't realize this because a quick execution to them is 1 second. That's an eternity to others. Even the ECN's have significantly different execution times.
<b>marketsurfer</b> Systems can give you an edge like hmap says.. Let's take the example of the random entry method you have given. Let's say that for example you are exactly 50% of the time right and 50% of the time wrong. Then your profits are equal to your losses. Like a coin probability bet... But there is one disadvantage you have in the markets: the slippage and the commission. So if you would have a method of 50% profits equals to 50% losses you will lose. Now the basic idea of any trading system is that you build something that gives you a better hand on the probability for winning. In other word you have to find a way to minimize your losses, maximize your profits in relation to the expenses. Now this is an edge over the market. You have the probability on your side if you have a good trading system and if you have the ability to manage this system. But to have this edge over the other market participants you don't need a system - but without a system this edge is much harder to achieve. Because you don't have any help in optimizing the probability for winning. It's all up to you in every single moment. That's where the hight art of trading comes into place. Which only few achieve. A system simply lets you control the action. The problem.. systems don't work every day in every single market. And that's where most people start loosing big money. But that's another story. hope this helps.. alain
IMHO, if a system requires sub-second executions in order to be profitable, it is not robust enough to trade. - jaan
Actually, there are EXTREMELY robust systems that trade in miliseconds and its the execution times that make these systems very profitable. In fact, they are profitable everyday with the only obstacle being network issues from time to time. It's just a totally different world to some investors/traders, that's all.
Absolutely disagree. There in lies the keys to success; seperates to person getting the trade from the person watching and saying it can't be done.