Do you have a 401k ? Most people get paid every 2 weeks, and funnel money into their 401k's, effectively buying the s&p every 2 weeks.
Full time workers working for a employer can invest in company 401K plan each pay check. They can contribute to company 401K investments. Without the work and extra time of trading. So whatever algo you come up with make sure it is beating the S&P 500 index market year after year. If algo not beating the market, then it makes no sense to trade the algo. Just Easy buy the index.
Thanks EsKiller, I believe a trader should ALSO invest in his/her retirement account AND day trade. Do not put all eggs in trading. Buying the SP 500 index once a week or one a month is a simple good long term proven investment strategty.
Ates, Do you work a full time job? If yes, ask your company if they have a 401K you can invest in. If you do not work a full time job, invest monthly in a RothIRA for your future wealth creation. Trading is fun and rewarding, but can't bet the bank on it.
IIRC there's up towards a million quants world wide now if all enthusiasts who aren't making money are included*, whereas we may assume available alpha is constant for the purposes of comparison. If you just wanted to write an automated algo with a few indicators at home and make alpha (excess risk adjusted returns), you should've done that 30 years ago. Of course, back then a large threshold for this was having a market interface at all. Algos with other purposes than containing alpha can be easier since you're not necessarily entering a zero sum game with some of the brightest people in the world. *Too lazy to google this claim up, you should be able to confirm it if you're interested.
Guys thank you for your recommendation. All I'm trying to do is to code an algo. I'm not after making millions or have a living from trading. I love coding and etc. I also love trading and not approaching as a core business yet. Yes I'm running my own business. I am not going to invest thousands of dollars. If I find a working one (this one seems working), then i may think of selling or maybe partnering with a hedge fund. Not sure yet! This is just new. I mean stock trading. I have been trading for a while. Can't say a decade but for a while. I love data and there are millions of them out there. So I have decided to give it a shot! I will share more results. Next thing is to run a test.
All markets trend and reverse. It used to be much easier to find an edge, but this will always be true unless the Fed gets their way.