>The system that people like you and I use work fine as long as emotion is left at the doorstep. That's the tough part.....
My standard advice to new S&P traders is to find something that works and use it. Now this is a two-step process with each step of equal importance. System development is one thing, system execution, something quite different.
I position trade the S&P based on a neural net. Early on, my partner and I couldn't figure out why the neural net's hypothetical track record was so superior to that of our respective trading accounts. Comparing notes, we discovered that neither of us were taking every trade. If Greenspan were talking, or the FOMC convening, or a big economic number was coming out, or worse yet, if we just didn't agree with the signal, we passed.
Our remedial action was to find a Futures broker who would trade each and every signal as per the trading model, no questions asked. We found a firm that specialized in implementing mechanical models in client accounts. We opened an account with them and fax them our signal and model stops every evening. As a result, we have now taken every Model signal since opening the account and are matching the profitability of the Models, almost exactly.
Now we trade an end-of-day system so we can execute in this manner, which might be problematic for intra-day methodologies. But the act of leaving all emotion, all EGO, out of trading, made a substantial difference. All the work and effort that went into the development of a trading system meant nothing until we were able to execute the signals, absolutely, in total, detached, unemotional, confidence.
Allan |
