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Very well said.

There are programs available today that provide reasonable real world simulations using historical data. As Mark said in his post, it is difficult for any one program to be all things to all people. What features have you not been able to find?

My trading results improved after I dumped the following rationalization: This time it's different. Once that logic flaw was ousted from my arsenal, I was more willing to do what my systems were telling me to do.

Rules change, and we do learn from the mistakes of others. However, human emotions create predictable responses that have remained substantially unchanged for several hundred years.

Are you asking about maximum peak-to-valley drawdown; or, average maximum drop below breakeven?

In real life, we all become "stupid" at least a few times. Hopefully, we are lucky enough to survive our biggest mistakes. If not lucky, though, is being "eaten" the fate you wish when stupid eventually happens?

Very good advice.

Well said. Resolving this paradox is important to our success.

Agreed.

Location, location, and location.

A counter-thought: Learn from other people's mistakes because there isn't enough time to make them all yourself. I nonetheless agree with Nitro. We should not perceive this thread to be a listing of regrets. It is best viewed as a discussion about lessons learned.

Danny Seraphine (Chicago): He had a seemingly infinite variety of styles he used song to song, album to album. Floyd Sneed (Three Dog Night): Very unorthodox approach to his music. Hal Blaine (session drummer): An amazingly long list of Top 40 hits in the 60's and 70's. Jeff Porcaro...

Agreed ... Quotes Plus is very good. I have also had good luck with MSN's data, though it's usually available several hours later than Quotes Plus.

George Thorogood is a trader?

Often true, but not always true. Data mining is susceptible to curve-fitting, yet valid systems can be found through such searches.

If I may ask, are you trying to decide whether to automate your discretionary system?

An example of how speed can be used: www.stratasearch.com.

True, with the exception of Enron employees who may have been trapped in their 401(k)'s.

My "filters" are simple: price > $2 and average daily dollar volume > $200,000. From that population, my software looks for stocks matching my EOD set-up criteria.

Well said.