Quote from slacker:
...... (I like to code, and I only develop stuff that is not available from any other source.)
Quote from nononsense:
......
Now, mind you, skill in adaptive control and/or system theory doesn't necessarily amount to much if you try to make money with it in the market. I like the 'quant' neologism because it perfectly keeps up with the great traditions of "Extraordinary Popular Belief and the Madness of Crowds".
I just keep on smiling here with my stock standard charting packages.
I am able to "translate"
my market philosophy which is working on ALL timeframes and ALL markets and trade BOTH counter trend and trend following (note this statement!!!) in a few simple charts.
My charting packages allows me to visualise what effect the individual players have on the market (bots, flippers, daytrader goats, swing traders, positon players, hedge funds and what have you, but these are the major ones) and how the individual actions of each affect the others.
The human psychology of fear and greed has not changed over the thousands of years and I enjoy seeing the "bait and switch" (as one ET'r elsewhere so elogantly put it).
I am so ever thankful for those who believe in "sophisticated" systems (one should look up the word "sophist' in the Collins English Dictionary, LOL) and the quants who believe in building mediocre systems.
Quote from prt_systems:
This actually reads: We want someone with a PhD and ten years of hard core experience, whose systems have made 100's of millions of dollars and who will work 70 hours per week.
We will pay 130K with employment at will: Once we are done with your building our systems will we let you move on and your revenue stream is over while we make our 100 million using the technology.
...OR you can just use your skills to build your own company. Hmmm I wonder which is the better choice ?
Exactly. May take a long time and the big question is how long does it take you to get there (if ever) and how do you survive in the intervening period.
Why would I want to share my thoughts with anyone (when it is grossing me big $$$) when I can make "THAT wonderfull
(not!) salary from an employer (like 130K)" and more in a far shorter timeframe with some mouse clicks by myself? ( And not having any idiots to deal with, no academic heads in the clouds
(read quants, pun intended), just peace with me and me. No requirements for "excellent communication skills" like that matters when you have to program / build a system, LOL.
Free to take off a day, a week, a month or more whenever I feel like it. Free to make the changes that I would like to make (has not been necessary for quite a long time now). Free to travel and trade from a location of my choosing. Free to roll out of bed when I want. Why be a slave to some computer environment and that ties you down in one location? Left paid employment to gain freedom, not to loose it.
The only thing one can argue is that computers have a better attention span than a human but my counter argument is that you cannot leave them alone. In addition this would only be true if one is trading the extreem short timeframe for pennies (or parts thereoff. And as others have stated: only the long term trading makes you the big $$$'s). There are (and always will be) exceptions to the rule. And you only can take advantage of these if you understand what it is all about. As Don Bright mentioned on ET the other day: There are times that he had to "turn the fr*&%$#ing thing off".
I have yet to see any automated / quant system getting to the same level that Jessie Livermoore, Keene (to mention a few) achieved.
If it was true then one would have seen one hedgefund taking the lot (the one who figured it all out first), and we have not seen it yet have we?
High tech is not necessary, it is imho even detrimental (because of distracting ones focus), to achieving high performance in trading. The "mandatory" need for knowing high tech is just another piece of BS.
And all the above is in line of what Schabacker mentioned in his book: better to draw the charts by hand than have them drawn before you.
I bid ya all farewell, I am starting now on another life trip and am leaving ET behind. (no time to spend here)
Thanks to those who exchanged their ideas, views, opinions and what have you with me.
Good trading to ya all.
Sherlock
