Peer reviewer wanted

A

Aquarians

Do you backtest before going live with a (new) strategy?

Do you use some own-written or commercial software to scan for opportunities according to your rules?

I've written my own backtesting stuff and have been experimenting with it since a long while. There's no point going live randomly and the experience of backtesting was merciless on my naive theoretical assumptions. But over time it got better and better until right now the tests make some 50% per year, before commissions. After that, I'm still left with some 30%.

I'm gonna start live with this version and continue to research into ways of improving the return and risk. It's not impossible and I've got even some pretty wild ideas as you may have noticed on the OTC thread :D

Anyways, on the long run I'm thinking on associating myself with someone with whom I can discuss models, strategies and business. Of course I wanna grow this up at least to an investment advisor business.

Was wondering if someone around here would be interested. This is a tricky thing though, as I definitely don't wanna associate with the wolf, i.e. someone already working for or as an investment advisor, so he can nicely take my hard-earned knowledge and walk away.

It'd be a long term issue to build trust and they'd have to offer an equal amount to what I'm offering in terms of knowledge and capital.
 
I think competitive advantages and protecting them from being stolen are real issues in this industry. Because if you get to the point of making money, then you can apply this simple algorithm to carry a conversation with a potential collaborator:

a) Do you make money?
If not, thank you, the end. 98% of discussions end here.

b) Will you tell me how you do it?
If not, thank you, the end. 98% of discussions who got to this point end here.

c) Here you get the rarefied set of people who both make money and will tell you how to do it. And there has to be a damn good reason to do so.
 
There's limited liquidity in most edges, why would anyone give it to you? Yes, you could share strategies but that comes with 2 assumptions: the other person's strategy has to be real and not just some curve fit (no way to know in advance), there has to be enough liquidity so when you both trade it you can still make a profit. Anyway, I believe most people would snatch and run when you give them something.
I've shared some data with other ET members under the assumption I'd get other data back, a trade -- guess what, the people disappear or give some lame reason that it's not what they were looking for once you do your part. There are some honest people on ET but that's a minority.
 
@d8: trusting people is hard, especially on the internet.

I'd much rather prefer to find some local guys to work with but unfortunately I haven't found them yet. I'm pretty sure I'm the very odd exception in the area I live in.
I tried local "investor clubs": lame amateurish stuff, mostly Forex based on technical analysis. Tried local university, started a math PhD, taught some math classes just to figure out the quality of the student material: OK-ish as programmers but useless in math and generally thinking with their own head as opposed to being told what to do.

I'll keep looking locally but I think I've got much better chances of finding someone on the Internet. The main issue is of course, trust.
My idea is to start a business in this options trading niche. Main goal is to actually make profits, case when I can register an investment advisor company and get capital.
I actually know several people who have the cash in the millions of dollars range, but first I need to really really make sure the risk/reward of the stuff I do is well managed.

As I said, I already have something working on paper, I know what some of the problems are and I'm solving what I can.
But would definitely be better to have someone with experience and expertise with me, not just rookies or programmers.

So d08, if you (or anyone else) is interested, we can talk in private.

I repeat, the main issue is trust and my idea of solving this is starting a business.
As everyone will get equity, there's the incentive of staying together and making this work rather than snatching and running.
That of course, unless you happen to work for 'the competition', some already established hedge fund, case when my knowledge would make a nice addition to your portfolio of strategies.

So it's not easy but I gotta start somewhere.
 
d08 said:
I've shared some data with other ET members under the assumption I'd get other data back, a trade -- guess what, the people disappear or give some lame reason that it's not what they were looking for once you do your part. There are some honest people on ET but that's a minority.
More...

Very true, this has been the case for me countless times. You also have to realize that not everyone will view a problem in the same way or see things from your vantage point. Most people do not have the expertise so I am not sure what you are going to find out there. You can draw up a NDA which would offer some protection. I would be happy to look at it and sign a NDA.

You have to test and retest multiple times to find the leaks in the system.
 
  • Like
Reactions: d08
d08 said:
There are some honest people on ET but that's a minority.
More...


The guy walks into the whorehouse.

He looks at the girls there and says to the Madam: "You know, all of them are real whores, don't you have any honest women?"

"Oh , we sure do have honest women, Sir" -answers the Madam - "but they are very, very expensive"
 
Aquarians said:
@d8: trusting people is hard, especially on the internet.

I'd much rather prefer to find some local guys to work with but unfortunately I haven't found them yet. I'm pretty sure I'm the very odd exception in the area I live in.
I tried local "investor clubs": lame amateurish stuff, mostly Forex based on technical analysis. Tried local university, started a math PhD, taught some math classes just to figure out the quality of the student material: OK-ish as programmers but useless in math and generally thinking with their own head as opposed to being told what to do.

I'll keep looking locally but I think I've got much better chances of finding someone on the Internet. The main issue is of course, trust.
My idea is to start a business in this options trading niche. Main goal is to actually make profits, case when I can register an investment advisor company and get capital.
I actually know several people who have the cash in the millions of dollars range, but first I need to really really make sure the risk/reward of the stuff I do is well managed.

As I said, I already have something working on paper, I know what some of the problems are and I'm solving what I can.
But would definitely be better to have someone with experience and expertise with me, not just rookies or programmers.

So d08, if you (or anyone else) is interested, we can talk in private.

I repeat, the main issue is trust and my idea of solving this is starting a business.
As everyone will get equity, there's the incentive of staying together and making this work rather than snatching and running.
That of course, unless you happen to work for 'the competition', some already established hedge fund, case when my knowledge would make a nice addition to your portfolio of strategies.

So it's not easy but I gotta start somewhere.
More...

I was just sharing my experience. I'm not really looking for investors as I've been burned before. There's plenty of money around when one has a solid multi-year track record. A NDA assumes I have solid lawyers and willing to come after any violators, which is very tricky when it comes to trading.
 
d08 said:
I was just sharing my experience. I'm not really looking for investors as I've been burned before. There's plenty of money around when one has a solid multi-year track record. A NDA assumes I have solid lawyers and willing to come after any violators, which is very tricky when it comes to trading.
More...

Interested in hearing your experiences. Have you posted any details before?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top