What is an edge?

'Edge' is your betting advantage over randomness.

eg Casino roulette table, the house has 0 and 00 slots to provide edge. Otherwise the house would not make money.

In trading you cannot prove you have an edge, unless it is some sort of guaranteed arbitrage trade.

However you can see if your trading system had an edge in the past with backtesting/sim trading/live trading, and the hope is that the edge will continue to exist in future trading.
Never understood why anyone in the US bothers to play the 2 zeros of roulette.
In Europe there is only 1 zero and that is hard enough.
 
Never understood why anyone in the US bothers to play the 2 zeros of roulette.
In Europe there is only 1 zero and that is hard enough.
A lot of casinos only offer the US version, so there is no choice if you want to play.
 
A universal theme here is that among traders the term "edge" can have different meanings - but a common thread is consistency and repeatability in terms of taking money out of markets.

On the floor, it was simple. It meant for a floor trader capturing the bid-ask spread. (In other words, successfully buying bids and selling offers). Having said that, some floor traders developed more sophisticated edges - watching the stock market, the cash OTR treasuries, gold, oil, the yen...

Aside from spoofing or quote stuffing - almost by definition an algo or automated strategy features an edge. For example, lead-lag strategies trade one instrument directionally based upon the movement bias of another highly correlated instrument(s).

Some edges I've seen are rules-based. For example - if the ES is negative for the session at 12:30 pm, short the futures and cover at the close.

My point being, the nature of an "edge" varies from trader to trader but the theme is universal.
 
i have been hearing this word from all the experts ,what the hell does it mean?

Based upon the dozens and dozens of threads at this forum about that specific topic involving the word "edge"...I'm a little surprise you don't just review those threads that everybody gave their opinion about the definition, explanation, debates, arguments and personal attacks involving the word "edge". :D

No matter how many threads are started each and every year about this topic...nothing will change.

wrbtrader
 
Call me pedantic, but I think that's an "illustration" or an "example" of edge, rather than a "definition" of it.
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I looked it up, + Ela, [ M Websters] like my elementary ed teacher told me.Gambling@ poker with a poker face is not an edge@ all. Counting cards @ black jack could be, briefly?? BUT one that did that= revealed some got beat up, one got run out with a ''accidental busted brake line''And another casino, said/ordered ''get out'' WHY??Then the liars/casino told him in the casino ''no reason, [LOL] get out of the casino''[NOT that trading/investing is gambling]Webster also defines edge as ''a favorable margin'' BUT leverage/margin is almost always NOT an edge for young trader/investor. Another example of edge; MS market maker[ Joshua likeman , i mean Joshau Lukeman] noted Market Makers Edge=6 month cadlechart:cool::cool::caution::caution::caution::caution::caution: :caution:
 
90% of my edge comes from having strong risk/trade mgmt, the right mind set (psychology), and following a disciplined approach in following the processes while not giving in to fear, greed, ego, impulses. etc. . Entry signals and all that goes with it like, probabilities, seasonal influence, back/forward testing, etc accounts for the least significant part of trading - the bottom 10%.

Entering positions at the perfect price will not translate to a winning trade if your position size is to big, the slighest counter move spooks you out. Good entry signals come & go, they are only in sync with the market only at times which is why risk/trade mgmt & having the right psychology wins the game - not entry signals.

I do care about having a high probability of following my trading plan & processes, I could care less what the market probabilities are - some of the biggest winners come from low probability trades.

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Good thing trade id is only 10 %. NOT sure that that is @ all.LOL:D:D BUT since the WSJ thinks a buy/ low PE is some sort of edge; i better stick with HI .......PE, as I see in old Investors Business Daily/Weekly.
 
A trader who's a whiz at number crunching, has source of extensive live data, can see statistics on screen most others don't have, is a sharp trader, do they have an edge?
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Sure could;
even though i did/do much better off old charts/paper charts.I seldom use live data, or line charts; except for some live entries/candlecharts.:caution::caution:And with all dues respect to Mr Ed Seykota/Schwager, i dont consider live quotes a ''slot machine'' unquote, but he lived much closer to Vegas than i do.He did have a great illustration about jade being worth more than green tree frogs.LOL
 
I like that so many of you don't believe in an EDGE...please keep it that way. If you think about it, the majority isn't supposed to have an edge anyways. So many of you are closed minded thinking that an ETer can't possibly have an edge. I try to be open minded enough to believe some of you make a good living waiting for big winners to make up for many losses...even though it's against my nature.
 
I think the main thing is a card counter or casino can be absolutely/mathematically sure they have an edge.

A speculative trader can never be sure. So you trade and if your edge holds up you make money but if it doesn't then you don't.

At the end of the day a trader is reliant on other market participants behaving in certain way to help his trades follow through without getting stopped out.
 
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...l-look-like-idiots-once-in-a-while-2017-10-26

Stock going up over time shows that prices are not random. If we have a longer term trend then therefore it suggests that there are shorter term trends.

An edge is a profitable trade setup based on the trend. This can mean above a 55% win rate for an equal target vs stop.

Using software like Ninja Trader, you can run a report based on all your trades that will give you a win% plus other statistics.

By watching charts and testing trade setups, you can come up with a profitable strategy if you are able to follow the rules that you setup. This might mean, quit after a $ 300 loss for the day. Or don't take more than 5 trade setups during the day. Or don't trade after hours due to low volume. Don't trade during barb wire pattern. Be patient and wait for a trade setup instead of forcing a trade.
 
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