Manual trading is your best way to lose money

[AriaS]

The logic:
1. If you can't tell a machine how to perform your strategy, then you simply don't have a strategy. Strategy = clear rules. No clear rules = no strategy.
2. If you do have a strategy, but insist on performing it yourself, your emotions will inevitably get in the way, sooner or later. Automation is the best way to prevent it.
3. Most strategies can't be reliably back-tested manually. No reliable back-testing = loss.

 

[Tytus_Barnowl]

Backtest manually by recording the price action. Then Forward test using the strategy you have developed on a paper trade basis. This allows you to record results as and when they happen. Also reasons why your strategy does not work sometimes. Only after knowing the asset price action can you have success in trading it. Automation is effectively "one size fits all".

 

[AriaS]

Backtest manually by recording the price action. Then Forward test using the strategy you have developed on a paper trade basis. This allows you to record results as and when they happen. Also reasons why your strategy does not work sometimes. Only after knowing the asset price action can you have success in trading it. Automation is effectively "one size fits all".

Can you manually backtest a statistically representative group of trades? It's not 10 trades and sometimes not even a 100. Do you have so much time? Besides, you nee to back test different setups. So it may well become thousands trades to backtest.

 

[steven46]

Hello
I post a thread whose title is "A Professional Approach to Trading"
I was trained by an institutional Professional and have been trading for
many years. I will be here for a short while longer while I pay forward
a debt my mentor requested.

Given that "self" intro, I would suggest that success in trading can be had
by smart programing and/or by a skilled practitioner. I have been posting
general information for traders who have not had success, and who want to
learn. The end goal for me is to help a few struggling traders to transition
from losing to winning, and to create a sustainable business within that process.

I inform interested parties that most of the volume generated in the most liquid
markets is automated and therefore it is possible for a skilled programmer to
create a successful bot, however its quite difficult because of the need to periodically
modify and/or maintain the code.

I would suggest that most civilians not working for an institutional employer or
a commercial entity would be unlikely to obtain long term success, and it is true
that manual trading even by a skilled professional also faces the same challenges
brought about by markets that cycle through various "regimes". Skilled programmers
will claim that they can manage these changes, but in truth they seldom do

I think it is incorrect to say that "Manual Trading is the Best Way to Lose Money"
Instead I think lack of education, and lack of discipline that are more direct causes

If this person is one of the lucky ones who has that ability to write good code
and handle the periodic maintenance, they deserve congratulations

Good luck