I've warned him and he still aggravates everyone and derails threads. He can't even write properly, people don't know what he's saying and I don't see him thinking through any posts at all. He's clearly a net negative, I've given him a chance to think about his posting but its pretty clear he's going to force my hand later, so why not draw a hard line now?

so, what's the spread usually on VIX? I grabbed some data off yahoo finance but it's just closing prices

I've been reading many TA books.

There is one thing that I've either skimmed past or isn't in them.

How do I start building my own system?

Is there a step by step anywhere?

I don't even know what goes into it.

Cheers,

Josh

Here's a great resource for systems.

http://www.seykota.com/tribe/TSP/index.htm

Dustman,

Thanks a ton. Looking at it now.

Josh

The whole point of building a system is there isn't a step by step, you're using what you know about the market and how it works to create an edge. Most trading platforms will allow for mechanical trading, then you have to code in what rules you're after. Most will have sample templates for a system.

This link is 3 years old? Try something more modern:

http://www.marketsci.com/recent.html

I found Van Tharp's TYWTFF really useful for thinking about system design.

I have a related question..... I kind of have a system half designed - basic equity trend following type stuff. I then wanted to add some fundamental filters to it so I went away and did some reading on that too.

But now everything is soooo complicated - there are literally dozens of different factors to weigh up. So know I have gone from trying to design a mechanical system, but have ended up with something much more discretionary.

I still have mechanical screening criteria, and mechanical stop-loss points, and mechanical position sizing, and some mechanical exits, but I'm making judgment calls on which trades to actually make, by taking into consideration the whole "big picture".

Is this wise at my early stage?

The important point being that it is NOT simple to find an edge...you have to be pretty clever and be willing to think "outside the box" (a part of me just died for saying that). TA is a pretty efficient method (ie, people a LOT smarter with bigger resources have probably already tried the standard ways of being a quant...) so you're taking on the BIG boys this way. In order to win, you have to be very clever and not rely on simple systems - you have to be original and THEN use the technical tools to implement it.

I wasn't really planning on building an automated trading thing.

More of setting up what I was calling a "system" but maybe moreso
mean a plan of like what patterns i can trade, when to come in, out... etc

risk/reward rules... it seems i'm really lost.

This is a complete waste of time besides for getting experience programming. For algo systems you really probly want to start with Acrary's threads on elitetrader.com and the book Evidence Based Technical Analysis..You can at least get from that the idea of backtesting against a random variable instead of backtesting on what will end up as nothing more than data snooping and over optimization..Even then though, retail algo software is a complete joke that borders on a marketting scam.
Seykota has a website because Seykota was left in the dust 20 years ago.
Jim Simmons doesn't have a website that tells you what to do and you have to trade against him.
Really, your best bet is to forget algo trading unless you want to under take a decade long project and just forward test your brain on charts..

PM Performify and ask him about his ideas on moderating. You'd learn a lot.

Who should I PM about making vague backhanded posts?

Whom

anyone know where i can get some historical data (just closing prices fine) of the SP500, but accounting for dividends? Or just data on the dividends the SP500 has payed out (as I can get the unadjusted data from yahoo or wherever)?