Brian, I look at the overall bell curve in MCS testing. If I am getting upwards of an 80% probability that I will achieve decent average returns with a limited average drawdown, for trades within the system, then I have found a good system.
Once I find a good system, ONLY THEN do I do the backtesting for optimization. More recent data will generally offer better results, in predicting the near future - or so others have told me. I have yet to prove that statement on my own. One thing I should mention is that I no longer spend time backtesting for optimization. The reason being that the trader himself (or herself) is a very large component of the system, and the trader is not being "optimized." Therefore, statistically speaking, it makes no sense to optimize a system unless the system will be 100% completely automated with no human intervention of any kind. This includes automated stops and what not. If you intend on building a "black box" system, then optimize it. Otherwise, IMO, your time will be much better spent optimizing yourself through learning money management practices that are designed to control your emotional response to fear and greed situations. Scaled trading methods (see Jesse Livermore) seem to be very good for doing this. This is what works for me. If it does not resonate with you, by all means keep looking ;-) I spent countless hours and months backtesting for optimizing systems only to ultimately realize it was a waste of MY time for any amount of MY discretionary trading. Hope this helps. ~rhelfer --- In [email protected], "brian_z321" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello ~rhelfer, > > What is the first one or two things that you look at in MCSimulations? > > Can you recommend anyone/anywhere as the best training source for MCS > applications to trading? > > Brian_z
