Sidhartha, Perhaps we can learn a bit more if we do some dissection:
> Over recent years I have migrated away from rule based trading back >to > discretionary, and find myself developing some quite strong opinions > about rule based trading So far you haven't posted any strong arguments against 'rule based trading' .... are you holding back? More importantly..... my mini dictionary defines discretionary as "freedom to decide something" but so far not one discretionary trader has given us a PRECISE example of a trading decision that they make freely ..... free of what? ... if you are using an indicator, as a visual cue, and making a decision based on that visual input, is that a 'freedom of choice' decision OR did you just use the human computer (brain) to run a few lines of 'code'...... perhaps a level of consciousness that is present in the subconcsious mind (that is to say that most of us are not consciously aware of OR can interact with) can manage fuzzy logic, or similar, with ease ... dare I say even super-rationality? ~(left side - right side)~ Mark Douglas claims to experience a "transcendental state of consciousness where he is at one with the market and KNOWS what it is going to do" (my paraphrasing) ...... if any one in the forum can do that then I might consider that to be the ultimate in discretionary trading (no point in explaining it in too much detail if no one is actually doing it). brian_z --- In [email protected], "sidhartha70" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thought I'd try and start a discussion on this very important topic... > > Over the years I seem to have come full circle... back in 1994 > starting as a largely discretionary trader, I moved into 'rule based' > systems while working for Merrill Lynch back in 1997. I spent about 7 > years trading various types of rule based system. All variations on > statistical arbitrage themes. > > Over recent years I have migrated away from rule based trading back to > discretionary, and find myself developing some quite strong opinions > about rule based trading (opinions which I happy to have changed!!!). > > One thing that strikes me about this forum is the focus on 'rule > based' trading and backtesting/optimization of systems. Perhaps this > relates to the grounding of the product. I have been an owner of > AmiBroker for about 5 months now I guess... and it seems to me it's > strengths lie in backtesting & optimization (if only I had a product > like this back in 1997 my life would have been an absolute joy). > However, it's weaknesses seem to lie in it's charting (as has been > commented on a couple of reviews on Elite Trader) and particualrly the > openness & adaptability of it's charting framework. > > Anyway, I'd love to start an open discussion on 'rule based' versus > 'discretionary'... Pros, cons, differences, potential returns from > each route, does one route lead to the other etc..etc... > > I'm very much wanting to learn from opening this subject up. >
