Survey Results - Mechanical Traders

Taken as a group, people who identify themselves as 100% mechanical traders are more profitable than either pure discretionary or hybrid traders.

Only 27% of pure discretionary traders reported that they were profitable the last 3 years.  The number jumps to 43% for hybrid traders, and then jumps again to 55% for mechanical traders.

So, according to this survey, you are twice as likely to be profitable if you are 100% mechanical, as opposed to 100% discretionary.

The other interesting point here is that mechanical traders who backtest for more than 1 year tend to be more profitable.  Not surprising to me, but hopefully it is enlightening to those traders out there who feel long backtests are pointless.