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.

Survey Results - Hybrid Traders

For people who identified themselves as "hybrid" traders - that is, they use a mix of discretionary and mechanical methods, the survey shows the following:

Most hybrid traders lose

Hybrid traders who backtest for longer periods of time have a higher chance of success

Survey Results - Discretionary Traders

Of the people who identified themselves as discretionary traders, most perform backtests less than 1 year duration.  Could this be why most are losing money?

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If you like my blog, please vote!

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Survey Results - Part 1

Thanks to everyone who participated in my survey.  The next 2 or 3 posts will present the results.  Hopefully, knowing the results of a large group of people will give you some guidance into what is "best."

As a reminder, here were the questions:

1. What kind of trader would you consider yourself?

2. Do you perform historical testing before trading a strategy with real money?

3. For the past 3 years, how would you describe your real money trading results?

Here are the results:

1. What kind of trader would you consider yourself?

2. Do you perform historical testing before trading a strategy with real money?

3. For the past 3 years, how would you describe your real money trading results?

In the next post, I'll dig a bit deeper and try to find out answers to questions like:

"What type of trader is more likely to be profitable?"

"Does backtesting length influence future profits?"

Etc.

STAY TUNED!!


************************************************************************

I am honored that this blog, "A Robot Trader Becomes Human," has been nominated as "Best Trading Blog of 2012" by the good folks at TraderPlanet.com.

If you like my blog, please vote!

A Robot Trader Becomes Human

Vote here:  http://www.traderplanet.com/l/2Kc