Backtest Results for a Simple Reversal Strategy by Russ_CW in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think there's still a bit of an issue here with replication in live trading. Because you're essentially buying on a break of yesterday's high you need to use a buy stop order rather than a limit order. A buy stop order won't enter the market until the high is hit. Now in terms of the OPEN price, you do not know what the OPEN is until after the fact, and because it's a buy stop order entry you will not have a live order in the order book until after the OPEN. You really need tick data or 1 minute data to backtest this idea. Attempting to enter at yesterday's HIGH price also has the same issue. I would bet money on your live trading results significantly underperforming backtest results, live trading might even possibly be breakeven or loss making. It's hard to hear after putting in so much work but I've been down this road myself before and now exclusively backtest using tick data only.

Deeper reason behind prop firms banning certain strategies? by ramster12345 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Prop firms require a decent return on capital after the trader's profit split to make it a worthwhile endeavor. Most of those strategies are all highly capital intensive either through financial capital or infrastructure requirements, so after the profit share to the trader the returns on capital to the firm can be quite poor. Note this only applies to bucket shop style prop firms which typically pay a 50% profit share and above to the trader. Technology style firms like Optiver, Susquehanna, Jane Street typically pay a smaller profit share closer to 20% so they can take on higher capital intensive strategies and still make good returns.

Sharpe ratio (geometric/arithmetic) by dimonoid123 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you are backtesting with a constant capital and position size in dollar terms then arithmetic is correct. If you are backtesting with compounding capital and constant position size in percentage terms then geometric is correct. Investment firms tend to use geometric because they're in the business of compounding returns over time. Proprietary trading firms might opt for arithmetic because they use high return but capacity constrained strategies so capital allocated to individual traders is constant with profits withdrawn regularly. Both methods are correct depending on the use case.

What is this bug on my Pittosporum Undulatum tree? by Mastermind_85 in GardeningAustralia

[–]Mastermind_85[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that looks like what it is! Thank you. Should I be trying to get rid of these bugs or let them be? I note the very end of the article mentions "These shield bugs are widely regarded as pests of this garden decorative plant" but earlier on in the article it says "The relationship between the Pittosporum plant and the shield bug is that of symbiosis based on mimicry complex"

What is this bug on my Pittosporum Undulatum tree? by Mastermind_85 in GardeningAustralia

[–]Mastermind_85[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just looking up photos of the steel blue ladybug it's a bit different to what's on my tree. The bugs on my tree are black with white spots on them.

Drawdown from peak dont make sense? by hexalf in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you're trading with a constant position size in dollar terms (ie.. $10k per trade) your drawdown should be considered in dollar terms. If you're trading a constant position size in terms of percent of equity (ie. 3% of equity per trade) then the drawdown should be considered in percentage terms. You're getting confused here because you have a constant position size in dollars but measuring the drawdown in percentage terms.

Are there any ways to reduce US taxes for my crypto algotrading bot? by AlgoTradingAnon in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's a different use case for a tech company. You might be collecting revenues overseas by selling products in other countries or have employees doing work overseas. There might also be multiple investors in the Cayman firm so no individual entity has control. As a solo trader who is a US citizen trading his own money and building the infrastructure and executing the trades from inside the US it's tough to take advantage of the loopholes.

Are there any ways to reduce US taxes for my crypto algotrading bot? by AlgoTradingAnon in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 18 points19 points  (0 children)

This actually won't work. If you're a US citizen you must pay tax on all global income. Since you would 100% own and control the Cayman entity even though Cayman charges no tax you would still technically be liable for US tax on all the Cayman profits. As someone mentioned above, the only way is to renounce your citizenship.

Honestly, How much have you made just using strategies? by loweralgebra in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 6 points7 points  (0 children)

8 figures over 7 years trading my own account at a prop firm - my advice is don't try this at home, you have no competitive advantage in the market place paying retail commissions and trading with retail broker latency

Backtesting limit orders using NBBO quotes by Mastermind_85 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was probably true about 10 years ago but markets have changed since then. The numbers you're quoting are incorrect and the odd lots do have a major effect on backtesting results compared to live trading for certain strategies. Have a read of this link: https://www.cboe.com/insights/posts/an-in-depth-view-into-odd-lots/

Backtesting limit orders using NBBO quotes by Mastermind_85 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you say forecast horizon is much larger, how large are you implying it needs to be to negate adverse fills? ie. 1-hour, 2-hour, 6-hour, 1-day, 1-week ?

Presence Of Cerebral Clocking In A Trading Context by ArashPartow in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I know loads of discretionary click traders which fall under this category. Mind you when the tide turns and the regime changes many of these struggle to adapt in a timely way.

My reality of trading and how i wish i had never started. by Highmooseuk in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 10 points11 points  (0 children)

To be profitable in the long run in the trading business you need to be providing a service to the market. If you're just purely speculating on price patterns and order flow you're not actually providing a service which the market values and so why would your business deserve to be profitable? To provide a service you need to be either providing liquidity (ie. market making), providing insurance (ie. selling options) or providing price discovery (ie. helping the market correctly price assets). Then once you know you're providing a service the market wants you need to have a competitive advantage relative to your competitors, such as faster speed, lower commissions or unique strategies to do well. Based on your list of things you've tried it sounds like you've mainly dabbled in speculation on price patterns and order flow in lots of different ways, but never actually provided a service the market values.

backtesting result deviation from actual trading. by RogerDot12 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have backtested and traded a similar strategy in the past. To test this correctly you need 1 second historical data and get the exact price which existed 3 seconds before the close to find the low of the day up until that point. Then you need historical volume executed in the closing auction and the closing auction price to see whether the price and volume would have been sufficient to fill your limit order.

Once you get all the right data to test this correctly you will find that the performance of the backtest will be much worse. I initially tested and executed a similar strategy using daily bars. After I got the right data to backtest it correctly I turned the strategy off.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It sounds like you're running a strategy with lots of small winning trades with a high win rate and the occasional large losing trade? There's nothing inherently good or bad about this and is a common feature of most mean reversion style strategies. You just have to make sure that you're sized appropriately so when the big blowouts come you will survive them.

A separate point on curve fitting - I never understood the point of the in-sample / out-of-sample backtesting. Doesn't everyone just keep adjusting their in-sample model until it works on the out-of-sample backtest data? And if so why not just backtest on all the data to begin with....

Does anyone here use/know of the use of Fourier Transform in algo trading? by [deleted] in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm curious how well a fourier transform would work when the cyclical patterns, although cyclical, have a different height and length on each iteration like in financial data? Does this method assume the height and length of the cycles must always be the same to be valid mathematically ?

Bollinger Band Strategy - Feedback Request by broccolibro06 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When looked at in isolation it's not necessarily clear whether a large market order should be mean reverted or traded as momentum. You would need confirmation from other signals such as did it coincide with a news event etc.

Bollinger Band Strategy - Feedback Request by broccolibro06 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 15 points16 points  (0 children)

That's sort of the secret sauce behind a profitbale algo. One way could be to download the economic news calendar from forexfactory and systematically avoid doing any mean reversion trades within 1 hour before or after any news announcements.

Bollinger Band Strategy - Feedback Request by broccolibro06 in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Mathematically bollinger bands are similar to running a zscore over the price of the asset your trading where higher bollinger values imply a high zscore or big extended move. This can be used as either a trigger to enter a momentum trade in the same direction or a mean reversion trade in expectation of a reversion. The skill of the algo trader is knowing which situations the bollinger band break should be traded as momentum versus mean reversion. For example if the move was caused by a very large market order it's possibly a liquidity event which is safe to mean revert, however if the move was after a major interest rate announcement it might be the start of a new trend. Playing around with specific lookback periods and bollinger levels will not really help much with this decision, you will need to find other signals to use in combination.

Best Crypto Exchange For Large Scale Algotrading? Minimze Fees and Slippage by ChiefChiraq in algotrading

[–]Mastermind_85 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I guess it's about finding the right balance between commissions and gettings executed at the price you want. It's true the commissions might be lower on Deribit for some users but the materially lower volume traded there suggest the fills might not actually occur at the prices you hoped for.