Here’s another reader question, this time from Danny S. (name used with permission, lightly edited for readability).
Danny S.:
I’ve been listening to the podcast, great content! I’ve mostly done manual trading, but also dabbled in automated trading, mainly on futures through Tradestation.
Is it reasonable to have intraday automated systems run during the day while I’m at work during EST hours? I haven’t looked at Amibroker, but I am confident I can learn it. Or is that idea too risky?
Dave:
Is it reasonable or too risky?
It all depends on your risk preferences and the confidence in your strategies.
Some traders can easily overcome the mental hurdle of automated trading without constant supervision, but others feel the need to watch things like a hawk.
There’s definitely a path to get there, and I’ve worked with several traders to become comfortable enough to do it.
Here’s the thing:
It’s not all or nothing – there’s a continuum from completely manual to fully automated, unsupervised trading.
There’s a whole range of things you can do to move down that continuum.
Every step you take down that range will improve your trading, regardless of whether you make it all the way to the last step of full automation while you’re at work.
The first step is backtesting a strategy and getting it in good enough shape to trade.
Staring at a great-looking equity curve you’ve created is usually all the motivation you need to start taking steps toward automation.
If you’ve used TradeStation, you’ll have no problem using Amibroker, and your backtesting will get a lot better and faster, thanks to the ability to add custom columns to your backtest.
(It’s mind-boggling to me why TradeStation hasn’t added that feature; there’s no way I could use it without that.)
Thanks for the question, Danny S. and good luck!
-Dave
