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(c) System Trader 24 - José Cruset
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How sure can I be that a trading system will continue to make profit?

A trading system that has a statistical positive expectation (a profitable average trade), is likely to be profitable in the future. However, because price patterns may not repeat in precisely the same way in future, a system may not achieve profits/losses similar to hypothetical testing. To overcome this problem, you must ensure that the system is robust. A robust system can handle a variety of market conditions, across many markets and time frames. A robust system is also not overly sensitive to the values of parameters and is also not an overly complex system with many rules which merely captures nuances within the test data, which may never repeat. Before we publish our systems they are tested over a several year period across several markets and with different parameters. So, we make sure the system is robust.

Disclaimer

However, all system development and testing is always based on past data. So, even if you try to develop a robust system, there is never any guarantee that system results are in any way similar as they were during backtesting.

The CFTC requires the following disclosure statement in reference to hypothetical results:

HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN. IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM.
ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK IN ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS.


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