Hi from a new trader

[keymoo]

Hi there,

Just found your forum this week. I must say thanks for a very well-designed and polished site. Lots of hours of work gone into that, well done.

About me
I worked for banks in London for 10 years developing and supporting trading systems. We're talking about the big boys here. I want to learn to trade for myself now after working for those guys for so long. I've learnt a lot from this site already, thanks a lot!

keymoo

[MrPaul]

	Quote:	keymoo
	Hi there, Just found your forum this week. I must say thanks for a very well-designed and polished site. Lots of hours of work gone into that, well done. About me I worked for banks in London for 10 years developing and supporting trading systems. We're talking about the big boys here. I want to learn to trade for myself now after working for those guys for so long. I've learnt a lot from this site already, thanks a lot!

Welcome to the forums keymoo!

sry if your post reads at the bottom " Last edited by MrPaul : Today at 02:28 PM." I hit edit instead of quote...

[Soultrader]

Hi keymoo,

Welcome aboard. Very interesting background you have with trading systems. So are you trying to learn a discretionary approach to trading? Or do you plan to trade a system?

Soultrader

[keymoo]

I know that most systems don't work, so if I use a system it will be something I have grown myself using ideas from other people blended with my own. I'd like to use a system to guide me to entries and exits but also use some discretion too. I have paper traded 3 or 4 systems and none of them have worked very well at all, on paper, so on a live account I'm sure they'd be a disaster.

Favourite markets for me are the ER2 and ES, also forex, but I only trade forex on news releases. Forex seems a bit dirty to me with all the bucket shop brokers and I try and keep away from it, however news trading is so much fun that I can't resist it.

[torero]

Hi keymoo and welcome aboard!

If you look around you'll find the right forex brokers now. Markets are changing, check out MBTrading, EFX and OANDA sites and google non-dealing desk brokers should get you started on your search for the right broker.

Great background and very interested in asking you the BIG question: did the systems the big boys have worked and lasted as long as they expected to? Are they are complex as us outsiders rumor them to be?

[keymoo]

Thanks.

If you saw what the big boys do you would panic. They have ARMIES of IT people, economists, strategists, analysts, etc, building systems, data modeling, etc, the works. A few systems I worked on cost the banks 10s of millions of dollars to develop.

That's how serious they are. You better make sure you do your research, lol!

[torero]

That's great to see all these people employed, but the final result is what? measly 10% annual return? And the rest of their income in from bank fees? I'm not saying I'm a great system developer, just a simple trader who still has mountains of things to learn, but I find it hard to believe an institution can rake in beyond 20% consistently based on systems. Bruce Kovner's hedge fund is one I know has been doing well except this and last year. Are systems as complex as these can still bring in superior return? That's the question that piques my curiosity.

[torero]

I see you're up early for the forex market too eh?

[keymoo]

Look at Goldman Sachs profits. A lot more than 20%. All I am saying to you guys is, the professionals hire the brightest IT minds in the industry, get them to model systems you and I would never have a hope in modeling. They have the edge, and deserve respect when trading. If Goldman Sachs places a Buy order for 1000 S&P contracts, the market takes notice. What do they know that we don't know?

Some banks trade for their own account and some are more conservative with clients' capital, I agree. People like Goldman are much more aggressive.

[hechua]

Hi keymoo,

Welcome on board.

A successful trading system after back-testing shd work in real trading. If it does not work is because the trader does not follow the rules of the system.

Besides, don't trade on systems developed by other people. The systems probably are not appropriate for you in terms of risking-taking, time-frame, volatility, etc.