Trading Edge: Definition

[AgeKay 10]

Why does everybody quote Steenbarger. What does he know? He is not a professional trader. He even admits that he's not terribly successful at trading. He's just a psychologist that found an interest in trading and tries to relate everything about trading to psychology or things he found interesting about his clients. I do not disagree with Steenbarger in this case since what he says about edge is very true, but what he is saying most of the time is not going to help anybody trade better (it's more likely you become a psychologist).

[DbPhoenix 42]

Why does everybody quote Steenbarger. What does he know? He is not a professional trader. He even admits that he's not terribly successful at trading. He's just a psychologist that found an interest in trading and tries to relate everything about trading to psychology or things he found interesting about his clients.

 

One could say the same thing about Tharp.....

[Guest forsearch]

Why does everybody quote Steenbarger. What does he know? He is not a professional trader. He even admits that he's not terribly successful at trading. He's just a psychologist that found an interest in trading and tries to relate everything about trading to psychology or things he found interesting about his clients.

 

One could say the same thing about Tharp.....

 

Judge for yourself...

 

Here's the first 10 minutes of an hour-long video by Van Tharp on "Discplined Trading - How to Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom"...

 

You can find the remaining 5 segments on YouTube; after the video above is done...

 

-fs

[darthtrader2.0 10]

Why does everybody quote Steenbarger. What does he know? He is not a professional trader. He even admits that he's not terribly successful at trading. He's just a psychologist that found an interest in trading and tries to relate everything about trading to psychology or things he found interesting about his clients. I do not disagree with Steenbarger in this case since what he says about edge is very true, but what he is saying most of the time is not going to help anybody trade better (it's more likely you become a psychologist).

 

Well he is not a hedge fund manager but he has posted in his blog that he only trades the morning session mostly because it frees up the remainder of his day for his other pursuits. In a business loaded with such charlatans its hard to knock a guy who gives away so much valueable information for free.

 

To me an edge in trading is the sum total of what you do that beats the monkey throwing darts at a dart board. Of course this doesn't need to be backtested, you can forward test what your doing purely discretionary but you may not realize you have no edge until you blow up. I soppose the same thing goes for backtesting too in that you may not find out that your "edge" was just data snooping bias and that you didn't account for enough variables until you blow up.