A Guide To Creating A Successful Algorithmic Trading Strategy

Where do you get algorithmic trading strategy ideas? They're everywhere, but they require your intuitive sense to recognize, and they must be easy to explain. You can't find a successful trading system by combining indicators, time periods, patterns, and other techniques in a computer. You will find something that worked brilliantly in the past, but with little hope of working in the future.

You must start with a sound premise. That could be:

• Trends based on interest rate policy set by the Fed
• Seasonal patterns that exist in agriculture, airline stocks, vacation resorts, heating oil, and other stocks and commodities
• Exploiting the difference between two similar stocks, such as two chip manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, or home builders (stock arbitrage, or pairs trading)
• Buying or selling price volatility before an earnings report or after a price shock
• Fading an upgrade announcement by a major firm (old news by the time it prints on the screen)
• Same-time-next-month patterns, when funds redeem and add to their positions
• The 3-day cycle, based on human nature, but dependable for 50 years
• Weekly patterns, such as "Up on Monday, down on Tuesday"

There are many others, but to recognize these opportunities you must trade. Trading is the best way to concentrate your attention on the market and absorb the effects (on your money) of economic reports, geopolitical events, and specific company news. With money in the market, your focus on price movement is greatly increased and you look to quickly resolve the problems that cause losses.

With decades of experience in almost every market, Kaufman provides algorithmic trader aspirants guidance on how to develop their first insights as traders, and then provides them with the essentials of how to turn those insights into profitable strategies and lessons on how to trade for a living.

PERRY J. KAUFMAN is a leading investment consultant with more than forty years of experience in the equity and derivatives markets. He is the author of twelve trading books, includingTrading Systems and Methods, Fifth Edition; A Short Course in Technical Trading; Smarter Trading; and Global Equity Investing. Perry continues to be a pioneer in the use of computer models for making financial decisions.