010: Perry Kaufman discusses applications of market noise, mitigating price shocks, volatility and using the Information Ratio to monitor strategy performance.

"I think most traders use canned indicators like a stochastic or RSI or MACD, with a fixed length without thinking much about them." - John Ehlers They take the default length, or one that performed well in a backtest, or even one that has been recommended by someone else, and they start trading with it. They may have a good run for a while... And then it falls apart for no explainable reason... The basic problem is that market conditions change, but indicators are fixed and don't adjust to changes in market activity. So how can we make our indicators more adaptive to market conditions? Take a listen as John Ehlers explains a technique we can use to build indicators that adapt to market conditions and also shares a simple trick to check if our indicators are in-tune with the markets or not.   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

13 Juli 20177min

I have to admit… I’m a bit of a sceptic. However, I’ve had so many people recommend meditation to me in the past. Successful people. People I have a lot of respect for. In fact, some of the previous podcast guests, some big names, have shared with me how powerful meditation has been for them, both personally and for their trading. But it’s not just traders, many successful business people swear by it too. So, what’s all the fuss about? I’m always on the lookout for anything extra that can give us an edge in the markets, so could meditation be something us traders can harness to our benefit? Or is it all just some weird mumbo jumbo sham? Well it’s time to find out, so in this episode I speak to Adam Grimes about meditation and trading, including: What is meditation, and does it actually work? What are the benefits and drawbacks of meditation and can it help traders become better? How to get started and what to expect. This is only a short episode, so even if you’re a sceptic like me and think this may have nothing to do with trading, I recommend you take a listen anyway. Try to approach it with an open mind and form your own opinion from there, so let’s jump over to our chat with Adam Grimes .   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

9 Juli 201735min

Today I want to share an optimization insight from Perry Kaufman. I was reading an article on a trading website and the author was making some assumptions based on the optimization results which may not have been entirely accurate. I think alot of traders can get caught up making this same assumption... I know I definitely have... And it's good to be reminded of these types of things so we don't make the same mistakes. Listen to Perry explaining what this assumption is, the danger in making it and how to overcome it.   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

7 Juli 20178min

A few years back I was on a holiday with friends at Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. We were cruising around the island in a golf buggy when a friend suggests we go to the shooting range. I'd never even touched a gun before but while we were there I decided to shoot a .44 Magnum... 'the most powerful handgun in the world' according to Dirty Harry! Take a listen to hear what happens next and how it applies to trading.   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

30 Juni 20176min

Indicators often form a large part of trading systems, however there are a number of issues caused by indicators that can result in under-performing trading strategies, like: they're reactive, instead of predictive, they have alot of lag, which means they're slow to respond to the markets, and they can often give you a signal too late so you’ve already missed some of the move or even a large part of the move! Today we talk to John Ehlers who is going to share with us a brand new indicator he's developed that overcomes alot of these issues. This new indicator: Minimises lag, Is very responsive to the market, and Gives a fast indication of turning points. Plus at the end of the chat we share how you can get a FREE copy of this new indicator to try it out for yourself.   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

25 Juni 201727min

I'm currently in Sydney for a week doing some work, and I'm staying in one of the hotels near circular quay, overlooking Sydney Harbour. I won't share name of the hotel because it's a well-known name, and it's actually a really nice hotel... However I had an experience with them when I was checking in that I wanted to share because I think it has some nice parallels to trading strategies. Take a listen!   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

22 Juni 20174min

Most trading strategies are built to find repeatable patterns in the market and then attempt to exploit any future occurrences of the pattern to make a profit. There are lots of different ways to find patterns, and in this episode Brent Penfold talks about patterns in price action. Brent is a full time trader, author, educator and licensed Futures Advisor, and in our chat you will learn: Why it can be better to focus primarily on price instead of a collection of indicators, How to identify patterns in price action, The dangers of trading stocks and why Futures are a superior trading instrument for active traders, How a ‘universal dataset’ can lessen the risk of datamining, How to blend individual systems into a portfolio to produce smooth equity curves. PLUS, we announce the lucky winner of the Better System Trader ‘Super-package’ giveaway, worth almost $20,000!   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

18 Juni 201735min

Jack Schwager returns to answer all your trading questions. Jack is a well known expert in the industry, working for some of wall streets leading firms and is also one of the founders of FundSeeder. Plus, he's the author of the best-selling series of 'Market Wizards' books, which I'm sure most traders on this earth have read! In this 2nd part of our chat with Jack, he answers all of the trading questions you submitted (well most of them anyway, unfortunately we didn't have all day to talk!) Plus, to celebrate the milestone 100th episode, we've got a huge giveaway worth almost $20,000 -  and one lucky trader is going to win it. Listen for more details and information on how to enter.   Disclaimer: Trading in the financial markets involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. All content produced by Better System Trader is for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute trading or investment advice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

11 Juni 20171h 5min