If you've ever wondered if you're curve fitting with your trading strategy, this episode is for you.

We discuss:

• Curve fitting is a continuum, not a binary yes/no condition
• Every strategy has a little bit of curve fitting
• Let's say you wanted to maximize curve fitting. What would you do?
• Easy ways to avoid curve fitting

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Michael and I discuss how to think about improving your column library over time.

We discuss:

• How your column library is like a shared software library: build once, reuse everywhere
• Continuous variables are better than binary variables (e.g. Above/below a moving average)
• The MACDV case study - MACD normalized by ATR
• How intra-trade columns allow testing multiple concepts with a single backtest

And much more...

Here's a link to the previous episode mentioned: The Key to Backtesting - Your Library of Columns

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Topics discussed:

• Profitable traders don't follow the crowd - or any particular trading guru
• Healthy attitude towards trading and risk
• Making great trades is the goal - ironically, the money is almost secondary
• Day trading is key (don't believe me? Just do the math)
• Automation is a massive trading edge

Much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

We discuss:

• Python is a great general-purpose language, but that's what makes it a bad choice for backtesting
• Iterating on your strategies is the critical piece - anything that makes that more complex will make things more difficult
• In a world of LLMs, the argument for using Python for everything makes less sense
• Choose your tools based on profit potential, not because "I like Python and am good at it."

Much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Topics include:

• Batteries Data Not Included - the best way to get data into Amibroker
• The code that adds custom columns in Amibroker is resource-intensive
• Quirks with databases in Amibroker
• Your computer hardware matters with Amibroker (get more RAM)

Dave's hardware specs for his backtesting computer.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

We go over:

• How "visual" backtesting is not real backtesting
• Discretionary traders try to replace what they're doing with automation - but that's wrong
• How to create a completely new strategy from the ground up to be automated
• How to build your "idea noticing" muscle

Much more.

Here's the book mentioned in the show: The Art of Noticing

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Dave continues helping Michael create a first backtest in Amibroker. You might think "backtesting is backtesting," but we cover many of the differences between RealTest and Amibroker, as well as their implications.

We discuss:

• What makes AI so bad at generating good AFL code for a backtest in Amibroker
• The better you get at understanding how AFL works, the better your use of AI gets
• How a column library makes all the difference in creating P&L
• Quick backtests can promote bad habits

And much more...

Dave also announces the new MabeKit AFL Generator tool.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Dave offers advice and feedback to Michael, who is learning to use Amibroker for the first time.

He's coming from RealTest, so we go over the similarities and differences between the two platforms.

We discuss:

• How RealTest is great for daily data, but hits a wall for most intraday trading strategies
• Amibroker is not just a backtester; it’s a full charting, analysis, and execution environment.
• Backfilling with IQFeed versus Polygon (there is really no contest)
• Best practices for databases in Amibroker

Much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

We discuss the actual nuts and bolts of what running your trading like a franchise means:

• Systematize everything
• A process for eliminating low-value work
• What makes sense to outsource and what you should keep in-house
• Make your trading survive without you

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

As traders gain experience, the problem shifts from not having enough ideas to having too many ideas competing for limited time and mental energy. Without a system, this abundance quickly becomes overwhelming and leads to paralysis or procrastination.

We discuss the ICE method - a simple scoring method to determine which ideas to work on first.

Spreadsheet Link https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iWG87jZ7KiANQzH9O8KwgtRRl5Wcd60Q/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112987133391354450813&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!