Well I've been trying to get my strategies typed up so I can add them to the site. It's tough going but I'll get there eventually.

What I thought would be a good thing to do is try and come up with a template for documenting strategies. I don't want it to be to complex, I want everyone to be able to use it to have a written version of any strategy that they trade.

What I have tried to do is come up with a list of things that need to be considered in any trading strategy. This list will then form the basis of a strategy development template. Then when anyone wants to develop a new strategy all they will have to do is fill in the blanks.

The list I have so far is:

• Setup
• Entry triggers
• Stop placement
• % of funds to risk
• Position size
• When to move stops
• When to exit the trade
• Length of the trade

So now I'm throwing it open to the floor. What else do we need to consider when developing a strategy?
When we get this done I will add this to the site and possibly offer it as .doc download.

Every ones input will be helpful here. Don't be afraid to add to this there be things that you consider important to a strategy that others have not considered. For now lets just add to/modify the list above. When we feel we have a definitive list we can start and expand on each point in turn.

Lets make a really useful strategy development document. It'll give help to all the new comers to spread betting and hopefully get them on the road to successful spread betting.

Thanks in advance for your input.

_________________
May the markets be with you!

Harry,
The Spread betting beginner

I have been thinking about what is needed in developing a strategy, and I have realised that one of the things that I was failing in, was in recording the right information for subsequent analysis when entering a trade. For example if your strategy involves buying something when the RSI is below 30. When you enter a trade if you want to analyse how the performance of the trade varies with what the actually value of RSI was at entry, you need to record the values of RSI at entry and maybe if it was going up or down. Thus in developing a strategy, you also need to write down what information needs to be recorded for analysing the strategy. What do you think??
"Off the lip"

offthelip I agree. If you want to run analysis on any trading strategy then you need to record all the relevant information for that strategy.

I think you are right to point this out. At the moment I am trading according to my super trend strategy. This is a very simple trading strategy and involves buying/selling when price crosses the indicator. The indicator basically gives you the stop level for the trade so at the moment I am basically logging everything that is seen on my spread betting trades plus some additional notes.

I have yet to do any real analysis on any trading strategy but this is something that I need to look into.

I think for now we can add "Trade parameters to log" to our list. This would include any indicator or oscillator values that are used within the strategy.

• Setup
• Entry triggers
• Stop placement
• % of funds to risk
• Position size
• When to move stops
• When to exit the trade
• Length of the trade
• Trade parameters to log


You will notice that I have added my first draft of my super trend strategy to the site. This is a work in progress but please take a look if you get chance. So as to not hijack this forum topic I've created another where you can add any feed back about my strategy.

_________________
May the markets be with you!

Harry,
The Spread betting beginner