做个快乐的读书人

这一类书籍我很少会买。理由是，我真的很怕这类书籍。这类书籍有鸦片的成分。读了一些，就需要不停的找另一些更高层的书籍。不然，脑袋就是得不到应有的营养（呵呵）。但是，这回，还真的破戒了。或许，年龄的增长再加上宝贝女儿的到来真的改变了我不少。。。

结果，感觉还是怪怪的。刘墉的小故事其实很贴心。但，心灵上，我就是感觉不到那一股温馨。或许，年龄层还未到，或许家里的宝贝还没增添太多问题；因此，我还真的体会不到作者写这一本书的用心。

评分方面，基于个人感触不是太多，10分满分，我给个5分。无论如何，这本书我会好好珍藏。我相信，总有一天，我会把这本书重读，而这一天我的体会一定会更深刻，跟透彻。。。

Trading Systems: A New Approach to System Development and Portfolio Optimisation

Another investment stuff... well, World cup month... in order to force myself to be more productive, I purposely choose only topic that I am really keen. As such, I ended up reading only investment stuff during this "hectic" month, LOL.

Wow, this is a simple yet full of details book on system development. Before I continue, allow me to rate this book at 10/10. I think all traders need to have this book. Despite its simplicity, all necessary ingredients are presented. As such, it is a must read for beginners and it will be a good reference and refreshment for others too.

This is not a book showing exciting buy and sells signals. The whole concepts discussed are not direct. However, it provides proper guidelines and details explanation in a systematic manner. Having said that, please do not expect direct formulas and systems to make you rich in a quick manner. After all, system development is more than just buying and selling rules. This book at least helps traders to build up basic concept for further assessment into better stuff in long run. In short, grab a copy of this book and it certainly deserved a place in our book shelf.

Last but not least, listed below are some of the quotes that really "refreshed" me after more than 15 years in this industry. Great job by the authors!!!

If you make a bad trade, you have money management, you have a whole bunch of things that will come to your aid, and you're really not in so much trouble if you make a bad trade. But, if you miss a good trade there's really nowhere to turn. If you miss good trades with any regularity you're finished, you're doomed in this game. ~~~ Bill Eckhardt

The wider the sample size and the lower the number of variables, the better the estimation ~~~ Calculation of the degrees of freedom= whole date sample - rules and regulations - data consumed by rules and conditions.

The dangerous point for Monte Carlos analysis ~~~ you take a trades from the trading logic as you get them from your back-tests. But, what if this trading logic is only curved fitted and over optimized? The Monte Carlos cannot see this...

My concern is that people are using Monte Carlos as a certainty test. It isn't. It's a probability test.

Given enough complexity, it is always possible to fashion a rule that buys at every market low point and and sells at every market high point. This is a bad idea. Perfect timing on past data can only be the result of a rule that is contaminated with noise. In other words, perfect signals or anything approaching them almost certainly means the rule is, to a disturbing degree, a description of past random behavior (i.e. over-fitted). 

If your trading system is simple enough but has a sound logic with valid rules, it is able to capture some parts of the recurrent predictable patterns but does not adjust itself to the market noise. 

It is often better to use just one or two indicators, or only the price itself... Adding more and more rules will just increase the adaption of your trading system to past market data, but it will not increase its predictive power for real trading. 

Be careful with short data samples regardless of timeframe or trading frequency. If your optimisation windows is short, it is more likely you will miss important data outside of the window. 

If you think that systematic trading is a job for life, please do not overrate the importance of programming skill.  

The more complex the system the more easily it will be over-optimised with too many variables or inputs. If you are not a sophisticated programmer this could be good luck because you will never run the risk of writing codes that are too lengthy. 

Trade Like a Pro: 15 High-Profit Trading Strategies

Another hedge fund stuff....

If "More Money Than God" enlighten me in various different ways, the previous book on "Trading Like a Hedge-fund" really disappointed me! Two extreme cases... so, "How to Trade like a Pro" may be another extreme case too, LOL.

At the end… hmm, not extreme at all, LOL…  The author started the book by giving details explanation on how exchange, market and products were built from day one. It is then followed by theories on risk management and mentality preparation on how to be a professional trader. Until then, I was actually quite impressed even though those things sound familiar to me.

Eventually, he moved into technical stuff by presenting several chapters (in fact until the final chapter) on how to trade efficiently.  I started to get very annoyed when the whole stories turned out to be a story purely about options. The worst part is… the author seems to be a very good politician. Although options are presented as main topic, but he did pointed out every weaknesses along each method. At the end, the method which was initially labeled as effective turns out to be something with flaws… Sounds weird but true….

At the end of this book, I really felt like this seems like a book either from brokerage firm or exchanges that are very much looking forward to promote various financial products to the public. No offence to the author. But, I really think KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) is the main key in every industries. Besides, this book is not applicable in certain local markets (Ex. Local derivatives markets). After all, our options sides in FKLI & CPO are still not active. In fact, even it is active; flaws as mentioned in the book surely did enough to scare off traders. End of the day, pricing is still pricing. Each added method will just add more complication

Having said that… I have no choice but to rate this book at 4/10. I would not say this is a bad book. However, the topic presented just does not suit my character. Besides, methods being discussed are not relevant in my situations. This book qualified as a good reference book. However, to trade like a pro, I still think there are better choices to refer to… Ding, ding, ding, time to move on…