I have been trading for 18 years now mostly stocks and options, and have decided to dive in to trade futures for the last two years. My background is engineering and am still in the workforce.
I will be journaling here my foray into Algorithmic trading.
Let me start with a couple of quotes from Mark Douglas in his book Trading In The Zone, on what it takes to be a successful trader:
"You will need to learn how to adjust your attitudes and beliefs about trading in such a way that you can trade without the slightest bit of fear, but at the same time keep a framework in place that does not allow you to become reckless.
Market analysis is not the path to consistent results. It will not solve trading problems created by lack of confidence, lack of discipline or improper focus
The first issue we are dealing here is emotion (the proverbial fear, greed, remorse and regret). We all know how harmful it can be when it comes to trading. I sometime dread the feeling before the market opens thinking how I would be trading for the day. Will I be more conservative today because I was positive yesterday or more aggressive because I lost yesterday or vice versa? Then I will become too anxious on how to enter when my set-up finally appears, thinking that I might be too early to enter the trade, or the feeling fear of missing out. When I am on the trade I don't want to leave my computer, scared of the trade going against me, or letting go of any profits if I left it too long. Then there is always the feeling of regret and or superiority after the trade. No wonder people agree that trading is one of the hardest thing to do.
The second issue is discipline, focus and time. Trading can be a time consuming task. Its easy to spend hours analyzing charts, eventually falling victim to analysis paralysis.
Algorithmic trading has promises to deal with these issues.
Even with my background, this is still new endeavor, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced this is the way to go, at least for me.