For a sustainable EA, how many trades per year will be needed at least? - page 2

[Sky All]

karpiem_diem:
At least 1 succesful trade.

For a sustainable EA, I don't think only/around 1 trade is enough...

[Koh Kok Yeow]

Just my two cents-if an EA only opens 1-2 trades each trading day, then it is no different from a day trader.  Isn't the point of an EA to be automated and captured as many opportunities as possible?

But of course, at the end of the day, only the ROI matters. 

[Pavel Nikolov]

My opinion is that if you are doing less than a few hundred trades per year, you should open the positions yourself with the same strategy. As a side note I wouldn't rely on backtest results with a few trades per year cause the results may be a random event.

[Sky All]

Koh Kok Yeow:

Just my two cents-if an EA only opens 1-2 trades each trading day, then it is no different from a day trader.  Isn't the point of an EA to be automated and captured as many opportunities as possible?

But of course, at the end of the day, only the ROI matters. 

You are right, Koh. 

Thank you so much. 

[Sky All]

Pavel Nikolov:
My opinion is that if you are doing less than a few hundred trades per year, you should open the positions yourself with the same strategy. As a side note I wouldn't rely on backtest results with a few trades per year cause the results may be a random event.

Thank you so much, Pavel. 

If we open heavy lot at a same time, it will be more risky. 

So I'm wondering a sustainable EA must could open positions more frequency. 

But I'm not sure, I'm still thinking about it... 

[Sky All]

Related topic: For a sustainable EA, how long period back test should be needed at least? (with 99% high quality back test data)

[Dominik Egert]

I am the opinion it is about the strategy in use.

Strategies for an EA are different than for a human trader.

It does not matter how many trades there are. One position a year could be enough in any strategy. Only the returns can determine this.

The returns are very dependable on the accounts capabilities, in terms of available capital and other money related parameters.

The amount of positions is could be compared with the amount of seats in a car, when buying.

It's just one parameter.

A possible condition for an EA strategy could be if it is very complex and needs fast execution, a human might struggle with it, but an EA won't.

On the other hand, there are strategies which simply cannot be executed by mechanics, within an EA. Because they take into account something a human can but an EA cannot, like intuition or experience, altering variable prerequisites for opening a position.

In general I would say, an EA is capable of executing hundreds of calculations within a blink of an eye and therefore should run a much bigger number of positions a year than a human.

But in the end, it all depends on the strategy.

A good example is the Elliot wave and the ABC/123 technique.

Both are very complex / impossible to calculate for an EA, but a human can spot them instantly.

Similar to ichimoku system. A human does not struggle applying it to his decisions, an EA will.

[Manpreet Singh]

Zhang Fengqun:

Dear experienced traders, 

How do you think for a sustainable EA, how many trades per year will be needed at least?

I know the important thing might not the amount of the trades,  but it is still an important question to design strategies. 

If you are using many kinds of strategies, you can choose more than 2 choice. 

Thank you in advance and best regards

Hi,

It doesn't matter how much trades you open,

-It depends on the percentage of profit you expecting from your invested funds in comparison to your other income sources, 

-Many of the traders earn higher profits by scalping (Taking multiple trades in a day with small profits and end the day with handsom money)

-Some traders took very few long term trades and hold them for many days, weeks and even for months and end those few trades with large profits.

So this all depends on the traders expertise, their patience level (for long term traders), their style of trading & their needs etc.

[Carmine Pinto]

If you have a very small number of trades, on yearly basis, you can't get any idea or hypothesis if your edge is a sustainable one, from a statistical point of view at least.

I would say that it would be convenient to estimate at least a couple of trades on weekly basis so 100+ trades each year.

This is only a small part of the considerations in order to assess a "sustainable" strategy.