Kahler’s fair bet volatility

Volatility is a measure of risk. It describes how far a commodity will most probably move within a given period of time. The most common measure for volatility is historical volatility. But I do not like the complicated formula for standard deviation. There has to be a better way to explain and calculate volatility…. Implied… Continue reading Kahler’s fair bet volatility

Using Autocorrelation for phase detection

Autocorrelation is the correlation of the market with a delayed copy of itself. Usually calculated for a one day time-shift, it is a valuable indicator of the trendiness of the market. If today is up and tomorrow is also up this would constitute a positive autocorrelation. If tomorrows market move is always in the opposite… Continue reading Using Autocorrelation for phase detection

Measuring your EDGE in algorithmic trading

There are a lot of statistics which can be used to describe algorithmic trading strategies returns. Risk reward ratio, profit factor, Sharpe ratio, standard deviation of returns… These are great statistics, but they miss an important factor: Are your returns statistically significant or just a collection of lucky noise. The EDGE statistic might me the… Continue reading Measuring your EDGE in algorithmic trading

Ranking: percent performance and volatility

When ranking a market analysts usually pick the percent performance since a given date as their key figure. If a stock has been at 100 last year and trades at 150 today, percent performance would show you a 50% gain (A). If another stock would only give a 30% gain (B), most people now would… Continue reading Ranking: percent performance and volatility