1. Begin by checking for bad data in your historical data files. It is not unusual to find many imperfections in the large volume of open, close and volume figures that make up a historical database. Investigator searches for items such as an open or close value higher than the days reported high, or sub-zero values. Investigator makes it simple to locate such imperfections, and correcting such bad values will improve your testing accuracy
2. Next use Investigator’s simple point-and-click mechanisms to define and historically test a system. Investigator will take the parameters you’ve defined and rapidly assess their success against your historic data, reporting the number of successful trades that would be entered, risk/reward ratios, and other validation data.
3. Review the trades discovered in step two, and determine if the system could use fine tuning. Investigator allows you to check the results in three ways: scan overall test run results in summary form, view individual trades sequentially in chart form, with entry and exit points identified using Investigator’s TradeWindow feature, and view a list of trades showing overall account activity and trade-for-trade returns. Systems can be improved by finding ways to eliminate the worst trades in the sequence, modifying entry or exit points to maximize returns, and generally refining the parameters to meet your risk criteria. Investigator’s user interface makes such fine tuning simple, and several iterations of such improvements can produce a substantially more profitable system than your first pass.
4. Add the successful system to your system library. At any time during system testing and analysis, the most recently tested system can be added into your overall library of trading systems. If you choose not to add the system at this time, you can add the most recently tested system after choosing the Systems.. Retest a System…Recent Test System menu selection, or you can add a new system by choosing the Add New System menu selection.
5. Download daily quotes and run a system library test. Investigator is optimized to quickly assess trades you should be entering and exiting, and stops you should be moving. This option can also be run automatically when the program launches.
6. View your active trades. Track your success automatically using Investigator’s chart or list formats.
Investigator’s success formula not only simplifies and greatly automates your trading process, it subjects your decisions to rigorous mathematical scrutiny, thereby removing subjectivity from your decisions.
Stop reviewing charts manually; let Investigator do the work for you and clear your decisions of emotional bias.