Trade with the Odds: How To Construct Market-Beating Trading Systems, + Website

Chapter 3

Performance Measures

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

—Mark Twain

This chapter contains instructions on how to produce descriptive statistics, as well as how to apply them. As we progress, the correct interpretation of our statistics will be directly responsible for formulating our trading decisions.

For those readers already familiar with writing equations or using shortcuts to hasten the process of arriving at your answers, you can give these aspects just a cursory review. However, a working knowledge of these statistical functions is necessary, because they are responsible for constructing new strategies and perfecting your understanding of this material.

Measuring Return

Let’s begin ...