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Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

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Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#21

Post by startuprob »

mikecsh wrote: post #19
startuprob wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the great feedback. Do you think people would be too protective of their strategies to participate though?

You could keep the strategy hidden but allow users to follow the output signals. There are some sites which already do this or similar for both fundamental and technical strategies. Motley Fool comes to mind: http://caps.fool.com/

That's a very interesting idea. We've looked at Collective 2 and Currensee as they've done some similar things. Very interesting...

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#22

Post by mikecsh »

startuprob wrote: post #21
mikecsh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could keep the strategy hidden but allow users to follow the output signals. There are some sites which already do this or similar for both fundamental and technical strategies. Motley Fool comes to mind: http://caps.fool.com/

That's a very interesting idea. We've looked at Collective 2 and Currensee as they've done some similar things. Very interesting...

Stocktwits also has some similar vibes, there are a few others and I can't remember the specific one I was thinking of right now..

http://stocktwits.com/

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#23

Post by s_henry_paulson »

I built something similar for my own personal use, so it's very interesting to see something similar polished for mass consumption.

The only thing I'm confused about is what you get in the Pro version..

"3 Months of Unlimited Access to Every Area of QuantBlocks"

How is the user supposed to know what "every area" is? How could anyone expect to know what they get with a subscription? Most importantly, how could they know if a particular symbol would be available in the pro version, what about futures, forex, etc?

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#24

Post by mdupenois »

ukoki wrote: post #20
startuprob wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the great feedback. Do you think people would be too protective of their strategies to participate though?

Possibly. If you integrate with a trading platform you could always let other users subscribe to a strategy without knowing what the strategy is (eg they only know it's gained X% vs the S&P 500 in the last few months, the author's profile and that 5000 other users have 5MM invested in this strategy). However I have a feeling that a) the money from commissions and b) the feeling of being at the top of a list will comp…

It's funny that you mention it because, as Rob said, we've been playing with the idea of adding a competitive edge, but the commissions is a cool idea. We were also considering a kind of achievements approach as well as a leaderboard but want to try and keep the idea of it as a tool as opposed to a toy.

Love the data idea, in fact surplus of data is already a bit of an issue; we're running out of screen real-estate.

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#25

Post by startuprob »

s_henry_paulson wrote: post #23

I built something similar for my own personal use, so it's very interesting to see something similar polished for mass consumption. The only thing I'm confused about is what you get in the Pro version.. "3 Months of Unlimited Access to Every Area of QuantBlocks" How is the user supposed to know what "every area" is? How could anyone expect to know what they get with a subscription? Most importantly, how could they kn…

So what if we said "3 Months of Unlimited Access to Every Daily Upgrade" ??

We're doing daily agile upgrades so we're trying to communicate that they'll get access not only to ALL of the global equities data, but also all of the updates that we make in terms of ability to save strategies, indicators, etc.

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#26

Post by startuprob »

mikecsh wrote: post #22
startuprob wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very interesting idea. We've looked at Collective 2 and Currensee as they've done some similar things. Very interesting...

Stocktwits also has some similar vibes, there are a few others and I can't remember the specific one I was thinking of right now.. http://stocktwits.com/

Yeah, we love stocktwits :)

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#27

Post by phreeza »

startuprob wrote: post #11
adg001 wrote: post #8

A cautionary note on backtesting (ie, assessing how trading strategies would have performed over a historical period in time). If an a posteriori probability distribution is a good fit for historical events, it doesn't mean in any way it is going to fit future data points. It may or may not. Hence, use backtesting with care while trading.

Absolutely true, backtesting is not a guarantee of anything. That being said, I can't remember who said that "No model is perfect but some models are useful."

"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George EP Box.

I put that quote on the front page of my masters thesis.

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#28

Post by ukoki »

mdupenois wrote: post #24
ukoki wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly. If you integrate with a trading platform you could always let other users subscribe to a strategy without knowing what the strategy is (eg they only know it's gained X% vs the S&P 500 in the last few months, the author's profile and that 5000 other users have 5MM invested in this strategy). However I have a feeling that a) the money from commissions and b) the feeling of being at the top of a list will comp…

It's funny that you mention it because, as Rob said, we've been playing with the idea of adding a competitive edge, but the commissions is a cool idea. We were also considering a kind of achievements approach as well as a leaderboard but want to try and keep the idea of it as a tool as opposed to a toy. Love the data idea, in fact surplus of data is already a bit of an issue; we're running out of screen real-estate.

of course - the alternative is to not share anything. With the data you have on your users, once you can isolate users who consistently come up with strategies that consistently make money after their creation date - well, you might as well set up a hedge fund on the side and give the product away for free.

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#29

Post by mikecsh »

startuprob wrote: post #25
s_henry_paulson wrote: post #23

I built something similar for my own personal use, so it's very interesting to see something similar polished for mass consumption. The only thing I'm confused about is what you get in the Pro version.. "3 Months of Unlimited Access to Every Area of QuantBlocks" How is the user supposed to know what "every area" is? How could anyone expect to know what they get with a subscription? Most importantly, how could they kn…

So what if we said "3 Months of Unlimited Access to Every Daily Upgrade" ?? We're doing daily agile upgrades so we're trying to communicate that they'll get access not only to ALL of the global equities data, but also all of the updates that we make in terms of ability to save strategies, indicators, etc.

It might just be me, but I find it confusing that the upgrade statement says "a one-time payment of $39" and then the first checkbox says "3 months of access".

Does this mean I pay $39 every quarter to continue access? In which case why is it a one-time payment?

Re: Show HN: Quantblocks - Backtest your trading strategies

#30

Post by mdupenois »

ukoki wrote: post #28
mdupenois wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny that you mention it because, as Rob said, we've been playing with the idea of adding a competitive edge, but the commissions is a cool idea. We were also considering a kind of achievements approach as well as a leaderboard but want to try and keep the idea of it as a tool as opposed to a toy. Love the data idea, in fact surplus of data is already a bit of an issue; we're running out of screen real-estate.

of course - the alternative is to not share anything. With the data you have on your users, once you can isolate users who consistently come up with strategies that consistently make money after their creation date - well, you might as well set up a hedge fund on the side and give the product away for free.

Hah, yeah, unfortunately the legal team at the incubator we're in suggests we might not survive too long as a company if we go down that route :)
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