@journeyman I forgot this thread existed! I've only been at the algo stuff maybe a bit over 6 months now (with a few months off for my wedding and honeymoon!), chipping away slowly, and I have moved fully from ASX (ignoring SMSF) to Forex. I think simply it is easier to cut your teeth on algos in the Fx Market (could be wrong), but I certainty think there are more inefficiencies in the equities markets so may eventually come back - but making good progress in Fx for now. I also think Fx was a new market for me and was more technically driven than equities, so it seemed a good 'mental split' for me to start there and not confused my manual equities trading plan (back when I was doing both).
If you go into the Fx part of hot copper there is a small group of posters there who are active, so if anyone is interested I'd check in there (most of the guys are manually trading though, maybe 5-6 of us who are also working on algos).
I haven't got any algos trading live yet, I'm in no rush - focusing more on the education and learning curve, but I have around 8 EAs currently running in a demo account across 80 different markets (Fx pairs and metals for now). Am working on others in my pipeline, it's a bit of a funnel at the moment for me; top of funnel I have about 40-50+ strategy ideas (This list grows faster than I can test them, which is good!), then I have a handful of ideas in development, and an even smaller handful current being refined/tested before getting put in demo. I think you need that sort of approach to this game as the true benefit of algo trading comes from having a good portfolio, not a good EA.
I would also add my biggest learning from the last few months has been to get your process right, and not get too caught up on the individual strategies. That is to say, knowing what your concept -> deployment pathway looks like, understanding how you are testing your strategies, understanding how to back test properly, are all more important skills to develop before stressing about whether your strategy is the best or not (And this comes back to having a portfolio minded long term goal, not an individual strategy minded goal). I am sure it is he same principal for those working on algos in equities or futures markets.
Some discussion on 'spending on courses', whilst I think in general most courses are a waste and its incredibly hard to tell whether you will see a positive ROI, I would suggest that buying courses with solid learning material is the best way to go, not just a course that promises to give you the "million dollar algo" at the end of the course (or better yet, find one that offers both!). Those that are selling the solution without a good educational framework I think should be treated with the highest suspicion. I personally took some of my ASX trading profits from last year to fund this venture so I didn't have to draw down on my "real money" (lol), ended up spending around $13k total on a few things which I probably won't see direct ROI on for a a year or two? Who knows - but the education I got from those courses I think is immeasurable, so regardless of whether the individual strategies provided make me money, I am of the view these courses have probably taken years off my learning curve compared to fumbling you tube and forums, and it has put me in touch with other algo traders which also helps you on that learning journey. Hard to measure an ROI on all of that, but for me personally that is where the value of courses lies and it what has left me feeling positive for the most part about my purchases.
Would love to hear more from everyone here about how their learning journey has gone and what we could all share with each other?
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