5-3-1
I use a program called 5-3-1 in my strength training which I find remarkably effective because it drives me to improve each week.
Here’s a way to use (a complete bastardization of) the 5-3-1 program to find and develop new trading edges:
Week 1, Foundation
Identify and test 5 new trading ideas
Week 2, Darwin 1
Take the 3 most successful test results from the 5 ideas and refine/mutate/develop them further
Week 3, Darwin 2
Take the most successful idea and refine/mutate and further develop it
Week 4, De-load, Analyze,
Review the results and record them (important!)
Analyze the results and the process. Improve.
Repeat
This should put your trading edge development on a continuous and sustainable path. By the end of the year you should have developed 12 new ideas and learned a ton (you’re going to have to stretch to keep this going but new, and old, frontiers abound).
Even better, by forcing yourself to work on your creativity, new ideas will come easier and faster.
–h