Line Your Own Pockets

Interview with Trent Smalley from DTN/IQFeed

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:00 -0400

In this week's episode of Line Your Own Pockets, we interview Trent Smalley with DTN and IQFeed.

We discuss:

Why it makes sense for traders to pay for market data when brokers offer it for free
Where bad ticks you see in your charts actually come from
What happens to market data before it hits your feed
When you know you're ready to upgrade to a high quality feed

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Using AI Agents for Strategies Part 3

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400

In this week's episode of Line Your Own Pockets, we continue the discussion of using AI agents for strategy creation gruntwork.

Topics discussed:

Delegation skills are important - the more specific, the better
How Dave's approach differs from Michael's regarding Claude use
How to implement "unit tests" for your trading strategy
Developers always want to build - here's why you shouldn't
Starting points for developers

Much more...

I think this was the best one yet on AI.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Using AI Agents for Trading Strategies Part 2

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400

We continue last week's discussion on using Claude and OpenClaw to automate strategy creation.

We touch on:

How to get AI to do the grunt work so you can be the CEO of your trading
Why Michael switched from OpenClaw to Claude Code
Teaching Claude to automate Amibroker (hint: point it here)
How giving Claude Prop Firm constraints helped focus its work
Auditing its work is critically important - the more you understand, the better

Much more, including the next steps of using the Cruncher in this process...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Using AI Agents to Backtest Strategy Ideas

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400

In this week's episode of Line Your Own Pockets, we discuss Michael's project for having OpenClaw create and run backtests from his list of research ideas for trading strategies.

His agents have created over 200 backtests
How they've primed the backtests to be used in the Strategy Cruncher
SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) have paved the way for this workflow
AI as a research assistant/intern for your trading business

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Strategies for Small Accounts

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400

We cover:

Making mistakes early when they're relatively cheap
Focus on scaling wide versus scaling up
Learn R-multiples - it normalizes your performance as your account grows
Become the best in the world at a very specific strategy (it's not as hard as you think!)

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How to Trade with a Small Account

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0500

In this week's episode of Line Your Own Pockets, we discuss trading with a small account.

Topics discussed:

Don't wait until you have "enough" money to start learning
How trading with a small account is an advantage
Funding options: an overview of the prop trading landscape
No matter how big your account is, your trading strategy is paramount - focus on that
Lessons learned at this stage will be valuable to your trading forever

And much more... including my rant about a trading mistake I made just before we recorded this.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Curve Fitting is Easy to Avoid

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:00:00 -0500

If you've ever wondered if you're curve fitting with your trading strategy, this episode is for you.

We discuss:

Curve fitting is a continuum, not a binary yes/no condition
Every strategy has a little bit of curve fitting
Let's say you wanted to maximize curve fitting. What would you do?
Easy ways to avoid curve fitting

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How to Grow Your Column Library

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 10:00:00 -0500

Michael and I discuss how to think about improving your column library over time.

We discuss:

How your column library is like a shared software library: build once, reuse everywhere
Continuous variables are better than binary variables (e.g. Above/below a moving average)
The MACDV case study - MACD normalized by ATR
How intra-trade columns allow testing multiple concepts with a single backtest

And much more...

Here's a link to the previous episode mentioned: The Key to Backtesting - Your Library of Columns

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Qualities that Predict a Profitable Trader

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:00:00 -0500

Topics discussed:

Profitable traders don't follow the crowd - or any particular trading guru
Healthy attitude towards trading and risk
Making great trades is the goal - ironically, the money is almost secondary
Day trading is key (don't believe me? Just do the math)
Automation is a massive trading edge

Much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Should You Use Python for Backtesting?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 10:00:00 -0500

We discuss:

Python is a great general-purpose language, but that's what makes it a bad choice for backtesting
Iterating on your strategies is the critical piece - anything that makes that more complex will make things more difficult
In a world of LLMs, the argument for using Python for everything makes less sense
Choose your tools based on profit potential, not because "I like Python and am good at it."

Much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Amibroker: The Adventure Continues

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0500

Topics include:

Batteries Data Not Included - the best way to get data into Amibroker
The code that adds custom columns in Amibroker is resource-intensive
Quirks with databases in Amibroker
Your computer hardware matters with Amibroker (get more RAM)

Dave's hardware specs for his backtesting computer.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How Discretionary Traders Can Add Automated Strategies

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0500

We go over:

How "visual" backtesting is not real backtesting
Discretionary traders try to replace what they're doing with automation - but that's wrong
How to create a completely new strategy from the ground up to be automated
How to build your "idea noticing" muscle

Much more.

Here's the book mentioned in the show: The Art of Noticing

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Next Steps with Amibroker

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0500

Dave continues helping Michael create a first backtest in Amibroker. You might think "backtesting is backtesting," but we cover many of the differences between RealTest and Amibroker, as well as their implications.

We discuss:

What makes AI so bad at generating good AFL code for a backtest in Amibroker
The better you get at understanding how AFL works, the better your use of AI gets
How a column library makes all the difference in creating P&L
Quick backtests can promote bad habits

And much more...

Dave also announces the new MabeKit AFL Generator tool.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Getting Started with Amibroker

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0500

Dave offers advice and feedback to Michael, who is learning to use Amibroker for the first time.

He's coming from RealTest, so we go over the similarities and differences between the two platforms.

We discuss:

How RealTest is great for daily data, but hits a wall for most intraday trading strategies
Amibroker is not just a backtester; it’s a full charting, analysis, and execution environment.
Backfilling with IQFeed versus Polygon (there is really no contest)
Best practices for databases in Amibroker

Much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How To Run Your Trading Like a Franchise Business

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0500

We discuss the actual nuts and bolts of what running your trading like a franchise means:

Systematize everything
A process for eliminating low-value work
What makes sense to outsource and what you should keep in-house
Make your trading survive without you

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

The ICE Method for Prioritizing Strategies

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0500

As traders gain experience, the problem shifts from not having enough ideas to having too many ideas competing for limited time and mental energy. Without a system, this abundance quickly becomes overwhelming and leads to paralysis or procrastination.

We discuss the ICE method - a simple scoring method to determine which ideas to work on first.

Spreadsheet Link https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iWG87jZ7KiANQzH9O8KwgtRRl5Wcd60Q/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112987133391354450813&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How Much Does Speed Matter in Trading?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0500

In this week's episode of Line Your Own Pockets, we take on a topic submitted by Isaac, a trader I work with.

We discuss:

When timing/speed matters and when it doesn't
The types of trading strategies where latency is likely the bottleneck
How rushing to solve problems can be counter-productive (waiting can reveal simpler solutions)
Concrete steps to determine if latency is really an issue and how to address it

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Portfolio Level Backtesting - Useful or Waste of Time?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0500

We butt heads in this episode, arguing about the value of portfolio-level backtesting, one of the key feature differences between RealTest and Amibroker.

Is portfolio-level testing essential, or simply premature optimization?

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How Often Should You Re-Optimize?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0500

We discuss:

How to optimize so you have to re-optimize as little as possible
How better columns directly translate into more robust strategies
Hold a rule "in reserve" so you can apply it when needed without full re-optimization
Documenting previous optimization decisions will make the next strategy better
And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Is Moving Your Stop To Breakeven a Mistake?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 10:00:00 -0500

We discuss:

Similar to taking partial profits, moving a stop to breakeven is more about psychological comfort
Profitable trading requires tolerating discomfort, as difficult as that is at times
It seems like a simple idea to test, but it quickly adds significant complexity to a backtest
How to actually test this in a backtest

This is a great example of the platitudes you often hear from people who are good at talking about trading, but don't actually trade.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Next Steps When Your Strategy Fades

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 10:00:00 -0500

You Missed a Trade - Now What?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 10:00:00 -0500

You didn't get a fill on your original entry. The trade would have been profitable for a bit, then it comes back to your original entry price. Do you take the trade? We go in-depth, answering this common dilemma.

Your default should be to take the trade if it still matches your system
There's more information to decide on - what can you add to your backtest?
What are post-entry columns, and how can they help?
How deep thinking about the issue can help you create brand new strategies

Here's the original article Dave wrote on this topic.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

NASDAQ's Announcement on Tokenization of Stocks

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:00:00 -0500

Michael and Dave discuss NASDAQ's initiative to tokenize all securities and the implications for traders. They discuss:

What tokenization is and what that means for equities
How it affects settlement and paves the way for 24/7 trading
Prediction markets and positive externalities of betting ("Betting is a tax on bullsh*t.")
Dave proposed a bet to Michael based on the volume traded in the opening and closing crosses in the future

And much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

What To Do When a Strategy Flips

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Stopped Out by a Penny? Good.

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:00:00 -0400

We've got news for you - there's nobody who cares enough about your stops to go "hunting for them."

And getting stopped out by a penny is frustrating, but it's actually a good sign.

Blaming an algo or anything else for your trade getting stopped out is counter-productive
Why most traders are completely wrong about placing stops
How to select stops for your strategy in a data-driven way
Much more...

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Is Trading Gambling?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we tackle this popular question. Dave polled several traders he coaches and got some surprising answers.

How much is trading like, say, poker, or something that is even more up to chance?
Even starting a business can be called gambling if defined purely as "risking money on uncertain outcomes."
Does having an edge make trading less like gambling?
In a casino, is the house "gambling" because it has a strong edge?

What's your take?

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Using Alternative Data in a Backtest

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 10:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we discuss the best way to use alternative data in your backtest.

What is alternative data and how can you use it in a strategy?
Examples of alternative data
Using it in real-time versus a backtest
How to automate the process for backtesting and real-time trading

Other episodes mentioned: Using News in Your Trading Strategy

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

A Different Way to Go Live

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Dave discusses a conversation he had with John M. from SMB Trading and his unique approach to taking a strategy live.

We discuss:

John's 35+ strategies he runs live
How he quickly gets a strategy running in production
His approach to collaboration with other traders
What is "strategy taste" and how you can improve yours over time

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Follow Up On Quant/Discretionary Collaboration

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Follow-up discussion on quant and discretionary trader collaboration.

We discuss:

How Dave first connected with Bella
The cultural DNA of SMB Capital
The challenges of quant/discretionary collaboration
The importance of being a giver, not a taker

Books mentioned:
Give and Take by Adam Grant|
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Mike Bellafiore and Nick Coutrakon from SMB Capital on Trading Teams

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Mike Bellafiore and Nick Coutrakon join the podcast to continue a discussion Mike had with Dave on the makeup of trading teams at SMB Capital, a proprietary trading firm in NYC.

What's the best way to include a quantitative trader in a discretionary trading team?

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Baby Steps Towards Automating Your Trades

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Are you a profitable trader but hesitant to automate your trades?

In this episode, we discuss multiple steps to take towards having a computer make trades without fully automating.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Which Version of This Strategy Is Best?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0400

We discuss 4 different variations of a strategy that Dave is deciding between and the thought process for doing so.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Choosing a Trading Computer

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Lessons learned from buying a new trading computer.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How to Trade When Traveling

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Remote desktop solution mentioned:
RustDesk
TailScale

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Looking at your P&L while you're trading is toxic. This also applies when looking at someone else's results - perhaps even more so.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Your Backtest Looks Great - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Be wary when going from backtest to live trading. You're at peak optimism, and if you're not careful, disappointment awaits.

In this episode, we discuss all the ways a live trading can fall short of your backtest and what you can do about it.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

When is your Strategy Good Enough?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:00:00 -0400

How to get out of backtest world and make the next steps to get your strategy live.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

The Key to Backtesting: Your Library of Columns

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 10:00:00 -0400

The second episode in our series on creating profitable strategies using backtesting.

We review:

How most traders backtest the wrong way
How to add columns to your backtest
What columns make the most sense
How your "library of columns" gets more and more valuable over time

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 26 May 2025 10:00:00 -0400

"If your backtest looks great for the last 3 months, why do you care what it looked like before that?"

A trader Dave started coaching recently asked this question. The answer cuts to the core of why most traders give up on a trading strategy and end up quitting trading altogether.

The Spurious Correlations website that was mentioned in the podcast.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

What to Prioritize

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 19 May 2025 10:00:00 -0400

You've got a lot of ideas, each requiring a certain amount of work. How do you decide what trading ideas are likely to pan out?

Improving an existing strategy
Creating a new strategy
Related workflow tasks

The ICE Method

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Why Not Automate Your Trades?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 12 May 2025 10:00:00 -0400

We discuss the most common objections traders have to using automation and how to get over the hump.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Learning From Top Performers

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 05 May 2025 10:00:00 -0400

A follow-up on our previous interview with Jared Tendler where we go deeper into:

the role of optimism in trading
poker and trading
learning from top performers in non-trading fields

A chart of earnings season:
https://www.davemabe.com/earnings-season/

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Interview with Jared Tendler

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 10:00:00 -0400

This week, we interviewed Jared Tendler, a mental coach for traders, poker players, and golfers. Jared has written several books, including The Mental Game of Trading.

This was a wide-ranging interview where we discussed:

The mental side of systematic trading
How poker and trading are similar and different
What traders can learn from top performers in other fields

Find more info about Jared on his website: https://jaredtendler.com/

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Should You Turn Off Strategies On Crazy Days?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:00:00 -0400

When the market is raging in a way that's far out of the ordinary, should you turn your strategies off? Or let it be business as usual? We discuss the things to consider.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Turning A Trading Weakness into an Advantage

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:00:00 -0400

We discuss how Dave turned a trader's frustrating bad habit into a positive workflow for creating new trading edge. This is a great case study for the power of a positive mindset and a desire to get better.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How To Trade When Everything is Moving

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:00:00 -0400

You're trading a strategy - you're comfortable with the number of trades. And then BOOM - one day the entire market is moving and your system generates 10x the number of trades it normally does.

How do you react? Michael and I discussed the first time this happened to me and how best to respond to prepare for the next time.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Do You Chase Trading Perfection?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Do you let the quest for perfection get in the way of trading success? It's more common than you might think. We discuss where this tendency comes from and how to let go of it to make progress in your trading.

"From the surface, every rabbit hole looks like a pile of money." - Dave

Here's a link to the book Michael mentioned: Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect

The Monkey Trap via Robin Hanson.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Make Trading Real when Things Are Going Well

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 10:00:00 -0400

When you're trading part-time and doing well, your trading can seem almost like a video game. Here's actionable thing I tell the traders I coach to do that keeps them motivated to improve even when their trading is going great.

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 10:00:00 -0500

Position Sizing Is Sexy

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 10:00:00 -0500

Book on Kelly Criterion: Fortune's Formula

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Sizing Up a Trading Strategy

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 10:00:00 -0500

You finally have a serious trading edge. And you know it. How should you think about sizing up?

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:00:00 -0500

Books mentioned:
Give and Take by Adam Grant
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Interview with Brett Steenbarger

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 10:00:00 -0500

Links mentioned in this episode:

Brett's drawdown in the 80's: After a Devastating Loss
Brett's Traderfeed Blog: https://traderfeed.blogspot.com/

Brett's Books:

The Psychology of Trading
Enhancing Trader Performance
The Daily Trading Coach
Trading Psychology 2.0
(Coming soon!) Positive Trading Psychology (title tentative)

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 10:00:00 -0500

How many monitors should you have? What chart platform should you use?

"A lot of indicators on a chart is a sign of mediocrity." -- Dave

Software mentioned:
Interactive Brokers
Amibroker
eSignal

Free email course on backtesting

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Choosing Backtesting Software

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 10:00:00 -0500

Trade-Ideas OddsMaker
Amibroker
RealTest
QuantConnect

Michael's RealTest Coding Helper: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-5AvG9XdDY-realtest-coding-helper

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Using Regime Filters in a Strategy

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 10:00:00 -0500

What is a regime filter and is it useful?

That's the question we discussed on this episode - Michael and Dave have completely different approaches.

Here are links to articles referenced in the episode:
Why I Ignore The Overall Market When I Trade
Why I Avoid Overall Market Filters in Strategies
Is The Market Really More Likely To Continue As The Gap Is Bigger?

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Removing Bad Trades from a Strategy

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 10:00:00 -0500

A listener asks how he can remove 30% of the trades he's taking in his trading strategy that he knows are hurting his results.

Are you interested in Backtesting but don't know where to start? Learn the basics with Dave's free email course.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Is Limited Time For Trading - A Good Thing?

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 10:00:00 -0500

Many traders come to me with a single complaint - I wish I had more time to devote to my trading.

It takes me back to my early days when I had the same thoughts! It wasn't until several years of hindsight that I realized that having limited time for trading... is a good thing.

We discuss why that is and how you can turn limited time into a positive force for your trading.

Here's the original article we discussed in this episode: Can Limited Time for Trading Be - A Good Thing?

Are you interested in Backtesting but don't know where to start? Learn the basics with Dave's free email course.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Using News in Your Trading Strategy

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 10:00:00 -0500

Dave and Michael discuss several ways to incorporate news into a technical trading strategy.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

How to Use Social Media as a Trader

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 10:00:00 -0400

Dave and Michael discuss the implications of the research from the previous episode. If financial social media is so predictably wrong, how can traders use it?

Should they use it at all?

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!

Interview with Seyed Kazempour, Author of Finfluencers

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 10:00:00 -0400

In our first interview for the podcast, we talked with Dr. Seyed Kazempour about his paper called Finfluencers. It's a fascinating paper based on research on StockTwits. The conclusion? The more followers someone has on StockTwits, the worse their market predictions.

Dave Mabe and Michael Nauss — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 10:20:58 -0400

Join Dave and Michael as they introduce themselves and explain why they are launching a podcast about systematic trading.

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Before you go!

The next time you find yourself in a drawdown, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to betterbacktesting.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.

I hope to see you there!