When I became interested in automated trading, this was the first book I read after a couple of ebooks. After Kevin's book, I read five other books on the topic but Kevin's book was the most helpful one to me by far.

Building a picture perfect backtest equity curve is very easy. A trader will probably make many mistakes while creating that. Kevin writes about the possible mistakes and how to prevent them one by one.

If you're just starting to autotrade, some of the concepts might be hard to grasp at first. At least that was the case for me. Some parts weren't clear to me and Kevin sent me further explanations via email.

If you're beginning to autotrade, this book will save you so much money. If you're an experienced trader, I'm quite sure you'll find parts from the book that'll boost your results.

I have got Kevin's book too.

Biggest Plus Point: stop talking, start walking.

See, there is Theory, then there is Action.

I have read a lot about the theory of automated trading (entries and exits, money management, Pardo, Stridsman, Fitscher, Tomassini, Putt Book, etc).

Kevin's book is the first one that shows me how to tie everything together to create automated trading systems.

This book helped me to create my first automated trading system in Tradestation.

From the book, I also got the impression of Kevin's honesty, so I decided to take Kevin's webinar as well (since I wanted to go faster). My aim was to get Kevin's 6-month personalized guidance (I am a newbie to Tradestation, and this is my first time into automated trading). For me, it was either spend the money here, or the market will take it anyway.

Well, all I can say is that I am getting great value. Kevin's help is on-time and straight to the point. His knowledge on things has saved me heaps of time and heartache. I feel that I am on the right track.

Anyway, just my review of his book. I highly recommend it if you are ready to walk the talk.

Apollo11 

Kevin's book is the first one that shows me how to tie everything together to create automated trading systems. This book helped me to create my first automated trading system in Tradestation.

@Apollo11,

You nailed something important here. There's a huge gap between reading about algo trading concepts and actually building something that runs. That jump from theory to a working system trips up a lot of people.

What makes Building Winning Algorithmic Trading Systems stand out among Kevin Davey's books is exactly what you described -- it walks you through the process, not just the ideas. A lot of algo trading books stop at "here's what Monte Carlo simulation is" without showing you how to actually use it to stress-test your system before going live.

Since you built your first automated system in TradeStation, a couple of things worth keeping in mind as you develop further:

• Out-of-sample testing -- Davey hammers this point, and for good reason. It's tempting to optimize until the backtest looks perfect, but that's usually curve-fitting. Keeping data aside that your system has never "seen" is one of the best reality checks you have.
• Start small when going live -- even after solid backtesting and Monte Carlo runs, real markets behave differently than historical data. Paper trading or minimum size first gives you a chance to see how execution, slippage, and your own psychology interact with the system.

The fact that you went from reading theory (Pardo, Stridsman, etc.) to actually building and running a system is a bigger step than most people realize. A lot of traders stay stuck in research mode forever.

Good luck with the progress -- sounds like you're putting in the right kind of work.

-- Fi

"The best trading system is the one you actually build, test, and have the discipline to follow."