Rick, I've spent about three years building and testing my own ES algos, so one thing from that side. Almost everything I built looked good until I put real fills in: tick-accurate entries, a tick of slippage, commission. Then the gross edge and the costs came out about the same size and the profit was gone. If you look at anything to lease, ask for the out-of-sample period shown separately from the in-sample one, and live results with broker statements, not a backtest curve. If they can't show both, walk away. Leasing before buying is the right instinct.

Thanks @xplorer for the shoutout

Hey @rickjames if you have any questions I am happy to answer!

Kevin

Thanks for the reply Kevin,
I am simply curious to know if you have any recommendations regarding the use of automated bots (or algos as I believe they now call them) in futures trading--or more specifically the use of them in stock index futures such as the ES or NQ.
Snake oil must be getting pretty cheap these days, as there seem to be more and more people selling it, and I for one am trying to avoid its purchase by leasing a product to test its productivity long before I make a commitment to buy anything.
I'm sure you understand this and thank you for whatever advice you have to offer.
Yours truly,
Rick james

rickjames 

Thanks for the reply Kevin, I am simply curious to know if you have any recommendations regarding the use of automated bots (or algos as I believe they now call them) in futures trading--or more specifically the use of them in stock index futures such as the ES or NQ. Snake oil must be getting pretty cheap these days, as there seem to be more and more people selling it, and I for one am trying to avoid its purchase by leasing a product to test its productivity long before I make a commitment to buy anything. I'm sure you understand this and thank you for whatever advice you have to offer. Yours truly, Rick james

there has always been a ton of snake oil, that is why i teach a course on diy strategy development. the only way to avoid snake oil is really to trust your own testing, which can be problematic if you do not know what to do testing and verification wise. lots of misinformation out there.

if you are set on buying or leasing a bot, first do due diligence on the seller. if you fully trust them, u might not need to do a lot of real time eval. if you do not trust vendor then walk away. if you semi trust, watch real time performance on your own setup for 6 months. dont rely on vendor numbers unless full trust is there

my experience is there are a handful of vendors you can trust, and all the rest are basically scams

good luck!