Shows
Line Your Own PocketsIs Trading Gambling?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?
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and...
2025-10-1330 minLine Your Own PocketsUsing Alternative Data in a BacktestIn 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 dataUsing it in real-time versus a backtestHow to automate the process for backtesting and real-time tradingOther episodes mentioned: Using News in Your Trading Strategy
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on...
2025-10-0641 minLine Your Own PocketsA Different Way to Go LiveIn 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 liveHow he quickly gets a strategy running in productionHis approach to collaboration with other tradersWhat is "strategy taste" and how you can improve yours over time
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on...
2025-09-2937 minLine Your Own PocketsFollow Up On Quant/Discretionary CollaborationFollow-up discussion on quant and discretionary trader collaboration.We discuss:How Dave first connected with BellaThe cultural DNA of SMB CapitalThe challenges of quant/discretionary collaborationThe importance of being a giver, not a takerRelated episode:Mike Bellafiore and Nick Coutrakon from SMB Capital on Trading TeamsCreating a Trusted Trading GroupBooks mentioned:Give and Take by Adam Grant|The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting...
2025-09-2243 minLine Your Own PocketsMike Bellafiore and Nick Coutrakon from SMB Capital on Trading TeamsMike 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?
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting...
2025-09-1552 minLine Your Own PocketsBaby Steps Towards Automating Your TradesAre 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.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-09-0844 minLine Your Own PocketsWhich Version of This Strategy Is Best?We discuss 4 different variations of a strategy that Dave is deciding between and the thought process for doing so.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-09-0144 minLine Your Own PocketsChoosing a Trading ComputerLessons learned from buying a new trading computer.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-08-2536 minLine Your Own PocketsHow to Trade When TravelingRemote desktop solution mentioned:RustDeskTailScale
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-08-1850 minLine Your Own PocketsRunning Out of Buying Power - Part 2More discussion on buying power and running out of it might be a good thing.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-08-1143 minLine Your Own PocketsRunning Out of Buying Power - A Good Thing?Is running out of buying power... actually good?Here's the graph of buying power mentioned in the episode:Is Running Out of Buying Power A Good Thing?
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-08-0442 minLine Your Own PocketsDeep vs. Wide: Two Paths to Trading ProfitsHow many trades should your strategy take and how profitable should each one be?There are two distinct approaches to answering this question, and most profitable traders fall into one camp or the other.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-07-2838 minLine Your Own PocketsSymbol Lists in Strategies - Yes or No?Should you restrict your strategy to trade a certain list of symbols?In a surprisingly heated debate, Michael and Dave discuss this topic and different reasons for each approach.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-07-2150 minLine Your Own PocketsLooking at P&L (Your's or Some Else's) Is ToxicLooking at your P&L while you're trading is toxic. This also applies when looking at someone else's results - perhaps even more so.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-07-1436 minLine Your Own PocketsYour Backtest Looks Great - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?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.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email c...
2025-07-0753 minLine Your Own PocketsWhen is your Strategy Good Enough?How to get out of backtest world and make the next steps to get your strategy live.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-06-3041 minLine Your Own PocketsThe Key to Backtesting: Your Library of ColumnsThe second episode in our series on creating profitable strategies using backtesting.We review:How most traders backtest the wrong wayHow to add columns to your backtestWhat columns make the most senseHow your "library of columns" gets more and more valuable over time
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.
2025-06-2346 minLine Your Own PocketsYou're Probably Backtesting WrongThe first episode in a mini-series on how to create a trading strategy using backtesting.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-06-1644 minLine Your Own PocketsHow Real Traders Use AI to TradeWe discuss Dave's recent experience using ChatGPT to create the Strategy Cruncher, a tool for optimizing your trading strategies.Prediction market for who will have the best AI model by the end of the year.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-06-0948 minLine Your Own PocketsWhat Metric Should You Be Optimizing For?Every trader has an opinion on what the perfect metric is to evaluate a strategy and to optimize on.We discuss our favorites and why.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-06-0248 minLine Your Own PocketsHow Far Back Should Your Backtest Look Good?"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.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop...
2025-05-2646 minLine Your Own PocketsWhat to PrioritizeYou'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 strategyCreating a new strategyRelated workflow tasksThe ICE Method
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see y...
2025-05-1948 minLine Your Own PocketsWhy Not Automate Your Trades?We discuss the most common objections traders have to using automation and how to get over the hump.
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope to see you there!
2025-05-1234 minLine Your Own PocketsLearning From Top PerformersA follow-up on our previous interview with Jared Tendler where we go deeper into:the role of optimism in tradingpoker and tradinglearning from top performers in non-trading fieldsA chart of earnings season:https://www.davemabe.com/earnings-season/
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where to start, I want you to stop what you're doing and head on over to davemabe.com to sign up for my free backtesting email course.I hope...
2025-05-0540 minLine Your Own PocketsInterview with Jared TendlerThis 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 tradingHow poker and trading are similar and differentWhat traders can learn from top performers in other fieldsFind more info about Jared on his website: https://jaredtendler.com/
---Before you go!If you're a trader and interested in backtesting and automating your trading strategy and don't know where...
2025-04-2857 min