Topic: Which is better: more Executed Orders or less?

I suppose this might be somewhat of a personal preference...but do you think it is better to have more Executed Orders or less?

Seems like there could be a happy medium. For example, sometimes I'll see Generator create a strategy with tons of executed orders, but if you dig-in a little deeper, you can see that they were not very efficient. I think too many is sloppy.

Other times, I see strategies with a good equity curve but they are so few orders that I feel nervous.

2 (edited by Sam M. 2012-02-24 03:23:15)

Re: Which is better: more Executed Orders or less?

I think it's all relative really, just depends on the effect that the increased execution volume is having on the strategy. If more orders leads to more profit, results in a higher/similar win rate, or otherwise improves your strategy then certainly we're looking at a good thing. (assuming commissions aren't high enough to be chipping away at your account balance)

If more executed orders with a given set of parameters is eroding the performance of the strategy then of course it's a big negative.

Most importantly I'd believe that (again if commissions aren't a factor), all other things equal, more executed orders would mitigate the overall risk associated with the strategy by spreading it out over a larger number of trades. If the win rate is still acceptable and the profit level remains similar, I might lean towards a higher trade volume. For many this approach will probably be highly dependent on your chosen broker, and certainly there may be cases where it's not going to be the best approach. So thorough due dilligence on the effects this has on each strategy will always be important. Hope this helps out with your thought process.