Profitability Edge by Dynamic Back Testing Optimal Period Selection for Technical Parameters Optimization, in Trading Systems with Forecasting: The d-BackTest PS method

Abstract

Back testing process is widely used today in forecasting experiments tests. This method is to calculate the profitability of a trading system, applied to specific past period. The data which are used, correspond to that specific past period and are called “historical data” or “training data”. There is a plethora of trading systems, which include technical indicators, trend following indicators, oscillators, control indicators of price level, etc. It is common nowadays for calculations of technical indicator values to be used along with the prices of securities or shares, as training data in fuzzy, hybrid and support vector machine/regression (SVM/SVR) systems. Whether the data are used in fuzzy systems, or for SVM and SVR systems training, the historical data period selection on most occasions is devoid of validation (In this research we designate historical data as training data). We substantiate that such an expert trading system, has a profitability edge—with regard to future transactions—over currently applied trading strategies that merely implement parameters’ optimization. Thus not profitable trading systems can be turned into profitable. To that end, first and foremost, an optimal historical data period must be determined, secondarily a parameters optimization computation must be completed and finally the right conditions of parameters must be applied for optimal parameters’ selection. In this new approach, we develop an integrated dynamic computation algorithm, called the “d-BackTest PS Method”, for selection of optimal historical data period, periodically. In addition, we test conditions of parameters and values via back-testing, using multi agent technology, integrated in an automated trading expert system based on Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) technical indicator. This dynamic computation algorithm can be used in Technical indicators, Fuzzy, SVR and SVM and hybrid forecasting systems. The outcome crystalizes in an autonomous intelligent trading system.