Adrian Reid argues that a real trading edge needs objective rules for entry and exit, then backtesting to prove it works. His Trader Success System includes a module on backtesting that validates whether an edge is actually profitable, consistent, and stable over time.
The key thing to realize is that to get an edge, you need objective rules. Tells you exactly when to get in, exactly when to get out. And then once you've got objective rules, you need to be able to back test them. So I have a whole process for backtesting and evaluating rules to make sure that edge is profitable, that it's consistent, it's stable over time, it's not eroding, it's robust and likely to continue working in the future. That's a whole course that I teach in the Trader Success System called the Experts Guide to Backtesting. But the number one thing you need to learn is how to backtest. That's the skill that is most critical to finding an edge.
