Quick question: I am missing the "realism factor" for systems.
It was available in the old version. - Has it been moved or is it no longer available?
(If it is not available, this would be very bad, as it was one of the more helpful statistics.)
Klaus
ok, no answer - so I suppose it is gone for good.
A pity.
I agree. Please add realism factor back.
Sorry for the slow response. No, the "realism factor" stat is not gone for good.
One of the design objectives we had during the site re-design was to simplify screens and reduce clutter (yes, it is hard to say this with a straight face as I look at the current screen).
And one of the ways we tried to reduce clutter was to remove extraneous statistics which people had previously complained about being opaque and inscrutable. The "Realism Factor" was one of those stats.
But based on the latest round of feedback (not solely on this thread, but in private emails too) I intend to bring that stat (and others) back in the very near future.
just because some complain about a stat does not mean others do not use it.
I thought realism was quite useful. Most people do not really grasp Sharpe, but it does not mean that it is not important.
Realism Factor is now back in the basic stats area of each system page.
Matthew, why reducing the Statistics of the old version at all? Do you want to bring down the site to the lowest common denomitor of people who are too lazy to educate themselves and learn the most basic statistics before they start trading?
In my opinion the Statistics of the old site should be expanded, not reduced. The minimum things that should be added in my opinion are: APR, below or above the CAGR, maximum drawdown not only in percent but also in dollars and Calmar ratio.
For example, by just showing the bizarre CAGR of new system which happen to start with a lucky streak just invites newbies to make the wrong choices.
I believe the intent of the new site was to streamline and simplify things. I think part of the issue, Karl, is that too many stats either confuse and overwhelm newer folks (“analysis paralysis”), or give them more reasons not to like a system. Practically every system has at least one not-so-good or poor statistic, and that might keep someone from subscribing to a really good system.
That being said, I think more stats are better, when they are packaged properly. I have been advocating a “basic” “advanced” and “expert” type set of categories of statistics, then all the info is there. Right now, there is a “basic” and “expert” - an advanced stats tab would give a home to ones that were dropped.
I personally do not want to see any current stats dropped, and in fact there are a few more I’d like to see (“Underwater Mass Index” for one).
What is needed too is a (video) tutorial on what some of the stats mean. I think many people could benefit from this.
Kevin
I think the better answer was said a couple of times previously
C2 is about choices. Which system, autotrade or not, which broker, whether to participate in chat/forums, etc. Statistics should be displayed according to the USER’S interests.
Imagine a “Statistics Wizard”, so that a new (or existing) user is presented with a series of windows, with the basic stats. Each window presents and briefly explains a stat, and asks whether you want to display or hide that in your statistics area. For example:
Sharpe Ratio
The Sharpe ratio tells us whether a portfolio’s returns are due to smart investment decisions or a result of excess risk. This measurement is very useful because although one portfolio or fund can reap higher returns than its peers, it is only a good investment if those higher returns do not come with too much additional risk. The greater a portfolio’s Sharpe ratio, the better its risk-adjusted performance has been. A negative Sharpe ratio indicates that a risk-less asset would perform better than the security being analyzed.
A variation of the Sharpe ratio is the Sortino ratio, which removes the effects of upward price movements on standard deviation to measure only return against downward price volatility.
What would you like to do?
o include the Sharpe Ratio
o include the Sortino Ratio
o include both
o ignore both
Profit Factor
This value is the profit generated by profitable trades divided by the losses generated by losing trades. A value of 2 would indicate that twice as much money was made from winning trades than was lost from losing trades. Higher values indicate less risk.
What would you like to do?
o include the Profit Factor
o ignore the Profit Factor
First of all,
thank you, Matt, for bringing it back: this is real good.
Second some comments on stats:
- I agree, the more the better
(anyone can ignore the stats he is not interested in… - it’s this simple;
also there is no common denominator among C2 users what are the “best” stats, so offering choice is important)
- I agree with Kevin, it would be nice to have some levels.
Though it is again hard to find agreement regarding what should be shown on which level (it comes down to a ranking of importance of the stats - see previous point). So I am fine with the two levels we have.
- It would be nice to be able to configure a personal stats page
(and now I am dreaming: and define personalized stats by formulas over existing stats that can also be used for ranking systems in the system finder, perhaps have this as a feature by 2012… 
- I am not so happy with a wizard, it is just stressfull to go through dozens of pages… just be able to select and deselect (like on the autotrading page) would be fine.
Also for each stat having a further info link would be helpful (e.g., a popup or an external link, could even be a Wikipedia link)
This should help for the “newbies”.
Actually, I would say: in the interest of newbies - don’t try to make system selection look like a too easy task, they might come to the idea they just look at 2 stats, choose their system and that is it.
It isn’t so easy, and they have to understand a bit of what they are doing. So, challenging to go through and understand a number of stats the hard way is actually in the long term best interest of them
(so it might not be the optimal profit generation way for C2, I admit.)
Cheers
Klaus
