Survivorship Bias

Survivorship Bias comes in all forms.

This time it came with a buy-out. One of my newest stock trading systems received a long trigger for MTCH at Thursday's market open. But, this little devil is getting acquired from AMAT.

Thus, the ticker symbol MTCH will soon cease to exist. And that's why I cannot take this trade. Because my system was built and backtested on stocks that are currently active. Any stocks it might have traded in the past that were bought out do not show up in my backtest.

So, you have a frustrating situation. A system trigger for a type of trade not tested by the system.

Trading just a few of these exceptions to the rule can really impact the expected outcome of your trading systems. That's why I do not automate my systems 100%. Human intervention is still needed from time to time.

Daily System Updates
Current open system positions:

* 1 QQQQ long with current profit of +2.10%.

Please read the disclaimer on the website. This is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or trade securities. Just a journal of my travels through Wall Street. I can buy, sell, or hold any positions mentioned on this website at anytime. So, be warned.