System Development for Individuals (Part 2)

In http://www.optionfanatic.com/2012/12/17/system-development-for-individuals-part-1 , I started to develop the thesis that System Development as an objective discipline may not exist because what it is to each person is too specific for global application.

With book content of limited use because of macro factors like software package, the amount of usable information shrinks further due to personal factors.  If my brokerage differs from the author’s then I may not be able to execute the same kinds of orders or use the same kinds of alerts.  I may prefer to monitor different time frames or enter different orders–maybe use use limit orders with a larger offset or no offset at all just waiting for the fill.  What if I don’t get filled?  These are unables that may differentially affect system results.  Do the author and I treat these the same?  What about slippage?

Perhaps most damning for the prospect of System Development is the observation that most everything discussed in the last paragraph is hardly addressed in most writings.  Partial education from books must now be supplemented with personal experience, which means System Development will be different for everybody.

Also damning for the prospect of System Development as an objective discipline is the likelihood that a complete education may require some gambling.  The personal experience just mentioned–how can I even attain that before having a complete understanding of system development?   “Cart before the horse” comes to mind.  I cannot attain it through backtesting or paper trading, which have limited resemblance to live trading.  I am therefore left to learn from my live trading performance itself.  Without having a developed system, I may or may not have an edge.

Who wants to gamble when they can participate in other forms of discretionary trading that can allegedly be taught?