141: Models are like unicorns - with Kevin Saunders

In episode 141 of the Better System Trader podcast, host Andrew Swanscott interviews Kevin Saunders from Tribelet Capital, an expert in electronic trading. Kevin shares his unconventional journey into the financial world, starting as a musician and later co-founding Non-Correlated Capital. The discussion covers Kevin's early trading experiences, the lessons learned from the dot-com crash, and his evolution into systematic trading. Kevin details his experience with options trading, the challenges of managing multiple accounts, and the development of his Global Equity Opportunities Lean Reversion System (GEO). He also discusses the "Joey Experiment," an Australian-based trading program, and his current focus on foreign exchange markets, emphasizing the importance of disentangling from the idea that a model must work and instead viewing it as a tool for monitoring market variables. Kevin advocates for using MT4 for testing and deployment, stressing the need for robust code and effective risk management. He will also be speaking at the ATA conference, where he plans to discuss his practical approach to systematic trading, focusing on predicting via equity charts rather than market charts.