About this episode
When Dave Mabe backtested his strategy, it outperformed his own discretionary trading — and changed how he approached everything. In this episode, we discuss gapping breakouts, expectancy, systematic trading, drawdowns, and the reality gap between backtests and live execution. A practical conversation for traders serious about building durable edge.
In this episode, we explore:
· How Dave got introduced to markets: From early exposure to investing through his family to actively seeking more control over his capital and moving from swing trading into day trading.
· Why rules matter: The transition from discretionary decisions to systematic frameworks — and why trading without a process is a fast path to inconsistency.
· Backtesting as a “superpower”: What backtesting really does for strategy development and confidence in your edge.
· Reconciling backtests with real life: Practical realities of execution, slippage, and market structure — and how to build a feedback loop so your live results get closer to your simulations.
· Drawdowns and mindset: How to handle periods where a strategy doesn’t behave as expected, and why many traders quit in drawdowns rather than at all-time highs.
· Scaling a trading business: The difference between scaling size versus scaling breadth — and why uncorrelated strategies matter.
· Practical first step for systematic traders: How to start adding structure to your trading with backtesting, even if you’re not a programmer.
About the guest:
Dave has been a professional trader and technologist for over two decades. As a former CTO of Trade-Ideas, he has unique experience at the intersection of algorithm design, real-time market data, and automated execution. Outside trading, he writes a popular daily newsletter on backtesting and systematic strategy development, and hosts the Line
Your Own Pockets podcast focused on systematic approaches to markets.
Links + Resources:
· Link to Better Backtesting —Dave’s free multi-day email course on building strategies and improving them over time.
· Trade-Ideas, Amibroker, RealTest — examples of backtesting and strategy development platforms discussed in context.
Sponsor of Chat With Traders Podcast:
Trade The Pool: http://www.tradethepool.com
Time Stamps:
Please note: Exact times will vary depending on current ads.
00:00 Intro and Background
08:29 Stock Selection and Systematic Trading Rules 11:32 Position Sizing, Expectancy and Risk Management 16:50 Discovering Backtesting and F
