The honest life of a systematic trader — by Tomas Nesnidal.https://www.systemsontheroad.com/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/blog/is-breakout-trading-profitable/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/blog/is-breakout-trading-profitable/After building 2,041 breakout strategies and trading them in a hedge fund, here's the honest answer to whether breakout trading is profitable — and the conditions that decide it.Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.systemsontheroad.com/blog/is-my-backtest-lying-overfitting/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/blog/is-my-backtest-lying-overfitting/A beautiful backtest is the easiest thing in trading to fake — usually by accident. Here's how I tell whether a strategy is real or curve-fit, from 20 years and 2,041 strategies.Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.systemsontheroad.com/blog/how-i-validate-a-trading-strategy/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/blog/how-i-validate-a-trading-strategy/The exact process I use to decide whether a breakout strategy is trustworthy — out-of-sample testing, cross-market checks, costs, and sample size. From 20 years of systematic trading.Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/building-a-hedge-fund-from-2000/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/building-a-hedge-fund-from-2000/How a kid who learned to code on a smuggled Commodore 64 went from a small retail account to running a systematic breakout hedge fund for banks and pension funds. The honest version.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.systemsontheroad.com/lab/my-2041-breakout-strategies/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/lab/my-2041-breakout-strategies/2,041 strategies across 34 futures markets, 1,706 tradable in our hedge fund. The real numbers behind the database — category by category, with the reasoning.Mon, 10 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/from-a-smuggled-commodore-64-to-a-hedge-fund/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/from-a-smuggled-commodore-64-to-a-hedge-fund/I was 15, writing BASIC on a computer smuggled through the Iron Curtain, the night the Velvet Revolution started under our balcony. Everything I believe about breaking out — in markets and in life — started there.Sun, 17 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/my-3-worst-algo-trading-mistakes/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/my-3-worst-algo-trading-mistakes/The mistake that cost me serious money, the one that cost me years of time, and the one you should never make if you want to succeed.Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/how-to-travel-the-world-with-algo-trading/https://www.systemsontheroad.com/journal/how-to-travel-the-world-with-algo-trading/65 countries with a laptop and a portfolio of automated systems — how I combine trading with a life on the road, and the four things that make it possible.Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT