There is only one true edge in successful trading. It is the ability to utilize prudent risk management. There is no other edge ------period.
A lot of people think they have edge but the edge is illusory because often it is in the context of a bull market. It is not alpha, but beta in sheep's clothing, such as short vol strategies. If the S&P is flat to down for the next 5 years, believe me, many of those bull market babies who thought they had edge will disappear in a heartbeat.
OK so you guys are looking for an edge = right ? A few years ago while sitting watching the charts and not doing very well I decided just as a bit of fun I would try something different. I had Bloomberg on at the time. Why I said, not only listen to what they have to say but go one step further. So this is the system I developed. The presenters are dressed well and look nice but what if their subconscious minds are saying something to them when they dress before work. Maybe I think the S&P 500 will go up today and so I will wear a blue tie not the red one. Are you getting my drift ? Well to cut a long story short a particular presenter got it mostly right and another mostly wrong. Around 80% in both cases. I won't say who but you can do the homework using the colo(u)r spectrum as your guide. The answer may lie in unexpected places. They can't NOT PLAY unless they come in starkers ...............
Risk management is not an edge, its a basic trading skill. Anyone can learn to place an entry and a stop or trade size that isn't too big for his account, but that alone will never guarantee success, you need to know where to place the entry and the stop, a trader who is able to do that correctly would have an edge.
I really thought I had found an edge last weekend. It was to do with the manipulation of data in Excel. I put in all the hours of Sat and Sun. Guess what - no edge visible. yahhhhhhhhhh
Actually, it most certainly is and prudent implementation thereof is the only true edge in successful trading.
Real Edge is rarely shared": Duh. for obvious reasons. closed discussion. (but joking aside, i don't like to think of it as "Edge" per se -- but rather simply as skill vs no skill....or knowledge vs no knowledge...or experience vs no experience.)