Quant research, in plain English
Practical guides on quantitative trading, prop-firm evaluations, PineScript strategy building, and finding a real edge without fooling yourself.
The Market's Daily Rhythm: When Volatility Actually Shows Up
Classic research in the Journal of Financial Economics and the Journal of Finance showed that trading volume, volatility, and returns follow a U-shaped pattern across the day — busy at the open and close, quiet at midday. Here is the intraday seasonality research explained simply, and how to use it in TapeScript.
The Donchian Channel Breakout: The Turtle Rule Tested Across Global Futures
The breakout rule that trained the famous Turtle Traders was re-tested across 28 futures markets in a Journal of Banking & Finance study — and the trend edge showed up. Here is the Donchian channel breakout explained simply, and how to build and test it on futures and forex in TapeScript.
The Monday Effect: Does the Day of the Week Really Move Markets?
A classic Journal of Financial Economics study found stock returns behaved differently depending on the day of the week — with Mondays historically the weakest. Here is the weekend effect explained simply, and how to build and test a day-of-week strategy on futures and forex in TapeScript.
Sell in May and Go Away? What the Halloween Effect Really Shows
An American Economic Review study found stock returns were far higher from November to April than from May to October — across 37 countries. Here is the Halloween effect explained simply, the exact rule, and how to build and test this seasonal strategy on index futures and forex in TapeScript.
Opening Range Breakout: The Day-Trading Setup That Passed a Real Backtest
A widely-read 2023 study backtested the Opening Range Breakout on years of data and found a genuine intraday edge — when it was traded with strict rules. Here is the research in plain English, the exact rules, and how to build and test an ORB strategy on futures and forex in TapeScript.
The Turn-of-the-Month Effect: When the Calendar Quietly Pays Traders
Studies in the Journal of Financial Economics and Financial Analysts Journal found that almost all of the stock market's long-run gains happened in just a few days around each month's end. Here is the seasonality research in plain English and how to build and test the turn-of-the-month strategy on index futures and forex in TapeScript.
Short-Term Reversal: The Snap-Back Edge Tested Since 1990
A Journal of Finance study proved that big, fast price moves tend to partly reverse — the opposite of momentum. Here is the mean-reversion research explained simply, the exact rules, and how to build and test a short-term reversal strategy on futures and forex in TapeScript.
Volatility Targeting: The Boring Risk Trick That Beat the Market
A Journal of Finance study showed that trading smaller when markets are wild and bigger when they are calm raised risk-adjusted returns across almost every strategy tested. Here is the research in plain English, the exact rule, and how to build and test volatility targeting on futures and forex in TapeScript.
Overnight vs Intraday: Where Stock Market Returns Actually Come From
A Journal of Financial Economics study found many trading edges pay off entirely overnight — and reverse during the day. Here's the research simply explained and the session strategy it implies.
137 Years of Proof That Trend-Following Works (and How to Test It)
AQR researchers tested trend-following back to 1880 across 67 markets and two world wars. Here's what they found in plain English, and the moving-average strategy you can build from it.
Time-Series Momentum: The Trend Edge Proven Across 58 Futures Markets
One of finance's most cited studies found that what went up over the past year tends to keep going — across 58 futures markets. Here's the research simply explained and how to build it in TapeScript.
The Last-Hour Edge: What University Research Says About Intraday Momentum
A peer-reviewed study found the market's first half-hour predicts its last half-hour. Here's the research in plain English — and the exact intraday momentum strategy you can build and test.
Curve-Fitting: How to Tell if Your Backtest Is Lying to You
Curve-fitting (overfitting) makes worthless strategies look brilliant in a backtest. Here's how to detect it — walk-forward, out-of-sample holdout, deflated Sharpe, and parameter stability.
MAE and MFE Explained: Where Your Stops and Targets Really Belong
MAE and MFE analysis, explained: how measuring each trade's worst and best excursion tells you where your stop is bleeding money and where your target is leaving it on the table.
Monte Carlo Simulation in Trading, Explained Simply
What Monte Carlo simulation means in trading, why it separates skill from luck, and how reshuffling your trade sequence into thousands of alternate histories exposes fragile strategies.
PineScript vs Python for Algo Trading: Which Should You Use?
PineScript vs Python for algorithmic trading — where each wins, why serious research happens in Python, and why your exported PineScript must provably match the tested code.
Best Futures Backtesting Software: What Actually Matters in 2026
Choosing futures backtesting software? The features that matter are zero lookahead, realistic fills and costs, walk-forward, Monte-Carlo, and an untouched holdout — not a prettier equity curve.
Topstep Evaluation Rules Explained (and How to Actually Pass)
A plain-English breakdown of the Topstep Trading Combine rules — profit target, daily loss limit, trailing max drawdown, consistency — and a quant method to pass without gambling.
How to Pass the Apex Trader Funding Evaluation (a Quant Approach)
Pass the Apex Trader Funding evaluation by treating it as a math problem: understand the trailing threshold drawdown, size for it, and simulate your pass odds before you pay the fee.
Finding a Real Trading Edge: Backtesting Without Fooling Yourself
Discovering a real trading edge means trying to kill your strategy before the market does. A practical guide to walk-forward, Monte-Carlo, holdout testing and overfitting detection.
PineScript Strategy Builder: From Plain English to a Tested Edge
How an AI PineScript builder turns a plain-English idea into readable PineScript and Python, backtested with no lookahead — and why the export has to provably match the tested code.
How to Pass a Futures Prop Firm Evaluation Without Gambling
A quant approach to passing Topstep, Apex and other futures prop firm evaluations: simulate the exact rules, size for the trailing drawdown, and know your pass odds before you pay the fee.
What Is Quantitative Trading? A Retail Trader's Field Guide
Quantitative trading, explained for self-directed futures and forex traders — what a quant system actually does, the core terms, and how to run real quant research without a PhD.