STA Blog

Waking up yesterday in Queensland at some unhinged time that he calls ‘convict hours’, Nick Radge (head of trading and research at The Chartist, Australia) admitted he had a bad cold. Nevertheless he soldiered on with what proved to be a well-timed, slick and clear presentation at the STA’s monthly meeting. I must say that I, for one, have missed the networking of in-person event but the online version gives members access to a much greater pool of talented speakers.

Entitled ‘Trading Multiple Strategies: Diversify and Smooth the Equity Curve’, Nick’s expertise clearly lies in trading system design and technical analysis with a particular focus on momentum investing and trend following strategies. Starting his career on the floor of the Sydney Futures Exchange in 1985, his focus is very much on individual Australian and US equities, though he might possibly add Canadian ones shortly. This is because the data feed he currently uses is Real Test software (and before that TradeStation), which he believes to be accurate, reliable and is strong on data from these countries.

His is a trend following system based around a 200-day moving average, insisting that ‘’simple but robust is best’’. Around this he overlays a 5-day and a 30-day Average True Range (ATR) on the US Russell 1000 constituents worth more than USD 20 and in Australia their All Share. He insists: ‘’I invest in a portfolio of strategies – not stocks’’, where there seem to be a maximum of 9 variations on the theme; he’s never traded Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

What follows are a series of slides showing performance over various time frames and many years. Needless to say much of his work is automated via Interactive Brokers, and he tends to hold stocks for several months. He also claims his equity average exposure is usually 45% as much of his portfolio is held in cash.

Visit www.thechartist.com.au for a free 30-day trial or contact him by email at nick@thechartists.co.au