Why Formerly Profitable Trading Strategies May Remain Undisclosed

Summary

The document asks where to find algorithmic trading strategies that were once profitable but later stopped working. Its answer points to public compilations of strategies, while cautioning that detailed disclosure is unlikely. It gives several reasons: traders may protect information through nondisclosure agreements, and a strategy's performance can depend on market conditions that may return.

The answer also argues that a strategy that is currently unprofitable could be matched by opposing strategies that profit in the same conditions. It notes that old code may be reused during disorderly markets or periods of extreme volatility. These points frame strategy decay as conditional rather than necessarily permanent. The discussion is anecdotal and does not provide named, verified examples of formerly profitable strategies, performance records, or a systematic method for finding them; public compilations may not establish historical profitability.

Key ideas

• Public compilations may contain strategy descriptions, but they do not by themselves verify past profitability.
• Strategies may stop working when the market regime changes and become useful again under different conditions.
• Nondisclosure agreements and commercial incentives limit the public release of trading strategies.
• Old strategy code may be reused when markets become disorderly or highly volatile.
• The document offers general reasoning rather than documented case studies or performance evidence.

Tags

# Formerly profitable algorithmic trading strategies?


# Formerly profitable algorithmic trading strategies?












Since algorithmic trading strategies often stop being profitable after a while, I wonder if any such formerly profitable strategies have been made public, and if so, where can I find them?

## Answer by Sergei Rodionov (score 6, accepted)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/61873

Take a look at compilations such as 151 Trading Strategies.

I wouldn't expect this information to be widely disclosed. After all, a non-profitable strategy is a supermartingale which means there is an opposing set of algos that is profitable as we speak. Secondly, many strategies are conditional upon a market regime, and could become profitable should the conditions materialize. Lots of old code is called on deck when markets are disorderly or experiencing extreme volatility. Finally, you have NDAs in place.

Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.