[anonu]

Trading successfully is conceptually simple: buy low, sell high. Finding these patterns is what's tough.

First you need to figure out what your investment horizon is. Microseconds or years? Or somewhere in between?

If you're good at programming there's a good chance you'll be attracted to the shorter time horizons (high frequency trading). At a longer time horizon your risks are different and so are the programming skills you need. Generally you'll need to be able to apply statistics and probability to what you're looking at. Look up Kelly criterion.

One of the best things to look at on any time horizon is liquidity differentials. Try to find two things that should be the same thing from a price or risk perspective, but trade with different volumes.

In the ETF space an example of this is the ETF versus it's basket. Or leaders and laggards within a specific sector.