BackAlpha
Additional Resources
To continue your learning and explore trading strategies beyond this book, here are several recommended resources — including a platform I built specifically to accompany this material.
.1 BackAlpha.com
BackAlpha is a research and backtesting platform designed to help investors and traders explore long-term strategies using real historical market data. All examples and strategies discussed in this book — including Buy and Hold, Dollar Cost Averaging, Moving Average Crossovers, and Leveraged Options Strategies — can be simulated and analyzed directly on the site.
Each strategy page on BackAlpha includes:
- Interactive Backtests: Adjust key parameters like moving average windows, crossover thresholds, and leverage ratios to test how strategies would have performed.
- Detailed Metrics: View annualized return, total return, maximum drawdown, Calmar ratio, and other essential statistics.
- Trade-Level Logs: Examine a complete log of simulated trades — including entry and exit dates, prices, and outcomes.
- Data-Driven Commentary: Each backtest result is accompanied by plain-language explanations to help you interpret the numbers and understand the strategy’s behavior in different market conditions.
BackAlpha is intentionally designed to be clean, focused, and data-first — with no hype, no speculative signals, and no distractions. It’s a tool for serious learners who want to understand not just what worked, but why.
.2 Other Free Resources
Books
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle
- Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
Websites and Tools
- FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) — https://fred.stlouisfed.org A rich source for U.S. economic indicators, interest rates, inflation data, and more.
- Portfolio Visualizer — https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com Offers free portfolio backtesting, asset allocation analysis, and Monte Carlo simulations.
- Yahoo Finance — https://finance.yahoo.com A general-purpose financial portal with charts, earnings calendars, ETF listings, and historical price data.
With the foundation you’ve built in this book — and tools like BackAlpha — you now have the ability to test ideas rigorously and think independently as a data-driven investor.
Keep learning, and keep testing.