Question 1

What is the difference between programmatic and statistical trading?

Accepted Answer

Programmatic trading is about form: the logic is written as code so it runs the same way every time. Statistical trading is about evidence: decisions are based on how an idea behaves across many occurrences, not on one chart. They usually go together, because a coded rule is easy to test over a large sample.

Question 2

Does statistical trading guarantee a profit?

Accepted Answer

No. A statistical edge is a small advantage that tends to show up over many trades, not a promise on any single one. Any individual trade can lose, and a real edge can still fail if costs, sizing, or a small sample are working against it. Nothing here is financial advice.

Question 3

What does thinking in expectation mean?

Accepted Answer

Expectation, often called expectancy, is the average result you would expect per trade if you repeated the same rule many times. It combines how often you win, how often you lose, and the size of each. A positive expectancy means the rule tends to make money over a large sample, even with many individual losers.

Question 4

Why does sample size matter so much?

Accepted Answer

Over a handful of trades, luck dominates and a bad rule can look great while a good rule can look broken. Only across a large sample does the underlying edge, if there is one, start to separate from random noise. That is why statistical traders judge ideas over many trades, not a few.