In my opinion, your trading system should be so simple that you could explain it to your intelligent girlfriend, give her everything, and at the very least someone with no experience could break even or make a few bucks over the course of each month.

Here is how it would have to work.

First, you would have to clearly explain what your system is.

For example:

I focus on overnight momentum. I like to buy strong stocks on the close and short weak stocks on the close for potential overnight follow through into the next day. I enter in the last 2 minutes of the day. I use the closing print of VWAP as a stop. I hold it overnight and sell the next day unless I am stopped out.

That is the entire strategy.

Next, how do you identify the trade?

For me, I have built three custom filters. In the last 2 minutes of the day, I open those filters and simply pick the number one option from each list. I enter that order.

There is no overthinking. No debating. No scrolling. Just take the top setup from each filter.

Then, how do you think about risk?

Take every trade with the same dollar risk to VWAP.

Every single trade.

No increasing size because you love it. No decreasing size because you are scared. Same dollar risk every time.

If my girlfriend followed this system exactly as written, she would likely break even or make a few bucks over the course of the month. And that is the point.

If someone with no experience can execute your system and not lose money consistently, you probably have something structurally sound.

From there, you can add nuance.

You can start thinking about offering risk. News. Asymmetry. Volatility. Context.

That is where things begin to compound.

But the base system should be simple enough that anyone can follow it mechanically.

If you cannot explain your strategy in a few paragraphs and have someone else execute it without you standing next to them, it is probably too complicated.

Simple systems survive.

Complex ones usually don’t.