Equity Curve Fitting
Equity curve fitting is a deceptive practice where a trader manipulates a strategy or its parameters to create a smooth, upward-sloping equity curve. This often ignores the realities of transaction costs, slippage, and market impact, which are crucial in the high-stakes world of cryptocurrency derivatives.
By focusing on the end result ⎊ the equity curve ⎊ rather than the underlying logic of the strategy, the trader creates a false sense of security. Such strategies are inherently fragile because they rely on historical artifacts that will not persist in future trading.
When the strategy is finally deployed, the actual performance usually diverges sharply from the backtested equity curve. True success in trading comes from a robust process, not from forcing historical data to conform to a desired profit outcome.