Back testing works extremely fast nowadays. Anyone can test their own or borrowed ideas. It’s a matter of hours. But of course, they need to know how to back test, so that their live results don’t fail.
Nothing is a secret. His original ‘system’ was trading towards exotic knockout barrier options. Hunting stops from defenders of them.
Utilizing Reuters Eikon platform and a network of institutional traders, he was able to hear where large barrier options were forming. Defenders of these options allocate a certain amount of capital in an attempt to preserve the level (ie; spending $400M to defend a $500M payout if not breached) which they place stop orders to exit (from the defense) just beyond. He would enter on the initial pull back of the defense level around 10-30 pips away, and exit in to opposing stop orders once the level was breached.
Example: 1.1700 barrier on EurUsd this past Tues/Wed Aug. 12/13th.
Notice the initial push, the defense, then the next push to break which is easier to run bc the absence of shorts defending.
So as I see, he was flow trading. I agree, this can potentially be profitable under the right conditions. But without actual track record it’s just a description of how he tried to exploit an informational edge. Nowadays anyone can have access to DOM and volume profiles, but this doesn’t mean their actual strategy is profitable. Sometimes barriers break quickly. Consistent profitability depends on much more than having access to data. As I said until I see a long and verified track record I don’t see anyone profitable.