I stumbled on this website back in December and was blown away. I've been investing since I was 18, for about 9 years now. I've done pretty well with the techniques my dad taught me. I now manage a portfolio of about $200k+ (10% return each of last two years).

I saw the posts by Paul Maplesden and took the same approach. Having no programming experience, I started Codecademy last year, and after I learned of this website, I simply started on the Python lesson.

Investing wise, I rely on having lots of money, which enables me to be a patient investor, unmoved by market fluctuations, news, or short term loss. Main metrics I look at are: total debt, trailing averages, float, beta, and cash to name a few. This has worked well for me, and I've grown a few friends' portfolios over the past 3 years. I did hear about algorithmic trading, but thought it was only for the 'big guys.' Again, I blown away when I found this place.

So now that my Python skills are being refined, and I'm learning more of the finer details of trading, I've picked a target date of March 1st to deploy my first live algorithm.

I would appreciate any tips others have on learning python and key stock measurements. Another concern I have is about commissions, I've ran some minute backtests, with anywhere from $10-50k, and the get a positive return, this is with a $7 commission assuming an average rate. I do have a Robinhood account, can Quantopian algorithms be deployed with Robinhood?

Thanks for your time. I have many more questions I'll ask later hopefully. Look forward to all the advice.
-Bilal