Who’s behind The Algo Bench
I’m Satish Nagda, a Chartered Accountant. I spent more than 20 years in financial services, most of it inside India’s retail broking industry. In corporate roles, I grew from manager into C-suite roles, leading finance and business transformation.
I always felt lucky to be part of an industry that was bringing equities to Indian retail investors: something that, used well, can make a real, positive difference to people’s lives.
Seeing the business from the inside taught me that discipline and execution decide outcomes, far more than any single trade idea.
I’ve invested in equities for more than 20 years, long enough to learn, often the hard way, what works and what doesn’t. Since 2024 I’ve moved my investing to a rule-based approach.
In 2025 I stepped down from corporate life. Since July 2025 I’ve worked full time on my passion: equity markets, analysis and automation. In that time I’ve built a fully automated, rule-based platform for my own investing and trading, covering everything from data and backtesting to live execution and monitoring.
It runs my own capital only. I don’t manage money for anyone, take on clients or sell signals.
Why I started The Algo Bench
Over those years, I’ve seen that the hardest part is rarely knowing what to do. It’s doing it consistently: not selling in a panic, not chasing what has already run, not abandoning a plan at the worst moment, not hopping from one plan to another. That is what rule-based, automated investing and trading changed for me.
- Rule-based keeps me consistent and objective. I decide once, calmly, and judge an idea on its past evidence instead of on mood, news or a tip.
- Automated keeps emotion out: fear, greed and second thoughts, especially when markets are volatile.
Yet many people are put off by the word “algo”, picturing high-frequency trading and complicated code. It doesn’t have to be either. A simple rule you follow every month for long-term investing is an algo too. In fact, the hugely popular SIP is one: a fixed amount invested automatically every month, with no new decision each time.
I’d like more people to discover this. The Algo Bench is my first step: here I document my backtests, what I’ve learned, and my real-life experience of running a fully automated setup, including the expensive mistakes. New to algo? Start with What is Algo?
Satish Nagda, Mumbai · Connect on LinkedIn
Views on this site are my own. The Algo Bench is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by any former employer, broker or exchange.
How The Algo Bench is different
Most trading content online shows a winning month and stops there. You don’t see the costs, the period the strategy was tuned on, or the ideas that didn’t work. Others hide key rules and never reveal their “magic ingredient”.
Here, every strategy is tested with real costs, checked on data it was never tuned on, and published whether it passed or failed, with its complete rules. How we test is on the Methodology page, and how we score is on How we score strategies.
What you’ll find here
- What is Algo?: the starting point. What algo investing and trading really means, and the myths that put people off.
- Strategies: does it actually work? Rules, backtest, risks, pros & cons, and our verdict.
- Landmines: is your backtest lying to you? The traps that make bad strategies look brilliant, and how to spot them.
- Launchpad: get your first algo-bot right. Build it step by step, and learn from real failures before they cost you.
What you won’t find here
Tips, calls, “today’s trade”, or promises of returns. The Algo Bench is not registered with SEBI as an Investment Adviser or Research Analyst, and nothing on this site is a recommendation. See the disclaimer.