I used C2 for day trading ES, as the trader. I lasted 4 days. The fills are at best inconsistent and at worse delayed up to a few minutes. About 60% were perfect, 20% were delayed about 5-20 seconds, then the other 20% were completely off. Those last 20% were either delayed by minutes or complete confused due to bracket orders. I used IB as the driver account. The main issue is the "syncc" engine, between IB and C2. When you get out of syncc, it will try to get you back in sync, but IB will execute the target-stop BEFORE you get in syncc. Then it put out out of syncc again. It was bad in moderate moving market, and unusable in medium-fast markets. Did not work on the open or close. The syncc engine was not consistent in the time it took to get in syncc. Also, the type of orders supported are limited. E.g. no Adjustable trailing stops. I adjusted and got beyond that and used "native C2" orders only. I was simulated for 3 weeks and live for 4 days. Sim was better than live because you only have to communicate with IB->C2 (Sim), not IB -> C2 -> IB (live). I broke even (+50 USD after comms C2+IB), but was down about 2K at one point after all the "syncc" crazy stuff. Single contract trading. I had two friends as subscribers. One made 200, other lost 300 (because he missed first day or trading). Fine for swing trading though. PS: was up 18K in Sim in 3 weeks. Fills are semi-auto-magic. (i.e. Top of book) PPS: if you wanted to scam people, do SIM for 6 months, then go live. Then watch as the people flee.
And would Collective2 do this accurately and be one which external parties would trust/recognize? I'm just as much interested in this feature as in selling signals. I'm very happy with Ninjatrader / Dorman as a broker, but they only submit paper statements, daily, monthly and yearly. There's no electronic portal which tracks performance. I find that a bit antiquated.
This got me confused. I thought C2 would simply mirror or report the actual executed trades/executions in my main account? As I understand it, pending limit or market orders are not reported. Yes. I imagine it won't be valuable or profitable for someone to follow a day trader who's quickly in and out of the market.
C2 price prints don't reflect your broker account executions . It reflect executions from your subscribers' accounts. If your subscribers account fills have some delay, then C2 will reflect it. If you don't have subscriber, then your C2 fills only reflect your C2 simulation executions, and are instant. Generally, C2's fill records are good and accurate, and can be trusted.
Well, if they reflect the subscribers accounts I don't see how that would serve as a valid track record for my personal trading. Especially considering what @Bad_Badness reported above.
...if your strategy goes breakeven for 3 months, you have no income. But if you have subscribers... Assuming your system is fairly easy to follow there is no reason NOT to have subscribers, unless the extra responsibility messes with your head. That being said lots of system doesn't work with C2 because what Bad Badness described earlier. The best is the slow systems holding for extended period of times.
There is not much difference between your account and your subscribers' accounts. That delay only last for a few seconds,the effect is tiny and sometimes it is favorable and sometimes unfavorable. I don't think it can change the whole picture. I did trade at C2 for long time, and never seen things like Bad_Badness said. If you are really worried about delay, then don't take subscribers, then you will get an accurate track record.
Then what you or Bad_Badness said aren't highly reliable strategies or even a strategy. So many traders only spend a couple of days/weeks/months to trade and think that they've found a holy grail system. For me, I spent more than a decade of extreme hard work in order to see the light at the end of tunnel. My strategies have to work for different market conditions lol. Ever since I created this thread (https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/proof-that-scalpers-can-make-money.352839/ ) , I've only been trading extremely reliable setups with very high winrate, and slowly increase lots per trade while racking in profits. I don't recall a week or month goes breakeven for me lol... I'm a super nice guy. I probably feel very bad to earn subscribers fee when my strategy goes wrong causing them to lose money. This is my last post here 'cuz I'm not helping out OP.
I'm not sure what QTrader's angle or agenda is. This thread specifically asked about people's experience with Collective2 with two motivations outlined: a) additional income; b) establishing a track record. Doesn't look like I really need subscribers either. If someone wants to prove their profitability (nobody asked), then one would need more than a screenshot from Ninjatrader.