I have recently decided to start incubator fund so I can build up a track record to present to investors. FX is my market of choice, and as a result I will be using this journal to keep me somewhat sane and communicating with the outside world as I will be up 12+ hours and majority of my time will be spent indoors... and in my parents house. Starting balance will be an OANDA Live Account with $1,000.00 (funds sent, waiting for it to clear) My overall goal for this year is 11,000 points and dynamically scaling the lot size. (I will also be trading $1/tick per $1,000 in the account) This comes out to 44 points a day which is very reasonable ( assuming 250 trading days ) Account size results in an account balance of $2,048,000 in 11,000 points. (204,700% return) Insane, but manageable. Don't rely on my posts to trade your own account because you will probably miss the trade. I am a scalper (with 1.5 point trailing stops) so it's difficult to post trades in real time.
After several rounds of tug-of-war with OANDA about clear ID and proof of address they finally realized I sent this all to them on Sunday and JUST processed the deposit today. ON to trading.. finally! EUR/USD looks flat with bias to the upside. I expect some forced liquidation (running stops) of long orders from the current spot 1.28177. Price levels I am watching tonight are $1.2802 and $1.2717. $1.2717 should be the top of the head of the H/S pattern forming on the 4-hr chart.
Out of the first trade for +5.6 pip gain. Still maintaining a bullish bias, although I don't see any significant buying interest here (@ Spot: 1.2809). I am placing a buy-limit @ $1.2717 with 10k units. Edit: I am adding a 10k unit sell-limit order at $1.2859.
Just realized the original deposit was 981.95 because of the paypal charge. So I wont count the trades until it's at $1,000. Got another entry at $1.2802 (filled at 1.28018) got out for 5.2 pips. Up $11.15
How is an "incubator fund" different from a managed account program ? Will the investors money be pooled ? Where will the fund be incorporated ?
I am trying to market myself as a manger in the CTA/hedge-fund space. Preferably a market-making high frequency/quantitative role at a bank. Some roles require 2+ years solid trading and that is what I am working towards right now. I am not interested in a traditional managed account program. I have no preference for where the fund would be located; but preferably the USA. (I am on the east coast).
Good luck with your journal/trading, but I don't think that Oanda is your best choice for your HFT model. They are great for the retail trader, but not for what you are trying to accomplish, if this really a high-frequency-trading model you are trying to detail, I think you have better choices that won't impede your trading. Also, if this is HFT, how will you be able to detail your trades (if that is what you are attempting here)? Wouldn't you be better served doing a daily summary of your activity instead of calling out individual trades? HFT would indicate that you would spend more time calling trades than actually trading, you know?
Levels I am watching tonight are $1.2717, $1.2664 and 1.2615. Seems the market is still in stop-hunting mode on the buy-side. I will be building positions on these levels with a target of $1.2908. +$42.44 overall or roughly 42 pips.
Thanks for the comments cstfx. It's semi-manual or "greybox." Some trades are planned out ahead of time. It's high frequency in the sense that trades are usually closed <1-5 mins after opened. I spend a lot of time waiting for a print I am comfortable buying or selling. 95% of the time the price on the screen is a sucker price. I am not calling out individual trades. I focus on a few levels for the day and I play those levels. Sometimes I may get 3-4 trades off the level and sometimes 0-1. I also plan on moving the funds after it's a decent amount, most likely to Citibank. But on the other hand I like dealing with market-makers and brokers because they usually have weird prints.