SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 7.89% Current Account Balance: $86315.63 2012-10-19 Profit/Loss: -(743.69) Loss today. Dropped below the 87K level. Not much action today. Still waiting to implement the short game. Had some execution errors. Still using previous list of scanned stock. Hopefully have a new list for Monday. SBUX Opened a position at $45.71. PEP Holding. Had a chance to unload at 70.90 at the open. APA Opened a position by mistake at 87.49. Decided to hold it. Should have closed the position at 0 loss. Overnight Holdings: APA: (400) 86.69 PEP: (400) $69.85 SBUX: (400) $45.68
SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 7.46% Current Account Balance: $85969.65 2012-10-22 Profit/Loss: -(345.98) Loss today. Added some overnight volume. Was hoping to have the short game up and running today. Will need to wait another day or so. Today would have been a good day to short stocks on the active trading list. Late in the day there was a push up. Hopefully that upward movement continues tomorrow. APA Intraday P/L +112.00 Added extra block of volume at $85.90. Bad entry point. Traded 1 intraday trade for a profit. OXY Opened position at $82.79. Will try and close position tomorrow due to earnings call. Want to stay clear of possible gap down. PEP Position opened at $70.19. Holding. SBUX Added volume block. Average price $45.59. Chart looks weak. Overnight Holdings: APA: (800) 83.84 OXY: (400) $83.00 PEP: (400) $69.74 SBUX: (800) $45.41
Sorry I didn't get a sense that you know what you are doing. At least you are trading large-caps which should reduce the risk and let you last a bit longer. How did you do in August 2011?
The current strategy being tested is to the upside only. Therefore it's only defense mechanism against a negative market macro is a stoploss. It is susceptible to a major move to the downside(like today). A dedicated account for shorting (hedge) is in the process of being finalized. Once itâs activated a new round of testing will begin (SIM Test Phase 2). I highly doubt that the strategy being developed will get totally blown out of the water. Its P/L has been slightly positive / break even for a long period. The strategy is still evolving and many new tools have been added even in the past few months. In August 2011 the strategy was strictly intraday (both long/short) using small volume. Today it is moving toward a longer term strategy with higher volumes. Success or failure the account balance and P/L will be posted daily. SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 2.76% Current Account Balance: $82210.65 2012-10-23 Profit/Loss: -(3759.00) Large loss today. No defense. A lot of execution errors. Hopefully a much better day tomorrow. APA Sold volume block at loss OXY Sold position at a loss PEP Added extra volume block at $68.70. SBUX Sold volume block at a loss. Overnight Holdings: APA: (400) 83.24 PEP: (800) $68.61 SBUX: (400) $45.96
SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 2.83% Current Account Balance: $82267.63 2012-10-23 Profit/Loss: +$56.98 Basically a flat day today from a P/L perspective. SIM Phase 1 Testing is almost complete. With the market having a negative sentiment these days it is hard to make a profit on the upside. Especially if you want to hold a base unit volume for a long period. SIM Phase 2 Testing will begin shortly. The second account (dedicated short) has been approved. This will add a defensive mechanism to the current strategy that is required in this type of market. Looking forward to the next round of testing. APA Current Positions (800) Intraday P/L +$80.00 Trades (1-Wed) Open Closed ($32.00) (2-Wed) Open Closed ($48.00) (3-Wed) Open Closed $160.00 (4-Wed) Open OXY Current Position (400) Intraday P/L +$100.00 Trades (1-Wed) Open Closed $52.00 (2-Wed) Open Closed $48.00 PEP Current Positions (800) SBUX Current Position (400). Overnight Holdings: APA: (800) 82.62 OXY (400) $80.69 PEP: (800) $68.52 SBUX: (400) $45.34
SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 3.66% Current Account Balance: $82925.60 2012-10-25 Profit/Loss: +$657.97 Profit today. Should have been a better day. On most trading days there is little time to prep before the game begins (just the way it is). Some days (like today) the game is already in progress. OXY position was to be closed today due to the earnings release (potential gap against current position). By the time I arrived to play the game OXY was in free fall. Instead of selling at the open (high) of the day, when the dust settled the stock had been stopped out near the low of the day. Left a lot of cash on the table. Kind of set the mood for the day. Looking for a good day tomorrow. APA Current Positions (400) Intraday P/L $400.00 (4-Wed) Open Closed $196.00 (1-Thurs) Open Closed ($112.00) (2-Thurs) Open Closed $80.00 (3)-Thurs Open Closed $236.00 OXY Closed position at a loss. PEP Current Positions (400) Intraday P/L $108.00 (1-Tues) Open Closed $108.00 SBUX Current Position (400). Overnight Holdings: APA: (400) 82.52 PEP: (400) $68.89 SBUX: (400) $46.06
Dude, stop posting reports about your paper-trading exercise! At least, start trading with real money. It's a lot different. I still think you have no clue. What's your edge?
Why do you care. Just skip the thread. This is a research project. It is up front in the text SIM Test. Traders who donât sim their strategy before taking it live have a less than 1% chance of making it as a trader. Just because a person has real money on the table doesnât mean they know how to trade. I use IBâs paper trading system so it is somewhat accurate. Coupled with the fact that the stocks being traded have a minimum average volume of 2M and shares are purchased in blocks of (400) slippage / spread is not an issue. I have traded live accounts before (3) and was fortunate enough to get away with a minimal loss (<15K). I have been in the sim ever since. If you take the SIM seriously then there is little difference between real/sim trading. Even the brokerâs trading platform (TWS) is the same. From a psychological point of view the sim is a perfect place to train your mind. Please explain why you donât think I have a clue. SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 2.89% Current Account Balance: $82287.55 2012-10-26 Profit/Loss: ($638.05) Loss today. Added some OXY. Looking for a push up on Monday. APA Current Positions (400) OXY Current Positions (800) (1-Fri) Open PEP Current Positions (400) Intraday P/L $68.00 (1-Fri) Open Closed $68.00 SBUX Current Position (400). Overnight Holdings: APA: (400) 82.36 PEP: (400) $69.05 SBUX: (400) $45.82 OXY: (800) $80.48
SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 1.39% Current Account Balance: $81110.08 2012-10-26 Profit/Loss: ($1177.47) Loss today. This round of testing (SIM Test Phase 1) has been completed. Overall the strategy is slightly positive. Since posting, the annual return results have been as high as 9.8% and on the low side of dipping slightly into the negative only briefly intraday (1 day). Major strategy changes have been made since the start of this phase of testing (June 28, 2012) in the areas of volume scaling and entry/exit points. Execution of the actual strategy has been weak and has been mainly due to the constant tweaking that has occurred. The next round of testing (SIM Test Phase 2) will begin shortly. It will add the shorting component that was lacking in the first round of testing. It is the do/die round for this strategy. APA Current Positions (400) OXY Current Positions (1200) Intraday P/L +$120.00 (1-Wed) Open (2-Wed) Open Closed PEP Current Positions (400) SBUX Current Position (400). Overnight Holdings: APA: (400) 82.72 PEP: (400) $69.24 SBUX: (400) $45.90 OXY: (1200.00) $78.96
SIM Test Phase 1: Start Date: June 28, 2012 Account Opening Balance: $80,000.00 Account Goal: $104,000.00 Target Annual Return: 30.00% Annual Return: 3.16% Current Account Balance: $82526.55 2012-11-01 Profit/Loss: $1416.47 Strategy Execution: 3 Gain today. Still waiting on the second account (dedicated short). Decided to include a strategy execution ranking based on a scale of 1 â 10. Even though today was a profitable day the actual strategy execution was a 3. Strategy execution has definitely been one of the weaker points of the system. Hopefully this will improve over time. In the process of improving the stock scanning system. Will need a couple of months to fully optimize the system(160 stock). Note: Stocks are traded in (400) share blocks. APA Closed Positions for a loss Intraday P/L -$260.00 (1-2012-11-01) Open\Closed OXY Current Positions (1200) Intraday P/L -$12.00 (1-2012-10-31) Closed (1-2012-11-01) Open\Closed (2-2012-11-01) Open PEP Current Positions (400) SBUX Sold position after hours for gain. Overnight Holdings: PEP: (400) $69.38 OXY: (1200.00) $79.21