We are often asked whether multiple accounts are needed to support multiple strategies on the same symbol. The logic behind the question goes like this: Well, kind of. One long position and one short position in the same account equals a flat position. However, there is no need to have multiple accounts. The profit from the sum of the overall trades will be the same. It seems counter-intuitive, so let me explain. Say you have three systems, cleverly named System 1, System 2, and System 3, and they are each trading into a separate account. The systems do something like this: System 1 shows a profit of $50. 1:00 Buy 5 at 1200 4:00 Sell 5 at 1210 System 2 shows a profit of $105. 12:00 Sell 7 at 1220 2:00 Buy 7 at 1205 System 3 shows a loss of $30. 12:00 Buy 3 at 1220 4:00 Sell 3 at 1210 30 contracts traded, for a net profit of $125 total. Right? Ok, now lets look at the same trades into one account. 12:00 System 2 sells 7 at 1220 12:00 System 3 buys 3 at 1220 1:00 System 1 buys 5 at 1200 2:00 System 2 buys 7 at 1205 4:00 System 1 sells 5 at 1210 4:00 System 3 sells 3 at 1210 30 contracts traded... 12:00 total position -4, price 1220, profit $0 1:00 total position 1, price 1200, profit $80 (4 positions closed at $20) 2:00 total position 8, price 1205, profit $80 (no profit taken, just more positions added) 4:00 total position 0, price 1210, profit $125 (1 position closed at $10, 7 closed at $5) ...for a net profit of $125 total. If you'd like to see these examples neatly laid out in tables, please click on this link, which will take you to a pdf file on our website. The breakdown is a little easier to see on that page. As you can see, it's just a question of bookkeeping. The money is the same, either way! TradeBolt