Weekly results of a wanna B algo trader

Discussion in 'Journals' started by Engine99, Jun 4, 2010.

  1. I don't understand these numbers. Where's the detail behind the $2663 ?
     
    #31     Jul 25, 2010
  2. Here's some explanation

    S1: 1085 = Net Profit of Strategy S1 since I started this thread
    S2: -300 = Net Profit of Strategy S2 since I started this thread
    S10: -280 = Net Profit of Strategy S10 since I started this thread
    S12: -144 = Net Profit of Strategy S12 since I started this thread
    S70: -69.5 = = Net Profit of Strategy S70 (new strategy) since I started this thread (this strategy started trading this week)

    Weekly Performance:
    2663 = Net Account Value change since Friday last week
    S&P 500 Weekly Performance:
    4856 = If my whole account would be in SPY (buy & hold), it would have changed that much since last week
    Overall Performance since launch:
    812 = Overall Performance of all my trades minus commissions since I started this thread
    S&P 500 Performance since launch:
    1321 = Overall Performance if my whole account would be in SPY since I started this thread
    Risk Free Checking Account Performance since launch:
    201 = Return would I put my money into a 1% checking account.


    In theory you should be able to take S1+S2+S10+S12+S70 (net profit numbers since inception) and they should add up to the overall performance since launch. In reality I sometimes forget to record small S1 trades (S&P Futures strategy), so that's why the numbers don't add up completely. One additional note is that my net liquidation value of the account is based on IB's portfolio margin calculation which changes based on the time I pull the results.

    I hope this explains it, if not let me know.

    If you're asking how did the week look like to make up the 2663, here are the daily results:

    Mon: 894
    Tue: 1720
    Wed: -1254
    Thur: 934
    Fri: 369
     
    #32     Jul 25, 2010
  3. Thanks for that. However, you'll never get to Hedgefund Manager status with those responses. In this climate, there's no mercy for poor accounting or poor backoffice systems.
     
    #33     Jul 25, 2010
  4. You are correct, point taken. Most of my algo code focuses on execution and risk control, but even the risk control looked bad on May 6th.
     
    #34     Jul 26, 2010
  5. Ouch. When things can go wrong, they usually do.
    My trading station worked well on Monday (no issues from Europe) but today I couldn't log into it to start my systems. I called my neighbor and was told we've had a serious power outage that must have drained my not so uninterruptable power supply.

    Sucks cause I was just getting excited about the earnings season and will most likely miss out on several trades this week. I hope everyone else will at least take advantage of this environment and make some $$$ while my systems stay on the sideline.

    :(
     
    #35     Jul 27, 2010
  6. Good trading week (up 4k). I'm still in Europe on vacation. I'll get back to the states on Tuesday. Long story short, I'm still a little worried that my server is down and I've to trade the systems manually right now. Not a good setup (especially when I'll be in the air on Tuesday and won't have stops in place). This didn't happen once over the last 36 month, but then again, if things can go wrong, they usually will.
    I caught one big S2 trade (CTXS) on Thursday, I only got filled for half my position and usually this strategy runs for a couple of month, but this stock exploded and helped the trade so that I exited it at the end of the day. S70 finally turned green which is good since this is the new kid on the block (new trading system I just finished and I'm beta testing right now).
    S10 is working well in a sideways market, that was somewhat expected. S12 is still trading very small, I entered a new trade in FLR this week, but it's a small position.
    Overall I missed out on probably 6 trades either because the database on my laptop was not in sync with the actual data, which made it impossible to trade certain strategies, or because I wasn't glued to the computer all day and didn't want to spend the vacation trading. I am very happy with the results, 4k8 in two month (especially since the first month was a down month) and better than the S&P performance as well as the Risk Free Checking Account are a good starting point.


    Here are the results in detail
    S1: 1282
    S2: 1555
    S10: 1869
    S12: -99
    S70: 47.5
    Weekly Performance:
    4048
    S&P 500 Weekly Performance:
    -181.3
    Overall Performance since launch:
    4860
    S&P 500 Performance since launch:
    1140
    Risk Free Checking Account Performance since launch:
    223
     
    #36     Jul 31, 2010
  7. I got back from Europe (vacation) on Tuesday (late @ night). Wednesday I had to leave town for work already. So today I'm sitting @ the airport and hoping for a flight to get back home that's less than 2 hrs delayed. Traveling sucks right now, the weather doesn't help. Enough complaining ;)

    As far as my trading goes, I had a great trade yesterday in PCLN but still the S&P 500 took the lead yesterday. Today I'm 400 bucks ahead, yesterday I was 500 bucks behind the S&P. Crazy how much effort it takes to beat this stupid index. I hope I'll finish this week ahead but we'll see tomorrow. Right now the path of least resistance seems to be up which is tough for S10. Anyway, just a quick mid-week update, detailed results will be posted tomorrow after market closure. Good luck !!
     
    #37     Aug 5, 2010
  8. Decent trading week (up 1k7). Survived my computer failure while in Europe ;-) so I'm happy that things are back to normal. Trading was ok, all algos performed fine starting Wednesday when I got back. My algos finally opened some more S2 trades and I have four half size positions now. There's only one S2 that isn't working and that is AAPL, all other ones are doing ok. S70 added another two positions this week, so that will be the last iteration in the August expiration cycle. We'll see how they will work out. Overall I'm ahead of the S&P 500 performance, however this week the S&P kicked my butt and gained 1k more than what my algos did.
    S12 is barely alive right now, two small trades that don't move much. Most likely both of them will be closed next week. All in all a good week, too bad Friday didn't close @ the lows though ;-) I would have made another grand in profits.
    I'll be on the road in Texas next week, hoping to lock in another profitable week. For all folks following this journal, have a good weekend !!!!


    Here are the results in detail
    S1: 1450
    S2: 2280
    S10: 2619
    S12: -39
    S70: 9
    Weekly Performance:
    1719
    S&P 500 Weekly Performance:
    2745
    Overall Performance since launch:
    6579
    S&P 500 Performance since launch:
    3886
    Risk Free Checking Account Performance since launch:
    251
     
    #38     Aug 6, 2010
  9. ecp321

    ecp321

    Looks like you know what you're doing. When you are ready to start your hedge fund or advisory account (professional or non-professional) or just have questions about starting it then please give me a shout as I'm a sales rep at IB and can answer all your questions and help you get started the best way for what you are trying to do.

    epeppers@interactivebrokers.com
     
    #39     Aug 12, 2010
  10. thx Emmet, I appreciate your comments. We'll stay in touch.
     
    #40     Aug 12, 2010