CoolTrade Video Tutorials  CoolTrade CommunityCoolTrade Chat Room  


    Select Discussion Board:

  • Automated Trader Discu

  • Automated Trader Reque

  • CoolTrade Installation

  • Forex Strategy Discuss

  • Interactive Brokers TW

  • New Indicator Requests

  • New Releases

  • Stock Strategy Discuss

  • Strategy Wizard Discus

  • Strategy Wizard Reques

  • CoolTrade Community > Stock Strategy Discuss   Regina Guinn CoolTrade Article

    Frequently Asked Questions
     
    Re: SMA Long / Short
    I simulate DOW 30 strategy for weeks and it does not make any trade at all. Would like to know, if any users trading live using this strategy and made any profit?
    Thanks.

    I trade with the Dow 30 long and short and get trades every single day.
    There must be something set wrong in your trader.

    You need to look at the lower right of the watch list and see what rule is preventing the trades.

    Also check your account balance, and funds available, to ensure you have enough funds to open a position.

    You can always click BUY LONG or SELL SHORT in the middle of your automated trader and see if it says that it cannot do the trade for some reason.

    Ed

    I will copy DOW 30 Long/Short strategy from office 7 again and run in simulate mode with account value $40k. I looked at the lower right of the watch list and rule preventing the trades is intraday macd value not passing the open position rules.

    If you are using an indicator labeled INTRADAY, it requires that you are logged into one of the brokers that provides historical minutes bars. Currently they are Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade, or MB Trading.

    If you are not connected with one of those brokers, then it will take hours before the software can accumulate enough minute bars to calculate the indicator.

    CT

    Re: WL rules question
    BobBenton mentioned:

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    1. change "At Least" to "is No More Than".
    2. change "Less" to "Above" and change "Greater" to "Below".
    3. remove the minus sign.

    So this:

    Yesterdays Close Price At Least -15 Less Than Lowest Price During Previous 50 Days

    Is read like this:

    Yesterdays Close Price is No More Than 15 Above the Lowest Price During Previous 50 Days

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    1. How do you change the verbiage from "At Least" to say "is No More Than"?
    2. How do you change "less" to "Above" and change "Greater" to "below"?

    In my case, I’m trying to get this to work:

    Todays Current Price is at least 5 Percent Less Than Highest Price During Previous 30 Days

    But, it’s incorrect.

    Because I think the rule is grabbing a price 5 percent above the highest price over 30 days. I want it to be true when the price is below 5 percent of the highest price over 30 days.

    I have tried all the parameters available on the New Position Rules, but I don’t understand how you change the verbiage as mentioned.

    Can someone help?


    Side note, does CoolTrader take into consideration for prices outside trading hours for highest/lowest prices?



    thanks

    Forgive me, I read your post incorrectly.

    It’s how you interrupt the verbiage.

    I get it.

    thanks

    I think you got it. the only time the interpretation is different is when you use the minus sign.

    This one is interpreted exact as it is written:

    Todays Current Price is at least 5 Percent Less Than Highest Price During Previous 30 Days

    Side note, does CoolTrader take into consideration for prices outside trading hours for highest/lowest prices? NO. It only uses the data between 9:30am and 4:00pm EST

    Enlightened

    Re: Three Candlestick Strategy
    Was this candlestick strategy effective?

    I am considering implementing it. It would be helpful to get a sense of how successful it is before I allocate time to it.

    Thanks in advance.

    ranking
    is there a way to sort/ rank the watch list

    All symbols are listed alphabetically. There is no way to change the order.
    You need to modify the watch list rules on tab2 of the strategy wizard so that your combined watch list count for the long strategy plus the short strategy is not over 100 symbols.

    Your automated trader will open positions that meet all of your open position rules in the order that it sees that they have met the conditions. If you open position rules are very lax so that all of our stocks meet the conditions then they may just open alphabetically. But usually not all of your stocks do not meet the conditions at the same time, so the order of the symbols in the list does not usually matter.

    Hedge

    ranking
    is there a way to sort/ rank the watch list

    Random Walk
    After looking over the top strategies and the 2 dollar below strategy I was thinking about trading a group of non correlated etfs in the same fashion. Never sell a losing position and play the volatility/ randomness of the markets using LIFO. Has anyone had any luck with such a strategy or any suggestions?

    Yes. That is exactly what my Conservative Long (No Stop Loss) and Conservative Short (No Stop Loss) strategies do.

    You could copy and modify my strategies to only trade the symbols (ETF’s) that you specifically enter, instead of letting the Watch List rules pick the stocks.

    That strategy works really well, especially with the wild market swings we have been seeing.

    They should change the name Stop Loss to Lock In Loss, then people will use them less often.

    You can copy those strategies from EDBAR1@COOL-TRADE.COM on the top of the COPY STRATEGY screen.

    Ed

    Ed,
    Do you ever exit your shorts for a loss. What do you use as a trigger. It seems dangerous to hold the shorts forever.
    thanks
    al

    No. I’ve given up on using "Stop Loss" or as I call it, "Lock In Loss". Who would even use "Stop Loss" if they changed the name to "Lock in Loss"?

    As long as I add to the position on 10% moves it will wiggle up and down and I will get my returns.

    I only have to close 10 lots at 10% each for 100% return so I am not afraid to hold a position for a long time.

    Ed

    Thanks..Good point.
    I am using td ameritrade. Can i Hold both long and short positions in the same etf.
    -Al

    You’re welcome.

    You can only be Long or Short for the same symbol at one time.
    The CoolTrade system automatically hides the symbol in the Short Watch List if you have an open Long position, and vice versa if you have a Short position.

    Ed

    Hi Albertizzo

    I also trade ETF, could you tell me if you are satisfied with the conservative strategy ?

    Olivier

    I do not use the conservative statergy. I trade multiple long etfs such as epi ewm ewt ews ewg ewu spy qqq and set the autotrader to buy at 10 percent declines and sell at 10 percent profit no other technical settings most of the etfs have divedends as well. I fell more comfortable holding an etf for long time more than one stock. So for it has worked great but the whole market just keeps moving up so you could have done anything and made money.

    simulation mode
    can someone help me out, I just started and I don’t know how to put it on simulation mode.

    James,

    When you run cooltrade.exe the login screen will come up.
    The simulator selections are on the left and the live broker selections are on the right.

    To simulate you select the simulate option on the left and then pick the datafeed that you want to you.

    If it is your first time running then the default is already set to run the simulator and use the cooltrade datafeed.

    Irish

    got it, thanks!

    Irish,

    That was a nice precise answer -

    Welcome!

    Irrational behavior
    Found this on Wikipedia:

    " IMO, Even the explanation is Irrational. :) "


    Thanks the point about why it’s so difficult for the average investor to do well in the market. Makes a good argument for using CoolTrade...

    Pete

    CoolTrade certainly does a good job of taking the emotion out of the market.

    One of my long traders refused to open a long position in U.S. Steel (symbol=X) until it went down another penny. The price went all around and after about an hour it finally went down to the goal entry price. Made my day to know I could not be pushed around and tricked into buying too high.

    YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

    Enlightened

    Hello,

    I am a new CoolTrade subscribe. I am trying to learn as much as I can from this new system and I find it fascinating. I have sent a few emails and phone messages for Ed to call me but I unfortunately, have not been able to get any response from him.
    I was wondering, If you may be able to assist me with the correct strategy.
    I am a day trader and I trade on a day to day basis and I prefer to close out my position every day, before the market closes. I tend to sleep better that way.
    I am watching MACD signal on 1 minute and I buy or short the stock based on which direction it is going. I have not been able to figure out how to set up the strategy and make it work. I have attempted various settings and it traded erratically. It was selling out of the position way before or after the signal line I would have over 70 to trades per session!
    Is there a particular strategy that you would recommend for pattern trading?

    I have also not been able to figure out how to automatically turn on the AutoTrader so that I don’t have to manually turn it on myself.
    Ed was kind enough to called me shortly after I subscribed and helped me set it up but unfortunately, it hasn’t worked right ever since.
    Sincerely

    I think the market whipsaws around too much to use a simple intraday macd crossover. 70 trades sounds about right. You need to add other rules to confirm the direction of the market move so you don’t just go in based on noise.

    Something like % of All Symbols(1) Up is greater than % of All Symbols(1) Down.

    That should cut your trades down quite a bit.

    If you look at the SECTORS screen in the automated trader you will see that the market is mostly just swinging from up to down and back again every 1-3 minutes so it is difficult to know when any of the moves will be sustained for more than a few minutes until after it has already happened.

    Hedge

    Try searching for SCHEDULE up above in the community board for multiple discussions on using the windows task scheduler.

    Thank you Hedge for your kind response.

    Do you know of any day trading rules and indicators that work or where I may be able to find them?

    Sincerely

    I"m a swingtrader but I use intraday rules to only enter positions when the momentum is in the right direction. All of the indicators that start with INTRADAY can be used to make daytrading rules, as are the DYNAMIC and PREDICT indicators.

    A good place to start might be to study the open position rules in the Conservative Long Strategy.

    Take a look at the TraderJoe strategies.

    He uses a lot of intraday rules for his trading.

    Enlightened

    Lock'n'loss question
    I am about to start trading live, but I have a few remaining questions, well mostly one.

    I am playing with Lock’n’Loss, and playing out a few scenarios and set points. It does not seem to be what I am looking for though.

    It seems the exit strategies would be more to my liking, in helping to filter out which losing positions to hold to see if they will recover or which ones to dump. My concern is tying up cash in a losing position that does not show a promising future of recovery.

    -=-=-

    Is there a way to set an expiration date? To say after x number of days, then check this set of rules to see if a position should be held any longer?

    On the Exit Rules Tab5, check the ALL RULES MUST PASS option, and then put these:

    DAYS IN TRADE > X (some number)
    and then add your other rules.

    That way it will exit based on the rules on Tab6 (Profit goals, Profit protection, stop loss, trailing stop loss).

    or if all of the rules on Tab5 pass then the position will close.

    Hedge

    Nice to hear I can combine Tab5 and 6 to make a very effective rule of when to exit

    I scanned through the list of exit rules on tab5, using the scroll bar and then using the "D" key to skip through the list as well.

    I never found DAYs IN TRADE, I only found:

    Day Trades Left, (Day Trading?)
    Days Since The x-Day Low
    Days Since The x-Day High
    Days To Next Earning( Dividends payout ? )
    Days In AAP! Portfolio

    I’m sure I’m just missing something, what heading is it under on tab5? Or what else is near it?

    Maybe its the version of software I am using for the Wizard? v.7.2.0

    Because you could have multiple lots of the same symbol, CoolTrade change Days In Trade to the following:

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Minutes
    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Hours
    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Days

    My Same Symbol Highest Trade Minutes
    My Same Symbol Highest Trade Hours
    My Same Symbol Highest Trade Days

    If you own multiple lots of a stock, the LOWEST is for the most recent lot opened, and the Highest is for the oldest lot.

    If you only own 1 lot of a stock, then they are both the same.

    Enlightened

    Day trading
    Thank you guys for all your help.

    Day trading
    Thank you guys for all your help.

    Day trading strategy
    Hello,

    I am new to CoolTrade and I have been actively trying out various different day trading strategies and I have not found anything that works.
    Any help in regards to this matter is greatly appreciated.
    Sincerely

    Terms and definitions
    Is there a downloadable document that defines all the terms or rules that one uses to define a strategy? .. I know what a lot are but there are quite a few that i’m not sure of... how to use bars, what’s the effect of using close vs last, etc.
    And I hate using this forum for individual definitions... thanks.

    There is no known document that defines all of the indicators.

    You can right-click on an indicator and many have a description. However, I think they left off indicators for the common indicators that can be found in most technical analysys books/websites.

    CoolTrade offers free training in their Scottsdale, Arizona office. I have attended a few times and it is well worth the effort if you can make it down there. The weather is starting to get cool so atleast it won’t be 115 degrees outside.

    Enlightened

    This is the indicator package that CoolTrade uses. Maybe these descriptions can be helpful:



    Thanks to both of you...
    didn’t know about the right click on the terms, that should help..
    but link to fmlabs.com looks just like what I want...
    I appreciate your help ...
    Tim

    INTRADAY: did I miss it?
    Im using an RSI intrady in my open rules to replace the RSI EOD indicator in the WATCH LIST RULES. Seems to me that I should be trading this morning but no positions open. So either Im a genious and finally figured out how to protect my watchlist from an opening range gap down or perhapes Im missing something:

    WATCH LIST RULES:
    Relative Strength Indicator(2) is Greater Than or Equal to 57 Dollars

    OPEN POSITION RULES:
    Intraday RSI ( 1,0,0 ) is Greater Than or Equal to 57 Dollars.

    Can somebody help a new bee?

    On the far-right of the watch list, it tells you the rule that is preventing the trade.

    Also, click on the RULES button and you can see the value of the Intraday RSI ( 1,0,0 ) and you can see if that rule is passing.

    Also, click on the Account Value tab (upper-right) and make sure there are enough Funds Available.

    Usually though, the RULE PREVENTING NEXT TRADE on the right of the Watch List will tell you why it is not trading.

    Hedge

    I was able to see from (your recomendation) the "RULES button" why I wasnt trading. Turned out I was a genious : ) Thanks,

    RSI2 Crossover
    Im trying to say rsi2 is less than 30 AND rsi2 is greater than 30 1 offset ago. Im confused by the languge below. Can someone tell me if I have this right:
    Relative Strength Indicator(2) is at least 30 Dollars Greater Than or Equal to Intraday RSI ( 5,2,1 )

    Or is it this:

    Intraday RSI ( 5,2,0 ) is Less Than 30 Dollars
    Intraday RSI ( 5,2,1 ) is Greater Than 30 Dollars
    and Does the 2 represent 2 days here for rsi2?

    The indicators that start with "Intraday" use minute bars.

    "Relative Strength Indicator (2)" means 2 days.
    And those indicators only update at night.
    So I would recommend using this rule in the Watch List rules, so only the symbols that meet that condition will show up in the Watch List.

    So, based on your description, you want these 2 rules:

    Relative Strength Indicator (2) is less than 30
    Relative Strength Indicator (2) (-1 Day) is greater than 30

    Hedge

    Thank you Hedge

    Trader Joe still around?
    Trader Joe,
    Are you still out there?
    I tried Ed’s Conservative program with no stop losses,but i was travelling for weeks.My computers turned off,as there must have been a power surge so i couldnt really make a fair assessment when i returned.
    Have you been stickin with it ?
    Are you profitable ? Have you seen anyone in the Community claiming profitability lately?
    Given the markets blast up over the last 3 months,i would think so.

    I ran the conservative no stop loss strategy for 5 weeks (Oct 8 thru Nov 5) in simulation with poor results. I did limit the price of stocks to under 20 dollars as I was only allowing the sim to use 5K with a total portfolio of 10K and no margins.

    I felt I needed to limit the price of any initial purchase with smaller working capital. I found that the trader didn’t add to any positions when down. This may be due to the low working capital.

    Any thoughts appreciated.

    Pete

    If you click Account Values on the top-right of the automated trader it will show your funds available.

    With the amount of funds you mentioned, I would make sure it is set to do 100 share lots.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened,

    Yes it’s set at 100 share lots. At first the trader bought a 34$ stock and use up most of the working capital. The strategy ran a little better limiting the stock price to 20$ with a healthy number of stocks in the watch list. But still never added shares to positions.

    After 5 weeks the portfolio was close to break even up less than 100$. The market had a nice run during that time and I expected more. Am I wrong??

    Pete

    Pete,

    If you are only running a long strategy than what you have described sounds about right, as the market has been going down a lot.

    However, if you are also running a short strategy then you should be really well since you should be catching profits on both sides of the market.

    For instance your short strategies should be closing a lot of positions profitably today.

    Enlightened

    That’s just it. During that 5 week period no short positions were opened. The market was up during Oct for the most part .

    Pete

    Talk about GREAT customer service. Ed saw my posts and called. He confirmed my belief that his Conservative Long with no stop loss strategy has it’s hands tied with the small amount of working capital I allocated. Even with the adjustment for buying cheaper stocks you will need more capital for it to work properly,

    I’ve changed over to Ed’s take on the 2$ and below Long strategy. Over time I’ll build up to enough capital to give the No stop loss another trial. This goes to show that what works for one investor may not apply to another. Hang in there to find what will work for you.

    Deeply appreciated Ed’s time today.


    Pete

    Trader Joe,
    I see that you are still at it .
    Have you found a profitable strategy,Are you satisfied?

    Hi, Ber. I am still alive. Thank you. Sorry for the late response.

    I was doing some strategy testing recently. Will post more often if result is worth to share.

    Good trade.

    Trader Joe,
    I apologize this time.
    So what’s the latest and greatest?
    Makin or losing money?
    What strategies ?
    Im still running Conservative no stop losses.....There are realized gains,but very large unrealized losses.The market has gone no where but up for several months,so I can’t determine.
    It appears that those who post spend lots of time checking and tweaking ,which is great,but kinda defeats the purpose of what the software , i thought,was all about.Ive not seen many posts of those who just sit back and make $.That would be great!
    Anyway,If im gonna spend time,which i do,it’s going to be doing my homework setting up trades,which has been successful for many years,now,including 2008.
    Hope to hear from you.
    Ill be looking,this time.

    Double Down
    Hi,

    Is there a way to double down (purchasing twice the amount of shares that are alredy owned for the same srock) ?

    I’m looking to double down as the stock is moving down.

    Thanks,

    -isie

    You cannot not "double down" per se.
    However, there are solutions that can come close.
    For instance, if you are trading 100 share lots and you want to "double down" when the stock drop 1.00, then you could set the trader to "Add To Losers" every time the stock drops by .50.

    That way you add 100 shares on a .50 drop and then add another 100 shares when the stock drops another .50. That way you would have the desired 200 extra shares after the stock is down by 1.00 from the initial purchase.

    The way the system is designed, when a position is opened, it will always trade in equal increments of the inital lot size. So, if you open with 200 shares, then each subsequent purchase of that stock will be made in 200 share lots.

    Regards,

    Ed

    India Stocks
    The Dev version has a choice for India Stocks. They show up on the Strat Wiz Watchlist but not in the Automated Trader. I use broker OptionHouse and suspect the stocks are only availble from another broker. Does anyone know anything about this? O forum seach for "India" has turned up empty.

    The foreign stock symbols are only available if you have an account in that foreign exchange. Also, the foreign exchanges can only be traded with Interactive Brokers.

    If you select a foreign exchange in the Strategy Wizard, the automated trader will simply ignore the symbols unless the broker sends streaming data for those symbols.

    Please note that new features found in the Developer version have not yet been released and may be unfinished. So, only download the developer version to get fixes that may have been incorporated after an official release.

    Thanks,

    Ed

    Trailing Stop for opening and exiting long positions
    How would you create an opening rule based on trailing stop? I didn’t find trailing stop in the list of technical indicators indicator. For exiting, I may be able to use the Profit requirements to set a trailing stop.

    A trailing stop is just a drop in price from a higher price.
    So you can use an intraday indicator to accomplish this.
    LIke:

    Current Ask Price is at least .25 Less Than Intraday High (1, 5, 0)

    That rule will be true if the current ask price is at least .25 less than the highest price during the last 5 minutes.

    I’m sure there are many other ways to accomplish it though. That is just 1.

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlightened. My initial thought (shown below) was similar to your suggestion:

    Open new position: Today’s Current Ask Price is at least 1Percent Greater Than or Equal to Intraday Low(1,5,0).

    Exit position: Today’s Current Bid Price is at least 1Percent Less Than or Equal to Intraday High(1,5,0).

    The only concern I had was what happens if my CT is started/re-started in the middle of the trading day. I’m not sure if the Intraday High/Low indicators track the High/Low from the start of CT or the begning of the day.

    The Todays High and Todays Low is tracked throughout the day.
    However since you are using Intraday High/Low (1, 5, 0), which is the last 5 minutes high and low, then the whole days high/low does not matter.

    I would not use the exit rule that you have specified. Instead I suggest using the Trailing Stop Loss on tab 6 so that it will compare the pullback with your positions entry price.

    Ed

    Thanks edbar1 on day High vs. Intraday high comment.

    In regard to exit condition I have also set similar conditions in table (6). However, I’m trying put a 1% trailing stop loss immediately after it enters the position. Do you mean doing so is redundant? It is really hard to get a detail documentation on many of the CT terminologies and how exactly they are implemented.

    Right. It is not necessary to put a trailing stop loss rule in the exit rules, since the Trailing Stop Loss on Tab6 kicks in immediately as soon as the position gets opened.

    Everyone is doing different things so it is impossible to document every permutation of rules that every one would want. You’re actually doing well. Just keep communicating and you’ll be a master with this system in a short while. I also highly suggest you watch the overview videos for the Automated Trader and Strategy Wizard.

    Send email to CustomerSupport@Cool-trade.com and we can schedule a walk-through of the system over the phone while I remotely connect to your computer. I’ll be happy to go over some fine-points in the strategy wizard.

    Best to you!

    Ed

    Thanks again Ed and I see why the exit rule is not needed. Besides, it does not seem to be as effective as the trailing stop of tab(6) anyway because it will just be tracking the last ’x’ period (5 minutes in this case). Right?

    I actually simulated the initial version today and it seems working ok. Ofcourse, I’ll polish it and run more simulations before using it live. I’m planning to use this only my Watchlist that have high liquidity and relatively less volatile.

    This is a simple and initial strategy that I like to use before creating/using a more complex strategies.

    Right. If you use the 5-minute intraday bar it will only look at the trailing 5 minutes. Definitely using the Trailing Stop Loss on tab6 is the better (and easiest) way to go.

    BTW, for the 1% trailing stop entry if I’m not really interested in how fast it’s going up, I should probably increase the duration (say to 30min or more) than the 5min. Is there any downside to choosing longer periods? If the position increases by 1% at the 11th minute, it will catch it right? I mean it doesn’t have to wait all 30minutes to enter the position.

    I believe (1, 30, 0) updates every minute.

    If you create the rule, then click on the Rules button in your Automated trader, you will see the value of the indicator.

    To test intraday indicators, I just create an Add To Position Rule like:

    Intraday High (1, 5, 0) < 9999

    That rule will return -1 until it has enough bars to generate a value.
    Then no matter what value it returns, the rule will always be TRUE.
    That way it does not interfere with my strategy, while at the same time I can evaluate the indicator values.

    Ed

    Institutional Ownership Percent
    Does anyone know the exact metrics of "Institutional Ownership Percent " option? Ive been searching the web for days. The closest thing I found was something called "$tick chart" but I think this was more toward day trading.

    This explains it:

    This article appears to say that the IOP is only updated quarterly. Can anyone confirm that this indicator is niether current day or End of Day but rather quarterly updated? Quote (from link):
    "Institutions are required to report their holdings to the SEC only twice yearly. Most report more often, usually quarterly, and a few monthly. While the timeliness issue diminishes the value of institutional holdings data , it is still worthwhile, especially for growth investors, to evaluate the information."

    Most of the fundamental data fields that are provided by our data providers does not come with additional information.

    All I know is that our night process that builds the indicators retrieves the data, but we do not know how often the information is updated on the providers databases.

    Sorry we don’t have the detailed descriptions that you request.

    Hi carolnetzer27
    Im puzzled by your comment "Apparently if the institutions don’t want it then the prices don’t move enough".
    you used the word "Apparently" so I figured you saw something in the article or the indicator that caused the statement. Can you elaborate. My brain is cooked from so much market trading study that sometimes the simple things I dont get.

    I read something along those lines too somewhere.

    The indicator request originally came from the Sun City West, AZ Investment Club, when they created the $2 and below strategy.

    Many of the positions would just sit and go nowhere for months. Then when they added the rule that Institutional Ownership % > 25, the stocks that got loaded in had much more volitility, and a bigger ATR. Another observation was that when the Institutional Ownership went down to under 5% many of those stocks declined sharply in price, which prompted them to add the Institutional Ownership < 5% to the exit rules.

    I don’t know how the number is generated, only that I can see the application of rule and it seems quite valid.

    Ed

    How to have 5 Day SMA "At Most" 2% Greater than 10 Day SMA
    Hello there,


    To say “X is not more than 10% of Y” you would write it this way:

    X is at least -10% Less Than Y

    My rule is Dynamic 5-day SMA must be at most 2% greater than Dynamic 10-day SMA

    Please explain the logic behind 5day SMA is at least -2% less than 10-day SMA.

    Thanks.

    Henry

    .....Please explain the logic behind
    .....5-day SMA is at least -2% less than 10-day SMA.

    All that is saying is that the 5-Day SMA is no more than 2% above the 10-Day SMA

    However, it does not say that the 5-Day is higher or lower than the 10-Day. I’m not sure if it matters. But if it does you just need to add an additional rule.

    Ed

    Hello,

    I have basically the same problem. I want the rule "Yesterday’s close price is NO MORE than 4% higher than yesterday’s low price".

    I have entered " yesterday’s close price is at least -4% less than yesterdays low price"

    This does not work. In today’s watch list is have two stocks. One that closed 3% higher than the low, and one that closed 4.5% higher than the close. When I use the above rule, both stocks disappear.

    How can I fix this? Thanks.

    The rule is good. However, you cannot use that double negative in the watch list. The retrieval method is different for building the Watch List and it is for making the buy/sell decisions.

    Move the rule to the Open Position Rules and it will be good.

    Regards,

    Ed

    similar question ...

    I would like to have an open new position set of rules that state

    "current price is greater than the 50-day ema, but no more than 0.5% above the 50 day ema". I basically want to buy when it is above and VERY close to the 50 day ... but far above the 50 day.

    SO ... I have setup two rules ..

    "Todays Current Price is Greater Than 50-day EMA" and
    "Todays Current Price is at least -.50 percent Less Than 50-day EMA"

    did I write the second line correctly?

    Thank you in advance!

    You wrote the rule correctly.

    However, you can only use the minus signs in the Open Position Rules because the retrieval method used to build the watch list uses a different retrieval method than the Open, Add, and Exit rules.

    So, the best you can do is follow the first rule to only load the watch list with stocks over the 50 ema, and then use the 2nd rule in your open position rules.

    Enlightened

    thank you Enlightened!

    EDs 2dollar strat
    Ed has a entry in the 2 dollar strat "Todays Total PL is Less Than 9999 Dollars" and "Todays Net PL is Less Than 9999 Dollars". What is this for?

    I was added those rules so that I could see what values it would return. I was comparing the values on the RULES screen with the data that was showing on the main screen of the Automated Trader.

    Since the returned value would always be less than 9999, the rules would not affect the strategy buying decisions since they would always return true.

    Ed

    exit position on same day
    I dont think this is possible, but i would like to create an exit criteria that only tests on the day the position was opened. If the position was opened yesterday though, the result should be false and therefore not exit.

    Basically I am trying to setup a strategy that is buying on a pullback of the stock price. So if I buy and the stock continues to tank, I want out immediately, but if the stock goes back up and a few days later falls below my purchase price I might NOT want to exit.

    The logic would be something like this ...

    If purchase was made today and the current bid price is 2% below my purchase price, then exit.

    Im trying to avoid a situation where I clearly missed the timing of the bottom and it is still falling.

    possible??

    Try adding this rule to your Exit Rules:

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Days is Less than or equal to 1

    I believe that rule will return True on the same day that you opened the position.

    I’m pretty sure it starts with 1 and goes to 2 the next day.
    If I am wrong, then it may start with 0 and go to 1 on the next day.

    All you have to do is look at the RULES in the Automated Trader, for a position you just opened, and see what value "My Same Symbol lowest Trade Days" has. Of course, you need to add the rule before it will show up in your trader.

    Enlightened

    thank you for your reply.

    problem is that I dont think i can do that AND have it look at the change in price.

    my exit rules are set to "if one of these criteria matches, then exit" ... so I dont think i could have one line that says "If purchase was made today and the current bid price is 2% below my purchase price, then exit."

    am I wrong?

    You can use the ALL RULES MUST PASS in the exit rules (Tab5) and still set your Profit Goal, Stop Loss, and Trailing Stop Loss on Tab6.

    So your exits based on TAB6 can occur starting as soon as the position is opened, but the exit rules on Tab6 will only pass after the position has been opened over a day.

    thank you for your help on this! it actually wont work for me, since I only want to use tab 5 for my exits, not tab 6 ... but I appreciate your help regardless!

    Right, that won’t work if you don’t want to use tab6 because you can’t save 2 sets of exit rules on tab5.

    moving avg indicator explanation please
    can someone describe the following indicators and how they work?

    Moving Avg High Low (14)
    Moving Avg Move Day10

    Found this for the Moving Average High/Low:



    thank you for your reply.

    The website showing the "high low" doesnt seem to have any info on it. any chance we can get more clarification on what the result of the indicator would be?

    Also on the "move" indicator ... SO ... which moving average do you think we are talking about??

    I assume I could use the moving avg move day 10 to see if it is rising or decreasing (moving avg move day10 > 0) show a rise ... BUT

    which moving average are we talking about??

    I don’t think CT intended to get into the indicator business.
    The only available information in the indicators that I can see is if you right-click on an indicator name. Some have descriptions and some you need to go to the dozens of other sites that explain them.

    The way I determine what some indicators return is to put them in the Open Position rules or the Add to Position rules. Since I don’t want the indicator to affect my results I just put something in that will more than likely always be true, like:

    Moving Avg Move Day 10 < 9999

    Then I can look at the RULES screen and see the values that it returns.

    I seriously doubt Ed is an expert with every indicator that he adds to CT.

    if would be nice if there was documentation, I would imagine that the indicator providers must provide something ... seems strange if they do not.

    Ed ... can I request more information on these indicator?

    Indicator discussions have taken place multiple times on these boards.

    Here is the link to the Indicator provider:



    thank you for your reply hedge1, I appreciate it. I actually searched the post FIRST before asking the question. Could not find anything on those indicators. I am VERY knowledgeable on moving averages, but these indicators are not clear as to what they are tracking and which moving average they are, let alone what they are actually tracking

    RM,

    Some indicators are created by CoolTrade and for those indicators we can sometimes explain them. However many of the indicators (particularly the MAHL indicator, is just a function called from the FMLABS indicator package. For those, we only have the same info on them that you have, and the best sources may be found on Google or a book (Technical Indicators From A To Z).

    Most of the Indicators were added to the CoolTrade system because of requests from other users. Our hope is that those using the indicators would explain how to use them. Developers at CoolTrade are not necessarily the best source for explain indicator usage.

    My guess regarding what a "Moving Average Move 10" is would be:

    Take the "10 Day Moving Average" 2 days in a row and then put the difference between them into "Moving Average Move 10". So it tells you how much the moving average moved from one day to the next.

    CT

    thank you for your post. Is there a way you can open a ticket at your data provider (fmlab) and get an explanation there? they must have it, but since I am not a customer I am sure they will not respond to me. I have checked their website and the indicator has no explanation

    Dynamic Cross-overs
    Im looking for a way to open/close trades during the day when certain crossovers happen. for example when the Dynamic CCI indicator crosses from negative101 thru to negative 99. Im not clear how this is done during the day in COOLTRADE. I understand that INTRADAY indicators do this but I would like the strength of a multiday indicator. Im not experienced with INTRADAY but understand that they represent today only. Any help would be appreciated.

    Why not build a watch list of symbols that have a CCI(14) < -101

    Then in the Open Position rules, put these 2 rules:

    Dynamic CCI (14) > -99

    I would not use the indicators with INTRADAY in their name because those use minute bars.

    The Dynamic indicators use EOD indicators for the all put the last value. The last value comes from the Current Price.

    For example a Dynamic SMA (14) would use the previous 13 close prices + the current price and all divided by 14.

    Hedge

    Thanks for the reply Hedge. Yes while Im aware of this capability to start the day off below or above a particular cross, I m really looking for a way to enter a trade only when certain cross-over happen during the day. A human trader for example may look for a cross-over during the day - not just the begining of the day. Im wondering if CT has this capability

    In my example the cross (in the open position rules) did occur during the day.

    You’re right though. I don’t see how to compare the same dynamic cci (14) of 1 minute with that of another minute.

    H

    I just noticed that MACD Intraday appears to have this capabilty (to crossover using multi-day vales). So my question is whats the difference beteew macd intraday and dynamic macd? does cool-trade even need a dynamic macd (assuming that intraday macd does the same thing but with the power of multi-day cross-over?

    The DYNAMIC indicators use EOD data + the current price as the last day in the calculation.

    The INTRADAY indicators use MINUTE bars.

    Thanks for your help on this. Question
    So intraday macd 12, 26, 9 are minutes? I understand that intraday means "today" but does "12" represent 12 mins for example? Just want to be clear.

    If the indicator starts with "INTRADAY" then yes, it is minutes.

    Stochastic conversion
    I use FreeStockCharts.com" to analyze my strategies. I’m trying to figure out how to translate the Stochastic 12%K 3, %D5 at this site into the Cool-Trade language. CoolTrade has RAWK, SLOWD and FASTD. Any help would be appreciated.
    I assume the RAWK is K and slow/fastD is D. but where does value 3 go?

    This ite may help.



    New Bee Question on EXITs
    I use indicators rather than "stops loss" to exit trade like for example:
    EXIT When
    Dynamic WILLIAMS %R ( 14 ) is Less Than 20 Dollars
    Dynamic EMA ( 10 ) is Less Than Dynamic EMA ( 50 )
    But I noticed recently that my trades aren’t exiting when clearly the stock met the criteria.
    I suspect it has to do with my limited understanding of TAB1s
    "max bids to spread trades across=2.00" and
    "min purchase interval=.05".

    Yes Ive seen the (tab1) cool-trade video many times but I struggle with market language and my brain has not begun to incorporate these in my strategies. I am a simulator only and purchase 100 shares only of every stock that meets criteria and don’t add to shares.
    Im hoping someone can explain why the trader is not exiting. one more thing I only use the "rentry pullback" and "profit goal" options on tab6.

    Here are the 2 things that I would do to find out why positions are not closing:

    1. The best method to know why it is not exiting is to click on the RULES button for your open positions and see if the values in the rule are actually true.

    2. Also make sure that exit rules show that "ANY rule must pass" and not "ALL rules must pass" is checked. You can see that on the RULES screen in the automated trader too.

    For Hedge. Hey buddy where have you been? I’m sure you have suggestions for why a position would not close.

    Enlight, I’m not like you, I don’t live on my computer. The market is so flat these days I only look at my traders a few times a week. This board used to be very active. I think everyone is waiting for the inevitable crash. My shorts have been loading up for a few months. If we get a good crash I may retire!

    Here are a couple more things to look at that can prevent positions from closing:

    In the Strategy Wizard, edit the strategy and look at the times on TAB1.
    Make sure your CLOSE POSITION times are correct.

    In the robotic trader, if you have under $25k in your account, make sure your DAY TRADES REMAINING is greater than 0.

    Hedge

    Thanks guys I found the problem. Williams%R indicator was set to exit at less than 20. this was a typo. I meant greater than. I have found this indicator quite confusing since FreeStockCharts.Com values are negative but cool-trade has them as positive. A "value greater than negative 20" @ freestickcharts.com is the same as "a value less than positive 20" in cool-trade.

    Day trade
    hi, im new to CT can anyone recommend some day trading strategies to me thanks

    ATR AND ATR PERCENTAGE
    Hi fellow cool-traders. Im just getting into using the "ATR indicator" in my strategies and still very wet behind the ears. while I understand the the "ATRs indicators" ability to measure volatility Im still confused about using it to set stops. As far as the other ATR called the "ATR Percentage indicator" Im completely in the dark as nothing I have read so far has helped me understand how to use this one that uses%. Can anyone direct me to a site that can explain these to me in layman’s language. From what I read so far I think these indicators are the missing link to my trading.

    I only use it in the watch list rules to get stocks that tend to be more volitile or move up and down like U.S. Steel (symbol=X). It moves at least 1.00 a day.

    So I buld my watch list with these added rules, so that I get stocks that move by at least $1.00 a day and they also move by at least 3% a day.

    ATR(14) > 1.00
    ATR(14)% > 3

    Because a 1.00 move would only be 1% for a $100 stock, I set the ATR(14)% to at least 3%. So a $100 would have to move at least $3 a day to make it to the list.

    I don’t use the ATR for exits but it gives me a watch list of movers.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge. That was the clearest explanation I have seen. Thanks also for the example.

    Does anyone know how or if gaps figure into MTR and/or ATR?

    I am intrigued by the CT indicator MTR(14)-ATR(14). I looked on fmlabs.com but that was no help. There is actual help in in CT’s right-click, though, "Difference between the 14 day MTR and ATR. Tells you how much the stock has moved outside its daily ATR." Hmm, this looks really handy! I guess I will add it to my strategy and watch it in the rules window, but that will take until tomorrow and I am really curious about how gaps factor into MTR and ATR both...

    Thanks,

    Steve

    OK, I take it back. The fmlabs.com info is informative after all. The formula for both Average True Range and True Range indicate that gaps are included...

    Steve,

    When you say "Gaps", I assume you mean if the stock gapped up or down from the previous trading day. The answer is YES. If the previous close was higher or lower than today’s high or low then it is used as the high or low in calculating the ATR and MTR.

    Ed

    Bug in "Stop loss (per share)"
    I think there might be a bug in Cool Trade, regarding exit reason 6 - stop loss triggered for short positions.

    Here is the situation, no matter what strategy I use, I put 0.5% of entry price for stop loss and 1% of entry price for stop winning.

    Now as soon as I got a short position and lose of even 1 cent, then the position will be flatted. Message shows:"(Exit Reason: 6) stop loss triggered";
    if the short position makes money, it is fine; means stop winning works well.

    Please attention, if I got a long position, the stop loss and stop winning all work well. A long position will NOT be flatted until it reach 0.5% loss.
    But for long side stop loss triggered, the message shows:"(Exit Reason: 5) stop loss triggered", instead of reason 6.

    I also tried to change 0.5% of entry price to other number for short side, but the result is the same; It will flat no matter what is the negative (even 1 cent).

    Thank you for pointing that out.
    We just recently moved the stop loss to another area in the code so that it would only close out the portion/lot that was actually down and not close out the whole position.
    In that move there was a typo that affected just the shorts.
    It has been fixed.

    Please click FILE-DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION to get the update.

    CT

    Intraday ADX?
    I came back to Cooltrade a year after canceling to automate a strategy that has been successful for me. It is a daytrade strategy and involves ADX indicator to prevent whipsaws.

    However, looking at the indicators I can’t see intraday ADX. Is that right??? I will be very disappointed....

    Moved request to New Indicator Request area:



    Having this intraday ADX, DMI-, DMI+ has become very important. Is this hard to add this intraday indicator.

    These indicators are in the Developer Version of the software, awaiting final testing before they get put into the final release.

    If you want to test them, then download the developer version.

    Thank you,

    CT

    If I want to enter a long position when the intraday 5 minutes +DI line is aligned ( 10 points) above the intraday 5 minutes –DI line as:

    Intraday +DI ( 1, 5, 0) is at least $10 greater than inraday -DI (1, 5, 1)

    Please let me know if I get this rite. Thanks.

    Intraday +DI ( 1, 5, 0) is at least $10 greater than inraday -DI (1, 5, 1)

    Since you put a 1 in the offset (3rd parameter) of the -DI, that means you want to compare the current +DI with the -DI value from 5 minutes ago. If that is what you want, then you are correct.

    However, if you want to the compare the most recent +DI with the most recent -DI then you would use the same offset, as:

    Intraday +DI ( 1, 5, 0) is at least $10 greater than inraday -DI (1, 5, 0)

    Thanks for your reply.
    I have few more questions:

    Buy when intraday stochastic slow %K line crosses over the %D line in 5 min chart. What would be the value In coltrade slow D Average 1 and Average 2?

    Buy when intraday parabolic SAR in 5 min chart indicate buy signal.?

    ----
    Vromor

    Sorry Vromor, since I don’ t use those indicators I don’t know what the vest values to use are.

    They look like more moving averages used in the calculation. My suggestion would be to leave the default values in those parameters as they are the values provided by FMLABS.COM, which is the indicator package used to make the calculations.

    CT

    CT does not enter trades but verified by Rules
    Hello,

    I have a simple EMA/SMA crossover, with RSI(14) confirmation.

    But CT does not enter any trades even though the Rules window pane show all the rules have been met. The CT window would just keep telling me each rule hasn’t been met that will prevent the trade.

    Thoughts? I have been staring at this so long now, maybe I am not seeing something really simple? THANKS!

    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,0 ) > Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,0 )
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 5 , 0) : 37.3115
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 10 , 0) : 37.2642

    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,0 ) > Intraday Simple MA ( 5,20,0 )
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 10 , 0) : 37.2642
    MinuteSimpleMa (5 , 20 , 0) : 37.2385

    Intraday RSI ( 5,14,0 ) > 50 Dollars
    MinuteRSI (5 , 14 , 0) : 56.1968

    Intraday RSI ( 5,14,0 ) > Intraday RSI ( 5,14,1 )
    MinuteRSI (5 , 14 , 0) : 56.1968
    MinuteRSI (5 , 14 , 1) : 55.1659

    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,0 ) > Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,1 )
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 5 , 0) : 37.3115
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 5 , 1) : 37.2823

    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,0 ) > Intraday Exp MA ( 5,10,1 )
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 10 , 0) : 37.2642
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 10 , 1) : 37.2407


    EXIT POSITION RULES

    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,5,0 ) < Intraday Simple MA ( 5,20,0 )
    MinuteExpMa (5 , 5 , 0) : 37.3115
    MinuteSimpleMa (5 , 20 , 0) : 37.2385

    This issue has been discussed many times.
    The things that you need to check are:

    Make sure there is enough Funds Available
    Also, in the Strategy Wizard, tab(1), make sure MAX Shares is at least 2 X Trade Shares.
    Also make sure the Open Position Times are right.
    Also make sure DayTradesRemaining is greater than 0 (this could affect the opening of positions in rare cases).

    Hedge

    Thank you for your reply.

    I did check all these, and didn’t see a problem with my set up.

    The strategy opened up and closed two trades earlier with no problem. But then no trades after even though the rules were ok. Day trades is set to 999, capital ok.

    I guess I will try again tomorrow.

    The ReEntry pullback on the lower-right of tab6 would prevent the same position from reopening unless the stock moves by the specified amount.

    If you set ReEntry Pullback to 0 then it will always just reopen the position regardless of how much it moves after it closes a position, as long as the open position rules pass.

    The ReEntry Pullback values reset after each day.

    Enlightened

    Thanks ET

    My pullback was set to 0.20, maybe that was the issue. Wouldn’t CT give the trade prevention as that pullback rule? It didn’t say that in the box, only that each rule (above) hadn’t been met.

    Thanks ET

    My pullback was set to 0.20, maybe that was the issue. Wouldn’t CT give the trade prevention as that pullback rule? It didn’t say that in the box, only that each rule (above) hadn’t been met.

    I forgot about the reentry pullback. That will prevent a stock from reopening.

    The software doesn’t display some reasons that it is not trading. I think it only shows RULES that are preventing trades. it doesn’t show things like Day Trades Remaining, insufficient funds, or the reentry pullback. There are probably others too.

    Hedge

    Thanks for the great input. The pullback rule must have been the issue.

    Intraday Parabolic SAR
    Could someone help me understand how to add an Intaday Parabolic SAR exit in my strategy?

    I trade from an EMA cross on a 5 minute chart, with a PSAR (0.02,0.2) and want to add an exit in CT when the SAR moves from bullish (below price) to bearish (above price).

    Thanks

    I don’t use the parabolic sar, but if you search this forum for this phrase, it comes up with a few discussions.

    intraday parabolic

    Make sure that whatever rule you use to exit on tab5, make sure you put the reciprical of the rule for your open or Add To Position on tabs 3 and 4. Otherwise the exit condition may already exist when you open the position and cause it to exit immediatly.

    Ed

    Thanks Ed.

    I looked through the available threads, and still couldn’t work out what interval I should be using if I am using a 5 min chart.

    Maybe I am being a bit slow

    Maybe someone else uses Intraday PSAR, that can help me out.

    Even though I don’t normally use that indicator, my feelings are that the market is always moving/changing so I don’t think there is a magic number to use.

    Since I am not normally a day trader I don’t know how profitable making buy/sell decisions on 5 or 10 minute moves are. I would start with 5 minutes and then up it to 10. Since you are used to using these types of indicators I would think you would have a better idea.

    Also, I don’t mind building a watch list with rules and opening positions with rules, but when it comes to closing positions, I just use the goals on tab6, as opposed to closing a position at a loss only because some indicator said so.

    Ed

    200 day sma
    is there anyway to have today’s 200 day sma is greater to or equal to 200 day sma offset -2 days. Or even that the slope of the 200 day is positive.
    thanks

    You can create a 200 day SMA is greater than or equal to 100 or 200 SMA. But I don’t think you can off set it by 2 days. I will ask someone I know who is an expert and reply back.

    I don’t see a slope or crossover for the SMA or EMA.

    However, you can compare the "price change since 200 days ago" with yesterdays close price or the corrent price and see if it is up or down.

    You can even check the percent the price has gone up or down from 200 days ago to today.

    Intraday.MACD
    I am trying to use MACD value and I am setting intraday.MACD < -.2 for example.

    I am seeing in the rule set that the minutemacdvalue = -.823

    I understand that the rule screen is on a different timing than the tradebot, but I am getting no triggers on the long side with this... never gets through the rule.

    However, on the short side, I am getting triggers off of intraday.macd > .2

    So, I am thinking that there may be something about the way cool-trade handles negative numbers. Anyone have any insight here?

    Thank you.

    The system definitely looks at decimals the same as whole numbers. The system also does not trade Long strategies different than Short strategies. If it works for one strategy then it should work for others.

    Please post the exact rule (with parameter values) and I will put it into one of my traders and see why it is not working.

    Ed

    Easiest money I ever made!!!
    My automated traders closed nearly EVERY short position I had today.

    The cool thing is the trader was already in the positions just waiting for the inevitable crash. No gambling, just a calm, cool, routine buy-back to close the short positions that were opened over the last few months.

    Thank you, Ed!

    Enlightened

    I can’t understand how you can can run 10 strategies at the same time. Do you have 10 different subscriptions to Cooltrade or 10 different brokers. I’ve been running Cooltrade for a couple of months and being able to test only 1 strategy at a time is a very slow process.

    Thank you

    You can run 1 long and 1 short strategy at the same time with 1 CoolTrade subscription. So, if you wanted to run 5 long and 5 short strategies simultaneously then you would need 5 CoolTrade accounts.

    You would need a separate brokerage account for each Automated Trader to trade Live.

    I do have multiple accounts, but I started with one account. After that 1 account went live, I got another 1 for testing. Then when the 2nd account had a winning strategy I switched it to Live and then opened a 3rd account for simulating, and so on.

    Enlightened

    THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER.

    I WOULD LIKE TO ASK ANOTHER QUESTION AND IF IT IS TOO PERSONAL- TELL ME TO GET LOST. YOU’VE BEEN DOING THIS SUCESSFULLY FOR A WHILE AND I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD TELL ME THE STRATEGIES THAT YOU USE?
    THANK YOU

    Take a look at the FAZ Long Intraday and FAZ Short Intraday strategies that you copy from Office1... on the Copy Strategy screen.

    Have many $1000+ days on a $30,000 account.

    Enjoy!

    Enlightened

    THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER MY QUESTIONS.

    HOW MANY SHARES DO YOU USE WITH THE FAZ STRATEGY- THE STRATEGY SAYS TO USE 500 SHARES WITH A MAX OF 5000 SHARES? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF SHARES FOR $30K ACCOUNT?
    THANK YOU AGAIN

    I think the different brokers allow different margin.

    You can trade with 300 share lots and then on the Add To Position Rules (Tab4) change to add on .75 drops instead of .50 drops so you don’t add to losers too quickly.

    Try that in simulator mode FIRST until you like the results.

    I didn’t create the strategy, but I like what I am seeing.

    Enlightened

    THANK YOU FOR ANSWERING ALL OF MY QUESTIONS. I HOPE I AM NOT BEING A NUISANCE.

    DOES COOLTRADE HAVE TO BE LOGGED IN EVERY MORNING OR IS THERE A WAY THAT THE COOLTRADE PROGRAM WILL RUN 24 HRS/DAY IN CASE A PERSON HAS TO BE GONE FOR FEW DAYS AT A TIME? DO YOU HAVE TO LOGIN WITH YOUR MULTIPE MACHINES EVERY MORNING?
    THANK YOU
    RON

    Hi Ron,

    The program stops everyday at the time specified in your Preferences screen.
    However, regardless, when the day changes at midnight, the software will turn itself off.
    It must restart everyday so that it can pick up the new Watch List, and updated indicators that complete sometime after midnight.
    You just schedule the program to start in the morning with the Windows Task Scheduler.
    If you use the /a parameter at the end of the run line, the software will restart with the same settings as your last successful run.

    If you are running with Windows XP, use this run line:

    “c:\program files\cooltrade automated trader\startcooltrade.exe” /a

    Note: there is a space before the /a and the /a is outside of the double quotes

    If you are running with Windows 7, use this run line:

    c:\program files\ (x86)cooltrade automated trader\startcooltrade.exe

    parameter: /a

    Regards,

    Ed

    Ed- Thank You. I just set up the task scheduler. For us new cooltraders, you and Enlightened have helped us with your amazing knowledge- thank you.

    I HAVE BEEN RUNNING THE FAZ AND TVIX STRATEGIES FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS FROM OFFICE 1 AND THE STRATEGIES HAVE NOT MADE ONE.TRADE- IS THIS USUAL OR AM I DOING SOMETHING WRONG?

    Ron,

    Please send me your TeamViewer (version 5 or lower) ID number and password and your phone number, and I will connect and see what is wrong.
    You definitely should have had some trades in both of those traders.

    Send the information to TechnicalSupport@Cool-Trade.com

    Regards,

    Ed

    I TRIED BOTH THE FAZ STRATEGY AND TVIX STRATEGIES AND THEY BOTH WORKED. THE ONLY PROBLEM WAS THE STRATEGIES DID NOT CLOSE AT THE END OF THE TRADING SESSION. I MADE SURE THE CORRECT BOX WAS CHECKED AND THE CORRECT TIME WAS INSERTED. THE STRATEGIES SHOULD HAVE STARTED CLOSING AT12:55 PST.
    WOULD IB TRADERS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE PROBLEM?
    THANK YOU

    First, make sure the Close Positions Time Range goes to 12:58PM.

    Next, make sure the CLOSE ALL OPEN POSITIONS time is set to 12:55PM.

    and make sure your PC time is correct.

    I close all positions (connected with TWS) on one of my traders and it works perfectly every day.

    Hedge

    THANK YOU FOR THE HELP. I’M MAKING SURE ALL OF MY TIMES ARE CORRECT

    Enlightened
    I WANTED TO START SIM TRADING THE CONSERVATIVE LONG (NO STOP) STRATEGY THAT YOU USE. YOU MUST BE USING TWS TO TRADE WITH THAT STRATEGY, BECAUSE IF I USE TD AMERITRADE AND THEIR COMMISSION CHARGES OF $5 IN AND $5 OUT, 100 SHARES OF THE $2 STOCK LOOSES MONEY IF THE THE PROFIT PROTECTION KICKS IN.

    COOLTRADE AND TWS ONLY WORKS HALF OF THE TIME FOR ME WHEN THEIR CONECTED , SO I HAVE GONE TO TD AMERITRADE- NOW TO MY QUESTION, DO YOU THINK THE CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY WILL WORK OK IF YESTERDAYS CLOSE PRICE IS GREATER THAN $4 INSTEAD OF $2?
    THANK YOU

    Yes. Changing the price of the stocks accepted into the Watch List will not hurt anything. It will just lower the number of symbols.

    Also, if the Profit Protection results in small losses, it is because the stock prices went up and then declined sharply / quickly. Usually the Profit Protection feature gives me profits.

    Regarding the Conservative Long/Short strategies. I think they do fine over a long period (for example a year). However, sometimes some of the stocks don’t move much and you sit in them a real long time. I have changed over to the Dow30 strategy and that one turns over profit a lot quicker becasue those stocks more a lot more. There are also a lot less rules in the strategy so you get in and out more often.

    You can copy the Dow 30 Long and Dow 30 Short strategies from Office7@cool-trade.com

    Enlightened

    THE ’TVIX INTRADAY STRATEGY’ WENT LONG INSTEAD OF SHORTING YESTERDAY AND IT TOOK A BATH. SHOULD THE ’TVIX STRATEGY" BE STARTED AT 6:30(PST) OR LATER? IS THERE A WAY TO PROTECT YOURSELF ON THIS STRATEGY WITHOUT HAVING TO WATCH THE ACTION ALL DAY?

    RON

    Try switching to the HAL long/short strategies from office10...

    They only go in the direction of the market.

    THANKS- I’VE BEEN SIMULATING ’HAL’ STRATEGY FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS AND IT LOOKS INTERESTING. I’VE TRIED FAS, ERX, TVIX, FAZ, AND TNA FOR THE LAST WEEK AND HAVE HAD MIXED RESULTS
    THANKS AGAIN
    RON

    If you copy the most recent version of the HAL strategy you will see a few more rules that were not there at the beginning of the week.

    If HAL only goes in the direction of the market , then wouldn’t it be better to use these same rules on a etf or stock that is more volatile?

    If HAL only goes in the direction of the market , then wouldn’t it be better to use these same rules on a etf or stock that is more volatile?

    When you trade LIVE you will discover that the brokers will not let you margin the ETF’s. However you can trade HAL with 4-1 margin, and HAL is as volatile as the ETF’s.

    ENLIGHTHENED
    DO YOU STILL TRADE A $2 STRATEGY (NO STOP LOSS)?

    Yes. It was doing really well (20% a month) about 6 months ago, but then when the market took a bath a few months ago, the strategy has not been taking enough profits each month to make up for the decline in prices.

    I of course will just hold on and wait as I don’t believe in selling stocks at a loss. Every once in a while a I get a nice windfall when a stock opens up +$2 or more in a day.

    That’s a long term strategy so I’m not worried. I’ve got multiple traders so I am always taking profits no matter what the market does.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened
    If you had 2 subscriptions from CoolTrade and could only run 2 long strategies and 2 short strategies, what would they be? I hope it’s ok to ask this.
    Thanks
    Ron Lee

    I would run a swing strategy that holds positions long term, like the Dow30 Long and Short that is found on Office7... with 2-1 margin

    and a day trading strategy like the HAL Long and Short that is found on Office10... with 4-1 margin

    Ed’s conservative strategies (with no stop loss) were and are good, but they tend to hold some positions for a long time. the Dow30 stocks seem to move better.

    Enlightened

    THANK YOU, FOR BEING SO PATIENT AND HELPFUL WITH MY QUESTIONS- YOU HAVE SAVED ME MONTHS OF SEARCHING.

    THANK YOU
    RON

    Enlightened

    I would like another long term strategy, not counting the Dow 30, which strategy would you use?
    thanks
    Ron Lee

    The HAL strategies on office10@cool-trade.com have been doing over 1% a day now that it has a sessionpl% set to 1.5%.

    It closes its positions and stops trading for the day after the 1.5% sessionpl% has been reached.

    You must download the latest Developer version for this strategy to work.

    CT

    How to get the HAL LONG or SHORT strategies? I tried to get them in Options, but cannot see them

    To copy strategies from other people, click OPTIONS next to any strategy, and then select COPY STRATEGY. That will bring up the Copy Strategy screen.

    At the top of the Copy Strategy screen is a list of people sharing their strategies.
    If you click on one of the email addresses, it will show their strategies. You can then copy a strategy from their account into yours.

    The strategies that I am aware of are:

    Office1@cool-trade.com: FAZ strategy (Long and Short) DayTrading
    Office4@cool-trade.com: TVIX strategy (Long and Short) Day Trading
    Office7@cool-trade.com: Dow 30 Strategy (Long and Short) Long Term
    Office8@cool-trade.com: Dow 30 $1 Moves (Long only) Long Term
    Office10@cool-trade.com: HAL (Long and Short) Day Trading
    edbar1@cool-trade.com: Conservative Long/Short (No Stop Loss) Long Term

    Those are the common ones that I have seen appear on these boards resently.

    Jerry

    Enlightned are you still getting the results from your FAS/FAZ strategy? I think your post was in 2011.

    All of your comments and suggestion are appreciated.

    I am getting ready to go live with a 25,000 account trading 10,000 and am just looking for a simple KISS strategy that has worked well for a long period of time.

    So far I am happy with the under 2.00 long/short running in the same day.

    Ed Wilde
    wwildeeeee@comcast.net

    FAZ stategy
    I’m a new user and about to go live using the FAZ stategy.

    I’m concerned that it will keep adding to a losing position all day and then sell it at one big loss at the end of the day.

    Has anyone experienced this? Please advise

    I have never seen it add more than 3 or 4 lots and it closes a lot along the way.

    However, if you are concerned then you have not run in simulator mode.

    Don’t let anything anyone says "ease your mind".

    You should run it in simulator mode until YOU ARE CONFORDABLE with the results.

    Every day is different so no one can predict what tomorrow will bring.
    But I really like what I have seen so far.

    Enlightened

    Thank you so much for your response.

    How long have you used this stategy?

    I have ran it in simulate mode for a week and liked the results, but wanted get other user’s input.

    I’ve only been using it for under a month, but I really like the results.
    I used to focus on long term strategies. They do well, but these intraday strategies are real game-changers for me!

    Most days are $1000+ days and a few $500 days and only 1or 2 losing days, and that only happened when the market made a hard reversal at the end of the day.

    Good luck!

    Enlightened

    I just downloaded the FAZ long/short today and ran it in simulator for the full day. I like it, but have a question.

    It performed like 30 buy/sell trades for the day and ended at $115 profit. But it seems that after my trade commissions/fee with TradeKing at $4.95/trade, I would actually have lost money.

    The thing that really makes me wonder is that at the beginning of the day, it was doing long strategy trades and making good money, then short trades and starting to lose it all, then gained good money towards the end and then the last trade it did, pretty much lost $420 in one trade, dropping the total down to $115. If it didn’t do that last trade it would have done above $500 for the day.

    Do you recommend to continue using the FAZ long/short or one or the other?
    The account value was $25k to start with. I want to do this strategy in live mode, but only want to test with like $2000.

    Are there any good strategies for lower account values <$25k?
    Any advise?

    Thanks!
    D

    D, The FAZ strategy makes too many trades for a $2000 account.
    Also, if you have under $25k then the SEC Day Trader Rule disallows doing more than 3 round-trip trades in a 5-Day Period. So, the FAZ strategy is out.

    The only "default" strategy that I am aware of that you can run with $2000 is the "$2 and Below Long Strategy".

    Hedge

    I ran the FAZ strategy today in live mode:

    My account value was $30,000, but I’m buying only 200 shares at a time. My net was $144.

    In the middle of the day it was up as $500, but towards the end it lost it most of it.

    Mine did not start any short positions, had it done that it would have been a more profitable day.

    This biggest thing that scares me is that if one day in the begining it chose to go long and it was better of going short or vise a virsa.

    I have my cooltrade set so it doesn’t trade more than $40,000, is this a problem in the FAZ strategy? Please advise

    Market reversed at the end so we all experienced the drop. My trader was up $1200 and ended the day up only $512. That happens!

    Up is better than down!

    I think this may work best if you the short strategy working on 1 computer and the long strategy on another.

    Anyone running FAZ short and long on separate computer?

    We have been testing 3 separate traders on the following machines:

    Office1: FAZ Long & FAZ Short. Strategy has done very well with only a few losing days in a month. This method has done much better than running the Long and Short on separate accounts.

    Office2: FAZ Long Only. Always Long only.
    Office3: FAZ Short Only. Always Short only.

    CT

    That’s interesting, I thought it would have been the other way around.

    I tried adding a rule stating open position if bullish indicators are greater than bearish for long, and reversed for the short just to make it little more conservative but didn’t work that good.

    You can see it running TVIX all day from here: https://join.me/630-718-486

    Thanks,
    I’ll check it out.

    Couldn’t you just TVIX and FAZ at the same time?

    YOU could run them together. We want to track them separately to see which one performs the best.

    CT

    Where could i find the FAZ strategy? Could someone email it to me since it’s not coming up in cool trader under the strategy wizard.
    Thanks
    M

    I called support and they said the FAZ Long and Short strategies are running on office1@cool-trade.com

    So, to get that strategy, click OPTIONS on the right of any of the strategies.
    Then select COPY STRATEGY at top of the list that comes up.
    Then at the top fo the Copy Strategy screen, search the email list until you find office1@cool-trade.com. The CLICK on the email name to bring up all of the Long and Short strategies.

    Then you can select the Long FAZ strategy in the SOURCE (at the top) and
    select the DESTINATION strategy that you want to overwrite (at the bottom).

    Then, make sure the correct name shows up at the bottom-right of the screen.
    Then click COPY STRATEGY to complete the copy.

    Hope that helps.

    On a personal note, I and many others are finding great success/profits with the DOW 30 ($1 Moves) Long and Short strategies, that can be copied from Office8@cool-trade.com for the Long strategy. And the Short strategy can be copied from Office9@cool-trade.com

    Enlightened

    To the folks who ran the FAZ Long and FAZ Short strategies in live mode:

    I have a few questions on the FAZ strategies:
    1. Do you let it the trader execute the FAZ strategies throughout the day or do you stop taking new positions after some time?
    2. How do the FAZ strategies perform in down trending and choppy days. For instance how did this strategy perform on Apr 27 2012?

    Can some one please advise?

    Re: FAZ stategy
    To the folks who ran the FAZ Long and FAZ Short strategies in live mode:

    I have a few questions on the FAZ strategies:
    1. Do you let it the trader execute the FAZ strategies throughout the day or do you stop taking new positions after some time?
    2. How do the FAZ strategies perform in down trending and choppy days. For instance how did this strategy perform on Apr 27 2012?

    Can some one please advise?

    I’m a retired school teacher and spend most days on the golf course.
    I run the FAZ strategy and seldom look at my automated trader. It starts at market open, trades all day, and closes after the market closes, and I never touch it. I let it follow the rules regardless of what the market is doing.
    Since my trader only adds to losing postions after 10% declines there’s not usually a lot of action on any given day. However, when it crosses the threshold for profit or loss then the software either closes LIFO profitably or adds to a loser 10% lower. My strategy is very conservative so I only get a few trades a week but the 20% I got last year still blows away the negative returns I was getting when I was in mutual funds. I’m up this year and that includes the 400 shares that are still down. But a few more down days and the open positions will close profitably because FAZ wants the market to go down.

    I just looked at my trader and it didn’t execute any trades today.

    Ed, the founder, calls me chicken because I am so conservative, but I could not be happier. He says I could or should add FAS to this strategy and start making money regardless of which direction the market is moving but the account is growing steadily and I’m happy with the results.

    Jerry


    "But a few more down days and the open positions will close profitably because FAZ wants the market to go down."


    I am not sure if I understand your statement. I have never looked at the FAZ strategies yet but are you running the short strategy only?

    By the way, looking at history over the last 3 years of stock market performance, we are at the top most position. I guess we will be headed down pretty soon?

    I have only 2 symbols (ETF’s) in my strategy:

    FAS for when the market is going up.
    FAZ for when the market is going down.

    They are both in my long strategy and I don’t run a short strategy because my account is an IRA. But FAZ goes up when the market goes down so it is the same as running a short on a normal stock.

    They follow simple rules for opening a position:

    macd value line is greater than macd signal line (on a 10 minute chart).

    I also follow the same closing methodology that I learned from members here and that is to add to losers on 10% drops and close winners. For the last few months FAZ has been moving mostly down but every week I see it open and close out profits. I don’t see any reason this behavior will stop. I pretty sure it can’t do worse than it is doing and even at it’s worse it is still better than any other investment vehicle I see out there. And every once in a while I get a nice windfall on a good up or down day and take $500 or more off the table.

    Did I mention that I am retired and golf almost every day DURING regular trading hours. I LIKE the freedom that this system gives to me.

    Jerry

    Thanks for the reply.

    The macd over the signal line is a good trigger. I am devising my strategy based on macd. I will post back here after a few days with results. Right now, its only been 4 days and I am liking what I see.

    The trader definitely is way better than manual trading. Takes the stress off and also protects from losses.

    I have a few questions on he FAZ long ans short intra day strategies:

    1. Are these intra day strategies supposed to close out all positions at the end of day? I assume so but I am asking since these add to existing lots when the stock drops.

    2. I am concerned about the exit rule: "Dow Move is less than 0" in the long strategy and similar one in the short strategy. What if DOW moves down and it acquired a position which has an unrealized loss. Then, the DOW moved back up after a couple of hours and that ended up exiting the position with a loss.

    Are you guys still having success with the FAZ long and short strategies. I have been running for 2 days in simulation and I see +$145. But thats on a $30000 sim account.

    Please advise.

    1. Are these intra day strategies supposed to close out all positions at the end of day? I assume so but I am asking since these add to existing lots when the stock drops.

    I think the original strategy was designed to close positions at the end of the day. However, I stopped that becasue too many times I was underwater at the end of the day. So I changed mine to follow the buy-and-hold-and-add-on-10%-losers methodoligy that I learned from these forums.

    2. I am concerned about the exit rule: "Dow Move is less than 0" in the long strategy and similar one in the short strategy. What if DOW moves down and it acquired a position which has an unrealized loss. Then, the DOW moved back up after a couple of hours and that ended up exiting the position with a loss.

    I removed the exit rules. Also I run only a Long but I trade FAS and FAZ so it is the same as long and short since FAZ goes up when the market goes down.

    3. Are you guys still having success with the FAZ long and short strategies. I have been running for 2 days in simulation and I see +$145. But thats on a $30000 sim account.

    I’m about 12k underwater on the FAZ that I have been holding because my first lot is 40% down, but I continue to add and close LIFO and take profits so I am taking profits on almost every good down day.

    I still think it is a solid strategy for the long haul.

    Jerry

    Enlightened
    I’m still having problems with FAZ Long Only and FAZ Short Only. Every time the program closes a long trade it was opening another long trade within a few seconds. This is happening even when the price is in a down trend. Can you send me your Open Position Rules and screen 6 Profit requirements page?
    Thank you,
    Gage

    I changed from FAZ to FAS because FAZ’s price is too low. The FAS gives us bigger swings. I only simulate with this strategy because I prefer to run longer term strategies like the DOW 30.

    (TAB 3): OPEN POSITION RULE

    Intaday MACD Value (12, 26, 9, 10, 0) > Intaday MACD Signal (12, 26, 9, 10, 0)

    (TAB 4): NO ADD TO POSITION RULES

    (TAB 6):

    Profit Goal: .80 cents
    Profit Pullback: .07 cents
    Profit Protection: .40 cents
    Stop Loss: 300
    Trailing Stop Loss: 300
    ReEntry Pullback: 0

    The strategy is designed to take a little profit after it reaches a profit target and pulls back a little.

    Then, after it closes the position, it can go right back in (even 2 seconds later) as long as the current macd value > current macd signal.

    If you want to only enter the trade immediately after the macd value crosses from below the macd signal and then goes above the signal, then add this rule to the Open Position Rules on Tab3:

    Intaday MACD Value (12, 26, 9, 10, 1) < Intaday MACD Signal (12, 26, 9, 10, 1)

    Since it has offset 1, it means a minute ago, the macd value was below the macd signal.

    Thank you for the information about changing to FAZ to FAS. I had my Ask-Bid Range Must Be Less Than 0.02, but rarely is the spread on FAS that low. What Ask-Bid spread do you have set? You said that you are running DOW30, are you running both the Long & Short? When you compare the returns that you are getting, which is the most consistent and has the higher returns between the DOW 30(Long & Short) and FAS(Long & Short)?
    Thanks,
    Gage

    Re: FAZ stategy
    Thank you for the information about changing to FAZ to FAS. I had my Ask-Bid Range Must Be Less Than 0.02, but rarely is the spread on FAS that low. What Ask-Bid spread do you have set? You said that you are running DOW30, are you running both the Long & Short? When you compare the returns that you are getting, which is the most consistent and has the higher returns between the DOW 30(Long & Short) and FAS(Long & Short)?
    Thanks,
    Gage

    For the trader running FAS / FAZ, my Max Ask-Bid Spread is set to .05.
    For the trader running Dow 30, my Max Ask-Bid Spread is set to .02.

    I am only running long with the FAS / FAZ strategy but when the market is going up FAS is going up and FAZ is going down and they reverse when the market is going down. Consequently, FAS was doing well for months and the FAZ positions were going down. However, over the last week FAZ has moved up sharply, but is still about 9k down. I’m not worried about which one is in the lead. I just like the money it makes every day. FAZ recovered about 2k over this last week so I know it recovers quickly when the market makes good moves.

    Regarding which strategy is more consistent, the DOW 30 wins hands down. I can’t remember a day that one hasn’t taken some profits, while the FAS / FAZ strategy can do days without returns.

    Is FAZ a day trading strategy?

    I started FAZ as a day trade (close all positions at the end of the day). However, I changed it to long-term swingtrade, where it keeps the losing lots forever, and buy/sells LIFO.

    That strategy (similar to the dow 30 long/short strategies), is a good long term, pay me forever type of strategy.

    Enlightened

    FAZ long and FAZ short
    I have read a lot of posts about FAZ long and FAZ short and cannot find the downloads on the main screen. Are they still available? If so, where can i go to download them?

    Thanks.

    From the Options menu in the Strategy Wizard, click COPY STRATEGY.
    Then at the top of the COPY STRATEGY screen, copy the FAZ Long Intraday and FAZ Short Intraday from "Office1@Cool-Trade.com".

    Enlightened

    Thank you. I am new to this and am trying to navigate my way around the program. Some things are not in the tutorials.

    I appreciate your time.

    Margin
    Do all stategies require the use of margin?

    I haven’t found a consertive stategy that will allow me to sleep well yet? I’m currently testing out Dow 30 long and short. I’m scared to borrow money, it seems like adding more risk than you are already taking.

    When I use to trade manually I opened and closed my postions, everything was in my hands. With an autotrader it constantly buying and selling for you, which is excellent if it’s actually buying long when stock go up and shorting when stocks go down.

    In the Dow 30 long and short I’m currently holding 10 positions and only 1 has gone the right way.

    Please provide input.

    Thanks,

    Since CoolTrade is not a broker, I doubt they can comment much on the strategy returns.

    Those are long term strategies. As the market moves up and down, it will add to longs as the market goes lower and then take the profits as the stocks move back up and vise versa for the Shorts.

    If you are not using margins, you should probably lower your MAX TRADES to 5 and trade in 100 share lots.

    Most importantly, trade in simulator mode until you fully understand the strategies and the software.

    Enlightened

    Thanks for the response,,

    I’m using max 5 trades and 100 lot shares. I am simulating this stategy. In your experience is 2 weeks long enough to get the feel of a strategy?

    2 weeks is enough for me to know if a strategy is making money for me.
    However, I have been running the software for over 4 years and know it inside and out.

    My suggestion before you trade live is to click on a symbol in your list of open positions (top of screen) and on a symbol in the watch list (bottom of screen) and make sure you understand each item in the menu that pops up.

    Definitely don’t go live until you have a full understanding of the softrware.

    Make sure you know how to manually open and close positions. That way you won’t freak out if you see big profits and decide you want to take profits before the software does. Since you are simulating, practice doing manual trades to see how it all works.

    Happy trading!

    Hedge

    Uptrend
    Can anyone please tell me how to create a watchlist of stocks that are starting a solid new uptrend?

    I currently have in my open positions to open when the 4day sma is greater than 10 day sma. but I want this rule to apply when the stocks are in a uptrend.

    Thanks,

    Add these rules to your Watch List Rules:

    ON A LONG TERM UPTREND:

    5 Day SMA > 18 Day SMA

    ON A LONG TERM DOWNTREND:

    5 Day SMA < 18 Day SMA

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlightened your feedback is always appreciated.

    2 Period RSI
    I am trying to implement a rule for long positions where the RSI is less than a certain number, as an example, 30.

    In CT my rule is: Relative Strength Indicator(2) is less than 30 Percent.

    CT has initiated trades when the RSI is above 60. Why? How can I correct this?

    Click on the RULES button in the Automated Trader and see what CoolTrade has generated for the indicator.

    Also make sure you have ALL RULES MUST PASS for the open position rules and not ANY rule can pass.

    Also, if you are adding to positions, make sure you have the same rule in the Add To Position rules.

    CT

    Here you go.

    This is what CT showed.

    Relative Strength Indicator(2) < 30 Percent
    rsi2_value: 53.0660


    But CT still triggered a long position. What is the time period for the RSI(2)?

    This is what I have as an exit:

    Relative Strength Indicator(2) > 90 Percent
    rsi2_value: 53.0660

    Here you go.

    This is what CT showed.

    Relative Strength Indicator(2) < 30 Percent
    rsi2_value: 53.0660


    But CT still triggered a long position. What is the time period for the RSI(2)?

    This is what I have as an exit:

    Relative Strength Indicator(2) > 90 Percent
    rsi2_value: 53.0660

    Here you go.

    This is what CT showed.

    Relative Strength Indicator(2) < 30 Percent
    rsi2_value: 53.0660


    But CT still triggered a long position. What is the time period for the RSI(2)?

    This is what I have as an exit:

    Relative Strength Indicator(2) > 90 Percent
    rsi2_value: 53.0660

    I ALSO VERIFIED THAT "ALL CONDITIONS MUST BE TRUE" WAS MARKED, AND IT WAS.

    What symbol are you trading with?
    I’ll put it in my system and see.

    The system went long on a few stocks, but I have been charting and noticed trades of RAD and RTK that didn’t follow the RSI rule.

    If it did follow the RSI rule, then I must be missing something because the 5 day and 14 day RSI readings were nowhere near <30. What are the RSI(2) parameters?

    The system went long on a few stocks, but I have been charting and noticed trades of RAD and RTK that didn’t follow the RSI rule.

    If it did follow the RSI rule, then I must be missing something because the 5 day and 14 day RSI readings were nowhere near <30. What are the RSI(2) parameters?

    CoolTrade utilizes the indicators provided by

    Is that right? I was not aware that CT returns a dollar value. I have never seen this, which is why I used percentage. RSI is a quotient of up/down values multiplied by 100, which indicates a percentage.

    Am I missing something?

    The value returned is already a percent
    You only select "percent" if you want to compare the returned value with another indicator as:

    RSI(2) is 30 < "percent" less than RSI(14)

    if you are not comparing to to another indicator you use:

    RSI(2) is < 30 "dollars"

    In the next update we will change "dollars" to "dollars\value".

    Interestingly, if you selected "percent" and didn’t compare it to something else, the software should not have enabled the "Add Rule" button. I am curious how you were able to get the "Add Rule" button enabled when you selected "percent" without adding the 2nd indicator to compare against. Would you mind sharing the sequence of things you clicked to create the rule with "Percent".

    Thanks,
    Ed

    If you are using RSI (2) that is a 2 day indicator. Also, you should use the 30 Value, not percent, as that will give you a completely different value.

    HAL strategy
    I started using the the HAL’ strategy last Thursday and the strategy did not buy or sell on Thursday or Friday- is this normal to have consecutive days that do not trade?

    Thank You
    Ron

    I had a couple of trades each day, first thing in the morning, but then it stopped because of the rules.

    The DOW, Nasdaq, and S&P must all be moving in the same direction, along with the price of the stock before a trade can be made.
    I noticed that the Dow and the other indices were going in 2 different directions.

    Of course there may have been other reasons that yours is not trading.

    1. Could be the broker did not have enough shares to lend if you are shorting the stock. (this would show on the SHOW TRADES screen if an order was sent and then cancelled by the broker).

    2. Or you may not have enough funds available to make the purchase, (You can check your funds available on the ACCOUNT BALANCES screen).

    3. or you could be out of day trades available. (Your Day Trades Available is shown in the middle of the Automated Trader screen, directly under the TOGGLE button).

    4. You can also see the RULE PREVENTING TRADE on the lower-right of the screen in the Watch List.

    Jerry

    THANK YOU- I’LL CHECK EVERYTHING.
    RON

    Has the Hal strategy been profitable so far? How many win vs loose days?

    I’ve been stuggling back and forth between strategies. Which one is worth testing for a while so I wont waste any more time, any help much appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Andy

    My recommendation would be to run a strategy for a solid month or 2 instead of jumping from strategy to strategy.

    The short term performance of the HAL strategy, whether profitable or losing days, is a function of the unique market. We are seeing more divergent days recently where the DOW is going 1 way and the other indices and many stocks are going in the opposite direction. That is not common.

    That said, I believe the HAL strategy from Office10... has been updated over the last few weeks to deal with this divergence, and since the last updates, it stops trading when the divergence is detected. That’s a great thing.

    Now when the market is going up/down and the indices and the HAL stock agree on a direction, the strategy performs fabulously.

    I suggest you run it along with me and many others that are running the strategy and see how it performs over the next few months and see how much money it makes and/or how many plus/minus days it has.

    Enlightened

    Thank you so much.

    I will follow your advice and try the HAL for a straight month!

    Help
    I am working on buying specific bounces $5 - $50, 200k avg daily volume, 15% below yesterday close minimum and 3% above todays low. Thought I had it right but while my manual traking showed three buys today my auto trader did not buy any. Can someone tell me if what I have described is viable, maybe not profitable but viable so I can build from there?

    Sorry ELT, I was trying to delete the duplicate and deleted your resopnse and the wrong one. If you have a few extra senconds I would appreciate your thoughts again. I know there are not a lot of 15% drops in a day but today had one with EK and it did bounce 3%, it’s over $50m market cap and does over 200k day in trades. Should have been a buy. Thank you for your help. Obviously very new at this and having some learning to do.

    Hi Preston,

    I don’t remember what I posted in response to your question.
    Probably something like 15% drops in a day are near impossible to find and you will go many many days with no trades if you are watiing for 15% daily drops.

    Regardless of that though, the Open Position rules would look like this:

    Current Ask Price is at least 15 percent less than Yesterday’s Close Price
    Current Ask Price is at least 3 percent greater than greater than Today’s Lowest Price

    That means that for the stock to be 3% above today’s low and it is also currently 15% below yesterday’s close, then at the low it would have been 18% below yesterday’s close. That’s bottom-fishing if I ever saw it.

    Enlightened

    Yes, but I am just putting a toe in the water. However, it appears that in order for this to work I will either have to purchase several subscriptions or cut down the range because I am having the program look at virtually every stock for the downward move and regardless of 15% or 5% the software will not supprt this range. I downloaded you latest #5 short and it suffers from the same issue. Enlightened, could you give me a relatively simply, relatively success strategy that is public? Something for me to build from?

    TYIA

    TYIA = Thank you in advance. Cool. You must text a lot. ha.

    I like the DOW30 Long and Short strategies that you can copy from Office7@cool-trade.com

    You can use it as-is, or add your rules to bottom fish them when they drop. The nice thing about the 30 stocks on the DOW is that they move up and down a lot. For example, MSFT has gone from aobut $25 to over $28 in under a month. That’s over 10% in a month.

    Cheers!

    Enlightened

    Still cannot get my program to operate but did run your suggestion Dow 30 Long and Short. Nice day! Thank you.

    What does ABS stand for?
    What does ABS stand for?

    If I am correct ABS references to Absolute value as to the magnitude of a quantity, irrespective of sign.

    Example: would be ABS of a stock that price has moved from $1.00 to $1.10 would be .10 as well ABS of $1.00 to $.90 would also be .10. So it would be looking at movement by itself removing positive or negative.

    Carol,

    You are right in that ABS stands for absolute value.
    However, all it does is remove the minus sign, if there is one.
    Examples:

    ABS(10) = 10
    ABS(-10) = 10

    What does ABS stand for?
    What does ABS stand for?

    ABS stands for Absolute Value.

    That means it removes the minus sign if the number is negative.

    I have primarily seen it used when you want to see if a stock has moved down enough before adding to your losing position.

    For example, to see if the stock dropped by at least 15% of my original trade price.

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move < 0
    ABS (My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) > Value of my Same Symbol Highest Trade Price%(15)

    The first rule makes sure the price has gone down.
    The 2nd rule makes sure we are adding in 15% increments, based on the original (or highest) trade price. Everytime the stock drops 15% this rule will pass. If we simply added every time the stock dropped 15% of the last (lowest) trade price then we would end up added to our position on lower and lower drops and that is not what we want.

    Hope that helps show the value of the indicators that start with ABS.

    Enlightened

    Bottom Feeding
    Is there a community strategy for bottom feeding or better termed bottom bouncing?

    If you click OPTIONS next to any of the Strategies, a list of Community strategies will pop up. 1 of them is called bottom fishing. That is a great strategy to use right after a market meltdown like we had in 2007/2008 when many stocks were down over 50% because most bounced back at least half way.

    If you use that strategy, you need to go in and tweak the percent that you want the stocks to be down over the last 200 days.

    Enlightened

    The strategy that enlightened is describing is called Dogs Of The Market and there is one for Long and Short. I used it when AIG was at a dollar and it picked AIG and about 20 other stocks in the watch list. I bought them all and every one doubled in value in a short period, like under a month because they were all extremely over sold.

    Hedge

    Building Strategy Sagments
    Is it possible, how do I structure a strategy to look at and ALPHA range of symbols. A-F or G-L. Something like that?

    Tab2 of the Strategy Wizard (Watch List rules) gives you the ability to search by Sector or Price, but no based on the symbol names.

    I run multiple traders and to break up the symbols to the multiple traders I use things like:

    AMEX Long on 1 machine
    AMEX Short on another machine

    NASDAQ Long on 1 machine
    NASDQA Short on another machine

    NYSE Long on 1 machine
    NYSE Short on another machine

    You can also break up the symbols by Sector or Price Ranges.

    Jerry

    UNDERSTANDING THE RULES
    I AM TRYING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TWEAKING CERTAIN STRATEGIES BUT I AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES IN SOME RULES THAT SEEM TO BE SAYING, ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE THE SAME THING-
    WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN?

    ADD TO POSITION RULES:

    "TODAYS CURRENT BID PRICE IS AT LEAST 1 DOLLARS LESS THAN MY SAME SYMBOL LOWEST TRADE PRICE."

    COMPARED TO

    "MY SAME SYMBOL LOWEST TRADE PRICE MOVE IS LESS THAN -1.00 DOLLARS"

    THANK YOU































    ;

    They are the same. Just 2 different ways to write the rule.

    Hedge

    $2 strategy (no stop loss)
    WHY DO SOME OF THE "NO STOP LOSS $2 STRATEGIES" HAVE AN" EXIT RULE" THAT SAYS " INSTITUTIONAL OWNERSHIP PERCENT IS LESS THAN 5"? I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE LOGIC OF HAVING AN EXIT RULE AND NO STOP LOSS.
    THANK YOU

    The $2 strategy was created by the Sun City West, AZ investment club. Throught the school of hard knocks, they determined that if the Institutions sell off their holdings in the stock, then it does not rebound in price. They don’t mind adding to a declining position as long as the stock remains institutionally held.

    CT

    THANK YOU FOR THE EXPLANATION

    MOVING STOCKS TO DIFFERENT BROKER
    CAN STOCKS BE MOVED FROM 1 BROKER TO ANOTHER BROKERAGE HOUSE WITHOUT SELLING THE STOCKS?
    THANK YOU

    Yes. But you must move them through the broker.
    You need to contact the destination broker and tell them to transfer the stocks from the old broker. They can actually move the whole account (stocks, cash, and margin debt).

    CT

    Why change status change to "Manual"?
    Dear All:

    I used "BG BB HAL Long 01-19-12" short and long strategy. 2 days ago, the change status was "Stealth". However, the change status changed to "Manual" in this morning. In this morning, it purchased 500 shares HAL @$36.66(Short Strategy), it did not sell although the price rise to $37.95 (My profit goal for the short Strategy is $100, and long strategy is $50). It still hold these 500 shares until at the end of the day(lose $85 ). Do I need to manual to sell these 500 shares because the change status is "manual"? Do I need to change something? how can I change to "Stealth"? Please help. Thanks.

    It sounds like the SEC Day Trader rule prevented the system from closing the position.

    The SEC Day Trader rules, states that if you have under $25,000 in your account then you are only allowed to execute 3 round-trip trades in a 5 day period.

    In the middle of your automated trader, under the Toggle button, it shows Day Trades Remaining. If that number is 0 then you are out of round trips and must wait a few days before round-trip trades can be made again.

    However, any position opened on a different day can be closed on the current day. Therefore, since you opened the position today, it will be back to STEALTH mode tomorrow so it will be able to be closed automatically.

    CT

    Ok, I got it. By the way, if I need to update the newest version of this strategy, do you where I can download it? Also, I want to add some symbols in the watch list, any symbol that you can recommend that can good fit in this strategy? Thanks for your help.

    The BG BB HAL Long and Short strategies are running on "office10@cool-trade.com", so you can copy it from teh Copy Strategy feature in the Strategy Wizard.

    I believe it would work with any volitile stock. Maybe try U.S. Steele, stock symbol is X.

    CT

    Close all position end of day.
    If I want to sell all positions, regardless of p/l at 12:55 or about how do I?

    At the bottom of Tab1 in the Strategy Wizard you can put 12:55pm at the bottom where it says "Close all positions at this time each day".

    CT

    It doesn’t say "close all position at" my choices are:

    Start closing at.....
    Close all positions that have...goal
    Close all postition that have profit of .....

    I simply want to close, up or down, every postion and it does not seem to present this option unless I am simply reading it incorrectly.

    Of the 3 Close options at the bottom of tab 1, it is the first one.
    The exact wording is:

    Start Closing All Open Positions At This Time Each Day.

    You have to select that option and put in the time that you want to closes to happen.

    I would not put the time too close the market close because the softwaer submits market orders and the brokers will not process a market order while the market is closed. Some brokers will just reject the order but some brokers actually hold the order until the market opens in the morning.

    My day trade strategies have the close set for 5 minutes before the martket closes.

    Carol

    SOLD LOSING STOCKS
    I AM RUNNING THE "DOW 30" (NO STOP LOSS) WITH TDA AS MY BROKER AND COOLTRADE. CT SOLD 3 LOSING POSITIONS AT 10:15 ON 1/30/12 SO I CHECKED TDA AND THERE WAS NO SALE ON 1/30/12 OF THESE STOCKS,
    BUT, THE NEXT DAY ON 1/31/12 AT 9.42 AM TDA SOLD THESE STOCKS AT A BIGGER LOSS. I CHECKED THE"DOW 30"- "EXIT RULES" AND THERE ARE NONE

    SOMETHING IS SCREWY. MY OTHER STRATEGIES WITH TWS HAVE NEVER DONE THIS

    IT HAS TO BE COOLTRADE INITIATING THE SALE BECAUSE TDA SOLD THE STOCKS 24 HRS AFTER CT SAID THEY SOLD
    .
    I RE-DOWNLOADED "COOLTRADE" AND HOPEFULLY IT DOEN’T HAPPEN AGAIN.
    .
    ALSO I CHECKED THE BUYING PRICES OF A FEW OF MY STOCKS AND ON 1 STOCK, CT IS SHOWING ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN A PURCHASE PRICE 50 CENTS LESS THAN TDA SAYS THAT I PAID. CT SAYS THAT I PAID 28.53/SHARE AND TDA SAYS THAT I PAID 28.939/SHARE. I CAN UNDERSTAND 5 OR 10 CENTS, BUT NOT 50 CENTS.

    IS THIS HAPPENENING TO ANYONE ELSE?
    THANK YOU

    A discrepancy of .50 would indicate a loss of internet connectivity.
    If CT sends an order and the internet goes away, there is no way to know if the position got filled. Then when the internet comes back, the software sees the added shares at the broker, and can only go with the current price of the stock.

    As far as CT sending an order to close a position, it would have to get filled at the broker imediately. The broker cannot wait 24 hour. I should say that the broker SHOULD not wait to fill the order.

    It is possible that the broker had problems and did not fill the order immediately when the order was sent, and then did it later.

    After you have been running for a few years you will see that the brokers and the exchanges are not infailable. Luckly though, it is fairly rare.

    If you see an incorrect entry price on the CoolTrade screen, you can click on it and select "Edit Entry Price" and enter the correct price.


    CT

    thank you

    ACCORDING TO EVERYTHING THAT I CAN AUDIT- THE ORDER SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SENT IN THE FIRST PLACE.THE STOCKS WERE LOSING BEFORE COOLTRADE SENT THE SELL ORDER.
    WILL A LOSS OF INTEREST CAUSE ALL KINDS OF INTERESTING THINGS TO HAPPEN?
    THANKS

    Loss of the internet would only cause a late/delated response from the broker. It would not cause the broker to fill an order 24 hours after CoolTrade sent it in.

    However, if the broker initiated the order though, then it would show up in the CoolTrade software when CoolTrade sees that the shares have disappeared from your open positions. That could happen if you were over-extended on margin.

    CT

    I have noticed the difference in prices between what cool trade reports and what the broker actually shows. And I think there is a good chance for this behavior given:

    1. Cool Trade always submits market orders to the brokers. So cool trade might submit a market order at certain moment in time and the price of the stock might have changed by the time the broker actually filled the order.
    2. The more volatile the market is, there is a higher chance for the price difference. For example: an extremely bullish or bearish market or the first 30 min of trading where the market is volatile.
    3. The more volatile the stock is the more chance for the price difference. So if you are dealing with a highly volatile (Beta > 2 or so), the difference might be more.

    So in reality, this behavior will happen. I did speak with Ed on this behavior and he said ideally brokers are expected to report back on the final fill price so that Cool Trade can correct its pricing. But it seems not all brokers do that. Hence cool trade ends up keeping the original price it submitted the market price at since it doesnt know any better.

    I hope that clarifies it?

    optionshouse
    DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WITH OPTIONSHOUSE BROKERS? AND DOES IT WORK WELL WITH COOLTRADE. I WAS THINKING ABOUT OPENING AN ACCOUNT.
    THANK YOU

    I think OH is fine if you are only doing long term trading. But if you plan to use the intraday indicators available in the cooltrade system then they will not work with OH because they require the historical minute bars data that is only available with TD, MB, and IB.

    I have 2 CT accounts. 1 is with TD and I use that for my day trading account and 1 with OH that I only use to run the Conservative strategies that do not need the minute bars indicators.

    Hope that helps.

    Oh yea, I also found the link on the Cooltrade website to open the account at TD and get 5 dollar trades. But you most open the account with that link to get the discounted trades.

    Carol N

    THANK YOU CAROLNETZER

    CAROLNETZER27

    WHAT INTRADAY AND CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIES WORK THE BEST FOR YOU?
    THANKS

    Ron,

    I am not a trading expert. Many others on this board know more than I.
    I run the conservative long strategy (no stop loss) and the conservative short strategy (no stop loss) that I copied from edbar1. They are good long term strategies that take some profits almost every day. A lot of days the overall account value goes down because the open positions have losing days. But my trades close out positions profitably nearly every day and in the long run the locked in profts keep adding up.

    I am only experimenting in simulator mode with the day trading strategy that I copied from OFFICE10. Something like "BG BB..." It uses bollinger bands and makes a lot of money when the indexes have big moves. Not so good in a sloppy sideways markety. but like I said, I am not an expert. I’m wating for others to give me direction on how to improve it. It still holds its own and doesn’t have big drawdowns, so far.

    Carol N.

    THANK YOU. THAT REINFORCES WHAT I AM DOING.
    I AM ALSO USING THE "DOW 30" (NO STOP LOSS) AND THAT STRATEGY ALSO SEEMS TO WORK.
    THANKS AGAIN

    The day trading strategy that uses bollinger bands -> Can you not run that strategy all day long? Instead just run it for the first 2 hours in a day? See how it performs then?

    I will give it a try in simulation after I am done testing my current strategy modifications. But sounds interesting though.

    When you said it makes a lot of money, how much simulation amount are you running on and how much is the strategy returning?

    since Feb I tried other things and went back to the strategy BG macd long and short strategys that can be copied from office1@cool-trade.com.

    In one week on a $40,000 account it took $4000 in profits. this one closes out profits long and short every day.

    I plan to watch it 1 more week and then take it live.

    Carol N.

    You can see the results of the strategy running on office1 by going to

    To CustomerSupport:

    I tried to view the desktop but didnt see the trader running? Can you please start the trader so I can see the results?

    To carolnetzer27:

    Try the revised BG McD Long & Short Strategies from the demotrader1@robotictradingsystems.com account. They are a little more refined and will perform better on bad days as well.

    But they are definitely more aggressive dealing in 1500 units per position.

    Brian tweeked that strategy a week ago and it has been doing about 1400 a day.

    I think the trader on office1 is the same as demotrader1.
    I don’t have the ability to view demotrader1 remotely though so I can’t be sure they are exact.

    CT

    CustomerSupport:

    Can you please provide me a new code for join.me to watch the computer running the trader on office1 account? I cant seem to view the desktop.

    Here is a code for the daytrade strategy Brian developed.

    www.join.me/227-642-951

    Well, it does bring up a desktop but has a browser window opened.

    Are these codes listed somewhere on the website or on the forums so I can refer to them when I need them?

    They are not listed anywhere. The machines are running in the CoolTrade office and the numbers expire every few days and then new numbers get generated.

    We are planning to devise a method to make all numbers available buy have not had found the time so we just respond with the current number when we get inquiries.

    CT

    I see. I think having a constant code or perhaps someway of updating the codes would make absolute sense especially if your customer base is increasing. I assume people want to see how your stock strategies are doing. Just a suggestion. Perhaps you should try talking with the Join.me folks. Lol!

    $2 strategy
    I WOULD TO ADD A FEW LINES TO MY $2 LONG AND $2 SHORT STRATEGIES.

    $2 STRATEGY LONG
    I WOULD LIKE TO ADD:
    OPEN POSITION RULE

    "today’s current price is at least 5% less than yesterdays close price"

    ADD TO POSITION

    "todays current price is at least 5% less than my same symbol lowest trade price"

    IF I’M GOING TO ADD THESE LINES TO THE $2 SHORT STRATEGY, WOULD I WRITE:
    OPEN POSITION RULE

    "todays current price is at least 5% greater than yesterdays close price"

    ADD TO POSITION

    "todays current price is at least 5% greater than my same symbol highest trade price"

    IS THIS CORRECT?
    THANK YOU

    You will not be able to make a $2 Short Strategy as you can not short stocks that are $2 and below.

    So I believe if you are wanting get the same reaction as "today’s current price is at least 5% less than yesterdays close price" you can choose "Today’s Price Change Less Than 5% Yesterdays Close Price.

    Hope that helps.

    I believe this is correct for the Long strategy:

    "todays current price is at least 5% less than my same symbol lowest trade price"

    However, you cannot short the $2 stocks.

    $2 strategy
    I WOULD TO ADD A FEW LINES TO MY $2 LONG AND $2 SHORT STRATEGIES.

    $2 STRATEGY LONG
    I WOULD LIKE TO ADD:
    OPEN POSITION RULE

    "today’s current price is at least 5% less than yesterdays close price"

    ADD TO POSITION

    "todays current price is at least 5% less than my same symbol lowest trade price"

    IF I’M GOING TO ADD THESE LINES TO THE $2 SHORT STRATEGY, WOULD I WRITE:
    OPEN POSITION RULE

    "todays current price is at least 5% greater than yesterdays close price"

    ADD TO POSITION

    "todays current price is at least 5% greater than my same symbol highest trade price"

    IS THIS CORRECT?
    THANK YOU

    No. You would just write it exactly the way you want the rule to be:

    OPEN POSITION RULE

    "today’s current price is at least 5 "percent" less than yesterdays close price"

    ADD TO POSITION

    "todays current price is at least 5 "percent" less than my same symbol lowest trade price"

    You say "lowest trade price" because you are adding as the stock price is going down, so it would be lower than your lowest trade price.

    CT

    DO I WRITE THE SAME WORDS FOR BOTH THE LONG STRATEGY AND THE SHORT STRATEGY? NO CHANGES BETWEEN THE LONG AND SHORT?
    THANKS

    Oh, I see. You had the Long and Short listed correctly in your first post. I didn’t notice that you had the short rules there too, which is why I didn’t understand why you changed "lowest price" to "highest price".

    So, for the Short:

    OPEN RULES

    "todays current price is at least 5 percent greater than yesterdays close price"

    ADD TO POSITION RULES

    "todays current price is at least 5 percent greater than my same symbol highest trade price"

    CT

    THANK YOU. I GET IT

    Please help me take a look the HAL rules.
    I use the BG BB HAL Short 1-19-12 and BG BB HAL Long 1-19-12.

    I add United States Steel (Symbol "X") in my short and long watch list on 02/02/12. After I add the symbol couple minutes, the software automatically sell short 1000 shares. After 1 or 2 minutes, the account gain $164. However, the software did not buy the stock back. It did not do anything, and at the end of Friday. My TD Ameritrade account has almost lost $900 in these 2 days. Can someone please help me take a look the following Long and Short strategy rule correct or not? Thanks a lot.

    HAL Long Strategy Rules:

    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Todays Current Bid Price < Intraday Bollinger Lower ( 2,1,20,0 )
    CurrentBidPrice: 0.0000
    MinuteBollingerLower (2 , 1 , 20 , 0) : 36.7062

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,1,0 ) < Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,1,0 )
    MinuteMacdValue (12 , 26 , 9 , 1 , 0) : 0.0290
    MinuteMacdSignalLine (12 , 26 , 9 , 1 , 0) : 0.0258

    ADD TO POSITION RULES

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,1,0 ) < Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,1,0 )
    MinuteMacdValue (12 , 26 , 9 , 1 , 0) : 0.0290
    MinuteMacdSignalLine (12 , 26 , 9 , 1 , 0) : 0.0258

    Todays Current Bid Price < Intraday Bollinger Lower ( 2,1,20,0 )
    CurrentBidPrice: 0.0000
    MinuteBollingerLower (2 , 1 , 20 , 0) : 36.7062

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) > Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price % ( 5 )
    MyLowestTradePriceMoveABS: 0.0000
    PctValMyHighestTradePrice (5) : 0.0000

    NO EXIT POSITION RULES

    HAL Short Strategy Rules:

    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Todays Current Ask Price > Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,1,0 )
    Todays Current Ask Price > Intraday Bollinger Upper (2,1,20,0)

    ADD TO POSITION RULES

    None

    NO EXIT POSITION RULES

    I would suggest that you NEVER run a strategy in Live mode without testing it first for a while in SIMULATOR mode so that you can see how it will perform in varying markets.

    If the Short strategy did not close a position then it most likely means that the profit goal was not reached.

    I didn’t create thestrategies that you are running, but if the Short strategy is supposed to be the reciprical of the Long, then the Short should have the same rules as the Long only reversed.

    I suggest you copy the long strategy into the short and then manually change the rules to reverse them.

    For example a rule that states the MACD Value line is greater than MACD Signal line, change it to LESS than for the Short strategy. And do the same for each of the other rules.

    Enlightened

    multiple accounts
    CAN I OPEN MORE THAN 1 ACCOUNT WITH "TDA" USING THE SAME SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER?
    THANK YOU

    That is more a question for the broker than it is for CoolTrade.
    Each broker handles it a little differently.
    For TDA, I believe you can have multiple accounts in DIFFERENT NAMES.
    Example:

    One in your name
    One in your wife’s name
    A joint account in your name & your wife’s name

    CT

    Yes, I currently have 4... you can also link them on the site so at the top right hand corner of any page you can select the other accounts and you go immediately to that page in the other account.

    "BEX" PROBLEM
    WHEN I STARTUP COOLTRADE THE LAST 2 MORNINGS, USING TWS AS THE BROKER, A POP-UP COMES UP AND SAYS COOLTRADE HAS STOPPED WORKING- I CLICK ON THE POP-UP AND UNDER ’PROBLEM EVENT NAME’ IT SAYS "BEX". HOW DO I FIX THIS?
    THANK YOU

    I don’t know what BEX is.
    However, if you just installed an update to TWS, then that is the problem. If you had "Check for TWS Updates" in your START->ALL PROGRAMS->STARTUP folder, then it does the update on it’s own.
    If you never removed that link from the STARTUP folder then TWS put it there by default.

    The easiest solution is to uninstall TWS and then reboot.
    After rebooting,go to this link and install this previous version of the standalone version of TWS (it further down on the right side of the page, labeled "windows download previous":

    Back testing
    Is there a way to back test a strategy?

    There is no backtester in CoolTrade.

    I searched for "search" and it brough up many discussions.

    Here’s one:



    I meant I searched for "backtest", and got many results.

    Indicator question
    why does this mean???

    Institutional Ownership Percent is Greater than 10 Dollars

    The "dollars" is just a label and is ignored.
    If you download the Developer version (under the FILE menu) you will get the latest version that change the word "dollars" to "value".

    Institutional Ownership returns a percent.

    I don’t know if you were questioning why it had the word "dollars" after it, or if you are questioning what does "institutional ownership" mean.

    I searched BING for "what is institutional ownership" and got pages of explainations.

    CT

    Profitable Strategy
    Hi there,

    I am new to CoolTrade. Can someone tell me what strategy will consistently make profit with a $30K account?

    Thanks a lot.

    RB

    Ross,

    My favorite is a strategy called "Dow 30 ($1 moves)" that can be copied from Office8@Cool-Trade.com (from the Copy Strategy screen).

    It only trades the 30 stocks on the Dow. Actually since I reduce it to stocks under $40, it lowers the count to about 16.

    It adds to a position that is down $1 a share and sells when it makes $1 a share. Seems to return steady profits, the longer I am in the positions. It takes profits nearly every day.

    I’m only a few weeks into it, but I talked to someone else that has been running it for a few months and it seems to be performing as described.

    Carol N.

    CAROL N.

    ARE YOU RUNNING THE DOW 30 +1 LONG AND SHORT OR JUST THE LONG STRATEGY?
    ARE YOU STILL RUNNING THE CONSERVATIVE LONG AND SHORT?

    I’VE BEEN RUNNING A BB BG $1-$4 STRATEGY 1 WEEK AND HAVE HAD GOOD RETURNS.
    THANKS
    RON L

    Hello Ron. I switched to the DOW 30 ($1 Moves) a few weeks ago. I used to run the Conservative strategies (No Stop Loss), but I noticed they would buy some stocks that did not move very much. I think it was good for a long term strategy but I wanted stocks that move up and down more. I talked to Ed at CoolTrade and asked how to get stocks that move more and he mentioned the DOW 30 strategy and explained that the DOW stocks move more and told me I could find that strategy running on Office8...

    I only run the Dow 30 ($1 moves) strategy now (long and short). They are both running in 1 trader. The longs are doing great and the shorts are lagging. I guess that could be expected since the dow has been going higher the last 2 weeks. My only concern is that the stocks that I am short in cannot also go long at the same time so I am missing out on money. I think it would do better if I could go long on 1 trader and short the same stocks on another trader. That way I would be getting the run up on all of the stocks now and at the same time be preparing for the inevitable market downturn that I really belive is coming soon.

    I wish I had known about Cooltrade 5 years ago before before I let the mutual funds eat up most of my money. But not looking backwards. I like where I am headed now.

    Carol N.

    CAROL N

    I’VE BEEN RUNNING THE DOW 30 LIVE ON A $3OK ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 2 MONTHS AND HAVE $2K PROFIT AND ABOUT $3.3 K UNREALIZED LOSSES, JAN WAS A GOOD MONTH BUT FEB WAS POOR.
    $2700 OF THE UNREALIZED LOSSES ARE SHORT TRADES AND THE LOSING SHORT TRADES ARE STARTING TO EAT UP A LOT OF MY CAPITAL.

    RON

    Thanks, Carol.

    Ron, where can I get the BB BG $1-$4 STRATEGY? How much did it make after you ran it for a week?

    RB

    I am trading in the sim mode and am trying out a BB BG $1-$4strategy , 200 shares for each stock and 5 long and 5 short strategies. For the last 6 days the strategy has made $415. This strategy needs a lot more testing before i would go live with it.

    Don’t start trading live to soon. If you don’t know what you are doing, you can lose a lot of money quick.

    For someone new at this, I would read everything on "Cooltrade Community" and the best strategies to try first are the "Cooltrade canned strategies". Play with these strategies in simulated mode for a month or two and ask lots of questions.

    I’ve only been at this a couple of months myself

    The best people to answer your original question are:
    Ed
    Enlightened
    Hedge

    I am new to cooltrade, how do I find copy strategy screen to download strategy?

    On main Strategy Wizard screen, where you have 5 Long strategies on the left and 5 Short strategies on the right, click on OPTIONS next to any of the strategies. That will bring up a pop-up with strategies that you can copy.

    If you want to copy one of your own strategies from one of the 5 positions to another, or copy a strategy from someone who is sharing his strategies, click the COPY STRATEGY at the top of the pop-up screen. That will put you on the COPY STRATEGY screen.

    Enlightened

    Thanks!

    Any profitable day trading strategy? I SM DOW 30 Long DT-ROgers for one week and the result was disappointing.
    ---
    MZ

    EDBARI $2 AND BELOW STRATEGY
    I HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT ALL OF THE RULES THAT MAKE UP EDBARI $2 STRATEGY AND DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY IN "THE OPEN POSITION RULES" THERE IS A RULE IN BOTH THE LONG STRATEGY AND THE SHORT STRATEGY THAT IS THE SAME. THE RULE READS "TODAYS LAST TRADE PRICE IS GREATER THAN YESTERDAYS CLOSE PRICE". WHY IS NOT "PRICE IS LESS" IN THE LONG STRATEGY ?
    THANK YOU
    RON L.

    You’re right. However, I do not short $2 stocks, so that is an incomplete strategy. I may have just copied the Long strategy into the Short strategy and then did not make changes, since I decided not to short stocks that low in value.

    Ed

    IS THE $2 LONG STRATEGY STILL A GOOD STRATEGY TO RUN?

    My $2 and Below strategy account went from $15k to $22k in the last 12 months. So it didn’t quite get the 100% I have seen in previous years. I know many others still running that strategy that are still liking it though.

    ED- IS THERE A SHORT STRATEGY THAT YOU RUN WHILE YOU ARE RUNNING THE $2 LONG STRATEGY, SINCE YOU DON’T RUN THE $2 SHORT STRATEGY?
    ALSO, DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO RUN THE DOW30 +1 LONG ON 1 COMPUTER AND THE DOW30 +1 SHORT ON ANOTHER COMPUTER OR IS JUST AS PROFITABLE TO RUN BOTH STRATEGIES ON 1 COMPUTER?

    THANKS FOR ANSWERING ALL OF MY QUESTIONS
    RON L

    $2 and below long strategy
    THERE IS A RULE IN THE EBAR1 $2 LONG STRATEGY THAT I DON’T UNDERSTAND.

    OPEN POSITION RULES:

    "TODAYS LAST TRADE PRICE IS GREATER THAN YESTERDAYS CLOSE PRICE"
    I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY IT WOULDN’T BE ’LESS ’INSTEAD OF ’GREATER’

    ALSO CAN I ADD "TODAYS CURRENT PRICE IS AT LEAST 5 PERCENT LESS THAN YESTERDAYS CLOSE PRICE" WITHOUT CAUSING A PROBLEM?
    THANK YOU

    the $2 and below strategy that you are looking at (in the Edbar1) account is probably just adding to his posiitons when he is winning.

    the $2 and below strategy that is a common strategy shared in the list that comes up when you click OPTIONS next to any of the strategies on the Strategy Wizard main screen, adds to losing positions and wants the current price to be BELOW the last trade price.

    Yes, you could add "todays current price is at least 5 percent less than Yesterdays close price" without a problem. You can certainly try it and see if that rule prevents many trades.

    Hedge

    CRAMER AND AAP STRATEGY
    HAS ANYONE TRIED CRAMER AND AAP AS A DAY TRADING STRATEGY?

    Ron, I have not traded Cramer’s picks for a few years, but as I recall his picks were all over the place, and not conducive to day trading.

    When I was trading them, I only opened positions if the stock price was above the previous day’s close price. I did that because I notice Jim would open positions on down days. I assume he did that because he expected a quick bounce back. But in reality, the stocks would go down for multiple days before they headed back up.

    I also had to set my own profit goals because Jim would hold winners until they became losers.

    Eventually I realized that most of the success of the strategy was due to the automated trader and not necessarily anything Jim was suggesting.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened
    Thank You
    I’m going to give Cramer a try and I’ve taken your advice and added ’ Todays current price is greater than yesterdays close price’ and also set the profit margins so that i might get in and out in a reasonable time?
    ronlee

    Todays Top Trader Status
    I’m new and still in the simulating mode. I’ve been running the Dow 30 both long and short, the first few days I was positive (Green Days), but the last week all of my day have been losers (Red Days). I’ve been looking at the "Today’s Top Trader" area on the CoolTrade website. How do you find out what are the names of these strategies and the setup associated with them? Do they have both long and short sides? Are the long and short sides controlled by a rules that only places trades long or short trades when the Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 100 are moving up or down respectively? Most of these strategies trade a high number of shares, expecting a move of 10 or 20 cents to reach the profit goals. There was a strategy that was the top strategy for 04/27/2012 until about noon that was trading 1500 shares per trade, then another strategy over took the daily profit and it was trading 3000 shares per trade. I’ve seen the 3000 shares per trade strategy several times on the "Today’s Top Trader” section. This seems to be logical, trying to get a move of 20 cents is a lot easier that a gain of $1.00 per share. I realize that you need a large account to execute these types of strategies, but I’m wondering if they still work purchasing 500 or 1000 shares per trade.
    Thanks,
    Gage

    You would think so. <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie11.gif ’’ border=’’0’’>

    I am also pretty new to Cool Trade. I have been testing in simulation mode for the past 4 days. And every single day, I have been tampering with the strategy by refining the Profit Requirements, Watchlist and Entry rules.

    In the last 4 days of simulation what I have found is that higher number of shares can take you either ways - large profits or large loss. I initially traded with 1500 units of stock, didnt like the loss - so reduced it to 1000. Still wasnt comfortable. Finally, now I am down to 500. And I do seem to like it.

    The account you are see might be another simulation account. So dont pay too much attention to what others are doing and how much they are making. It might all be within a simulation account.

    I will advise you to do the following in simulation mode:
    1. Copy strategies that are readily available.
    2. Tweak them to match your style (conservative/aggressive/keep losses or stop loss/higher or smaller profit targets, etc).
    3. It will take a few days to reach a level that you like the most. Thats when you should try with the strategy unchanged for a considerable period (days) . Then you will see how your strategy works in up-trending days, down-trending days, choppy days, etc.

    You might also find that your strategy only works good during certain times of the day. So there is no one good setting. Its a combination of the strategy and you (your liking).

    By the way, after tweaking for the last 4 days, I decided to go live today morning (first hour of trading). And it was pretty darn good. I made $308 in the first 45 minutes and I decided to switch it off since the market was turning choppy. The stocks started coming back down. At one point in time, I was up $437. But anyways, it all ended well. I was completely monitoring the positions to be sure.

    And finally, you can learn a lot on how to create a great strategy by going through this blog:

    Hey Saikodi. For a newbi you have an uncanny grasp of things. Definitely starting in simulator mode until you have removed the mystery of how your strategy and the software behaves in varying markets is a good way to start.
    You have no idea how many times traders post that they went live on the first day and got hammered. What kills you is most of the errors would have been caught fairly quickly if they had tried it in simulator mode.

    Examples:

    1. If you use an EXIT RULE, make sure you put the reciprical of that Exit Rule into your Open Position and Add To Position rules.
    i.e. if you have an exit rule that states todays dow move < 0
    then put an open and add rule that says todays dow move > 0

    Otherwise the exit rule may already be true when you open the position and then it will just close immediately.

    2. Since you buy on the Ask Price and sell on the Bid Price, you are usually already down .01 or .02 when you enter the position.
    So, don’t put a stop loss or trailing stop loss at .01 or .02, otherwise you will get stopped out right after you open the position.

    These seem like common sense but amazingly people do them.
    You seem pretty smart so I doubt you’ll have any difficulties.

    Welcome to CT.

    Saikodi, I agree with Hedge, you have given some very sound advice for someone new to the software. I will say that the success of the strategies in this system is the sum of all of its parts. Since the market is, for the most part, unpredictable, hitting every point at the exact right time is near impossible or outright impossible. However, the way the strategies are built can actually turn a would be loser into a winner. I’ve been using it for 4 or 5 years and am still amazed how trades that look like they will be losers continuously turn out profits. The software has the patience that it needs to squeeze out enough small profits and turn it into big profits.

    Gage,

    The Today’s Top Trader has been discussed on these boards mulltiple times. Apparently most people don’t want their information shared so I’m happy to see the trades of the top trader. Many times you can tell what the strategy is just by looking at the trades. I like it better when the trades are in 100 or 200 share lot sizes because that is more realistic and inline with the strategies most of us are running. The Top Strategy is limited to gains under $10,000. If the profit exceeds $10,000 then that strategy is skipped. So, most of the times the large account traders don’t show up.

    Regarding lot sizes, all of the traders trade in 100 share lots except for the $2 And Below strategy that trades in 1000 share lots. You can still trade 100 share lots and be profitable as long as you are trading with a $1/trade broker like Interactive Brokers. It is only $2 round trip for 200 shares or less. So a .20 gain is $20 - $2 for the trade = $18 profit. Of course $10/trade round trip would be $20 so going after small gains with $10/trade brokers will not work.

    Cheers!

    Enlightened

    saikodi
    Thanks for information, I really appreciate it.
    Gage

    Thanks Enlightened.

    I share in 500 units. I am with TD Ameritrade and have a commission of $5/trade. By the way, what are the profit requirements you typically go after? I have it set at 15 cents profit goal but that seems to be too much in a side ways market. But in a bullish market, the software is able to hit the 15 cent goal.

    I am planning on switching over to IB due to their $1 commission on 200 shares. That is too tempting for not to switch over. How is their trading platform though? Any advice?

    I run the dow 30 strategy and trade in 100 shares per trade.
    My profit goal is .80 with a .07 pullback after reaching the profit goal.
    I have profit protection set to .40
    Then 10 minutes before the market closes I close any position up $50 or more.
    I see it closing positions profitably every day.

    I am also using an IB account. The TWS platform was a pain for me to set up but Henry at RTS remotely connected to my computer and had it running pretty fast.
    I have no idea how to use the TWS software but I don’t have to because my auto trader connects to it and does all of the work. The data feed seems fast and you can’t beat the $1 trades. I don’t know how they can manage to only charge $1 a trade but I’m certainly not complaining.

    Carol N.

    The tool helped me recover my losses today
    Just wanted to post my experience today.

    Started my day with manual day trading and managed to loose $289 in 10 minutes. Stupid me. Got frustrated.

    Opened the Cool Trade tool.

    As of now, the tool helped me recoup $160 in 2 hrs. What more to say. One awesome tool. I need to stop manual day trading. Perhaps I should ask my wife to change the brokers password. Lol.

    Trailing stop loss after Profit Protection
    Was wondering if cool trade offered any kind of trailing stop loss functionality once the profit protection is reached.

    I do see the pullback but thats only going down after hitting the profit protection. I was looking for something like a trailing stop loss that would keep going higher as the stock moves higher but still less than the profit goal.

    Please advise.

    There is a built in variable that tightens up after the stock reaches the Profit Protection but before it hits the Profit Goal (which is when the Pullback kicks in). It is based on the difference between the profit Protection and the Profit Goal.

    Brian

    Thanks Brian. I remember you saying that and I believe its a hidden field that I cant specify. Do you know what the value of that field is? Does it go cent by cent?

    I thought pullback was more like once the stock crosses the profit protection and then pulls back x amount below the profit protection, a market order is placed. Is my understanding right?

    So I guess I wanted to know what the hidden field that serves as a trail value is set to.

    On Tab6 of the Strategy Wizard:

    Profit Goal: You set this value for your Profit Goal. After this profit goal is reached, your robotic trader will put a Y on the right side of the Limit Order line in the REACHED column.

    Pullback After Reaching Profit Goal: After the Profit Goal is reached, this becomes a Trailing Stop Loss.

    Profit Protection: This field is optimized for 1/2 of your Profit Goal. So, if your profit goal was set to 1.00 then we recommend you use .50 in the Profit Protection field.
    After the Profit Protection is reached, a very large floating trailing stop loss gets generated. It initially starts by only protecting .05 per share. However, as the price of the stock increases, the trailing stop loss gets smaller and smaller proportionately as the price approaches your Profit Goal. So, in essence, it locks in more and more profit as it goes higher. After the Profit Goal is reached, the Pullback after Reaching Profit Goal kicks in with the fixed Trailing Stop loss that you entered in the Pullback After Reaching Profit Goal.

    Stop Loss: We all know what that is. Since it is based on the price per share, if you enter 300 then it means you are not using the Stop Loss, unless a stock price can drop by 300 per share (not likely).

    Trailing Stop Loss: Same as above. Use 300 if you do not want to use it.

    ReEntry Pullback: if you put a value here, then it means you do not want to reOpen a position on the same day that you closed it, unless the stock price declines by this amount. It is only good for the current day. The next day, this value is ignored and the Open Position rules will get processed immediately, again.
    So this field is only utilized on the same day that the position gets closed.

    Please watch the Video Tutorials at the top of the Automated Trader and the Strategy Wizard as much of this is explained.

    CT

    Thanks for the detailed explanation! Makes perfect sense.

    Hi, I am curious how this profit protection stop loss variable is calculated? Say i have a profit protection of $0.10 what will the stop loss variable be once the share hit’s the profit protection number of $0.10??

    I believe that once it reaches the profit protection it has a variable of -$.05 before selling. Meaning it will let it drop up to $.05 before selling.

    Thanks, is there no way to adjust this variable?

    I don’t think so.

    @customersupport, can you please provide a specific example for the Profit Protection calculation? To begin:

    Profit Goal = 1%
    Profit Protection: 0.5%
    Share Price: $10.00

    What happens, specifically, when the share price moves up 0.5% to $10.50 and Profit Protection is triggered?

    Please include in your example the increments below on the way to hitting the Profit Goal of 1% at $11.00 when Profit Protection stops and Pullback kicks in. What, specifically, is the Profit Protection amount when the share price reaches each of the following levels?

    $10.50
    $10.65
    $10.80
    $10.95

    kv,

    Specifically what happens when the stock moves up to Profit protection and Profit goal.

    $10.00 moves .05% = $10.05 a -$0.05 protection is placed. Meaning if it pulls back $.05 the stock will sell.

    $10.00 moves 1% = $10.10 matching profit goal.

    The stock does not sell yet and the pull back function is activated. CoolTrade will allow the stock to continue to let the stock rise allowing for maximum profit potential until the stock pulls back the amount designated within the "Pullback After Reaching Profit Goal" field in the "Profit Protection" tab within your strategy. As long the stock does not pull back this amount it will allow the stock to maximize your profit and not sell unless otherwise a rule is matches within the Exit Trade Rules Tab.

    $10.50 --> $10.95 The trader would continue to allow the stock to gain the maximum amount of profit.

    (If I am correct 1% of $10 is not $11 that would be 10% of $10)

    With a higher stock or a larger gap between Profit goal and Profit Protect the variable .05 cent decreases as it gets closer to your profit goal.

    @carolnetzer27, thanks so much for your reply. I’ve been unable to access the forum for the last two weeks because of a technical problem on cool-trade.com, which I hope they fix soon (am logged in with my second CTP license account). Thanks also for pointing out my 1% > 10% math error in my example. All very helpful.

    Hosted computer for running Cool Trade?
    Hi Folks,

    I have a question on where you guys run your traders. In the past 3 days of running the trader live (TD Ameritrade broker) with aggressive strategies (BC McD Long & Short with 500/1000 units of stocks), here are my observations:
    1. Slippage in price - I have noticed the difference to be up to 10 cents at times
    2. Delay in order fill - I have noticed that the time difference between Cool Trade order placement and TD Ameritrade order recieval (in working orders) can be up to 3-5 seconds.

    Now combining the slippage and the delay in execution - it can be rather large.

    So today, I rented a computer (actually a Virtual Machine) in Chicago from a hosting company. They claim low latency due to their location advantage. Also, they have an extreme internet speed. In addition they also have the advantage of backup power and safety from internet disconnections.

    The results today were pretty good when compared with a machine at home. The slippage was about 2 cents (from data center) instead of 10 cents previously (from home). I noticed TD Ameritrade was receiving orders under 2 seconds. So both seem to have improved significantly.

    I wanted to know if anyone of you are using hosted computers instead of PC’s at home? The company I am talking about is: https://www.guerilla-trading.com/. That will set me back about $150/month. But I feel its well worth it.

    Any advice?

    I run many robotic traders.
    They either run on my servers at the ISP or in my office.

    Internet connections are:

    ISP: 100mb
    Office: 80mb

    In my office, if you use a regular desktop to check the office internet speed, it registers between 25-35mb.
    However, when I run that same speed test on a high powered server in the same office, it registers about 85mb.

    So, the speed of the internet and the speed of the computer, COMBINED have a profound affect on the internet speed, which in turn affects the speed of the orders and confirmations.

    That probably explains why I have not encountered the slippage that you are mentioning.

    Also, I have heard that the slippage is greatly reduced with IB/TWS accounts. The TWS datafeed is very fast and executions are very fast. Not to mention the $1/trade for 200 shares or less benefit.

    Rather than paying for colocation or renting virtual machines, I prefer to invest in powerful computers and maximizing internet speed at my location.

    Ed

    Thanks Ed. I previously tested on laptops (enterprise class) and I observed those results.

    I will try to get a strong machine in a day or 2 give it a try. I have a FIOS connection 35 Mbps up and down. Do you think thats good enough or do you suggest upgrading? I guess I can go till 50/50 Mbps through FIOS.

    Regarding machine configuration, I am planning on getting a Xeon quad core with 12 GB RAM and a SSD. Do you think thats good enough? Please advise.

    Thanks

    I’m running new servers that we built with the new Intel I7 6-core (12 threads) processor and 24gb of ram. It was only about $2500 to build the machines ourselves and DO THEY FLY!!!

    We have that coupled with the 80mb Cox cable connection.

    Regarding the machine that you are going to build, I believe it is more than enough to run Automated Traders.

    I think a big factor in performance is also the number of symbols in your watch list and number of open positions. If the system has a lot of symbols to look at, the faster you want your computer to be.

    Also, more volatile stocks will require a fast internet and computer.

    Ed

    I am not convinced that running a super-computer is the solution, or even Ultra High Speed internet. There are several factors involved in the delays, at least form my point of view. Now I won’t pretend to know anything about the internals of how it works, but this is my observation.

    1) ETrade, does throttling on their end.
    a. You are only allows 4 updates per sec from my understanding
    i. So if you are watching the max 100 Symbols, it will take 25sec
    ii. Or 6.25 sec to watch 25 Symbols, to update all the Symbols

    b. I am told other services (Ameritrade, IB, Optionshouse, etc) are faster, however they will still have limits to prevent Denial of Service Attacks, to prevent the service from going off-line, and to help keep the system responsive to request.
    c. The Fastest is Probably IQFeed, though I have no experience with it, the web page does seem to indicate 500 Symbols per sec, and with CT limited to 100, it should be fine.
    i. If you got the Money to rent a VM, I would probably Try IQFeed 1st to get the most bang for the buck, their limits appear to be quite High

    2) Internet Speed/Bandwidth, is not Latency. Yes more Mb a sec is more bits of data a sec. But if say each Symbol update produces 1K of data Traffic, and you have 100 Symbols Loaded. So this would be 100K of data per sec( which ETrade limits to 4 per sec), or 819200 bits per sec, or 819Kb per sec, or .8Mb per sec
    a. Going by this 256Kb DSL wouldn’t cut it
    b. Nor would a 512Kb DSL Line
    c. So at min you need a 1Mb line assuming nothing else is running (Windows Updates/Music/YouTube), and that you could actually get 100 per sec without your trading provider throttling you.
    d. 5Mb would probably be much more realistic, if your listing to music or something
    i. I myself have changed from a 25Mb service to a 55Mb service with little to no change. I did the upgrade for other reasons though
    ii. I would suggest that you do a ping test to you Trading service provider, not your ISP, or Google but to the trading company in my case “ping www.etrade.com” / “ping etrade-fina.edge4.atlanta2.level3.net”
    iii. Mine is anywhere form 90-110ms for a round trip which is 1/10th of a sec, so this tells me I should be able to have about 10 updates a sec, far higher than what E-Trade’s Throttling allows for at only 4 update per sec

    Those 2 things account for the bulk of the Delays / Latency

    The CT program itself, while running on faster and Faster CPU’s will help, it doesn’t really help. I saw no improvement in Latency moving from an AMD X2 to an Intel i7

    While the program is multi-threaded which you can see by the use of the task manager, it was not designed for using more than one core at a time, as you can see with core migration in the task manger. The program while looking like it is using the CPU is just sitting in what are called Spin Locks waiting for data to come in then to be processed instead of using event triggers (There are advantages to each, let us stay on topic). Point being, it is not a CPU intensive program, it just appears to be, with the Spin Locks, it does appear to be deadlocking quite a bit, a faster CPU does seem to help resolve some of the Deadlocking issues. My Biggest example is the login in process, type in the password log in, wait for the select account window, which shows up only ½ the time, sometimes it shows up in less than a sec other times it shows up after 20min, my solution has been to just restart the program rather than to wait for the deadlocks to resolve.

    Someone mentioned a 6 Core CPU, if you are running VMWare or Hyper-V you could probably run 6 CT clients on it without much trouble, if not more, as most of the time is spent in Spin Locks. I myself am running Windows Server 2008R2 as the host and running Windows XP Pro in Hyper-V for the CT client.

    I saw no change in the program from running it on XP/Vista/Win7.

    Thanks man. Great explanation. I havent yet migrated my ISP and also havent upgraded the machine yet.

    For now, I am running on a XP machine quad core with 4 GB RAM and have an ISP speed of 35 Mb. I personally think this should be sufficient to run a single trader for now.

    The service I am evaluating is from guerilla-trading.com. Their latency is definitely lower. Here is their latency chart: https://www.guerilla-trading.com/services-latency-chart.html

    I will probably stick with my home machine for some time and then will end up going to a location where the latency is less to my broker.

    CustomerSupport: Need joinme code for office1
    I wanted to see how the BG MCD Day strategies did today. Can someone please post the invite me code?

    Since the traders are running in the RTS office and most of them don’t spend the day watching the Community boards, I would suggest sending the request to them directly during the day.

    Send to: Support@RoboticTradingSystems.com

    If they get a join.me link request, they will create it for the traders as needed.

    I don’t know what strategy is running on every machine.
    Here are the ones I know of:

    office1: BG MCD Day Long / Short
    office2: $2 and Below
    office3: FAZ Short Only
    office4: ?
    office5: BG BB Short Only
    office6: ?
    office7: DOW 30 Long & Short ($1 Moves)
    office8: DOW 30 Long Only ($1 Moves)
    office9: DOW 30 Short Only ($1 Moves)

    Jerry

    Exit strategies for Day Trading
    I’m looking for Exit Strategies that are working for Day Trading without allowing losing trades to get too large.
    Can someone explain how these 2 exit rule lines work?
    "Session Profit/Loss Percent is Greater Than 1.5 Dollars"
    and
    "Session P/L Value is greater than 50 Dollars"

    Both the FAZ Long and FAZ Short have the same line code for Exit Rules.
    Thank you,
    Chris

    This means that when the current day’s P/L is up 1.5% and the P/L is greater than $50 then exit the all positions and stop opening new positions for the day.

    "Session Profit/Loss Percent is Greater Than 1.5 Dollars" and
    "Session P/L Value is greater than 50 Dollars"

    You should only use "Session P/L" if you close all positions each day and start fresh the next day.

    The way that function works is it takes a snapshot of your account balance when the trader is turned on in the morning, and then watches it all day until the desired P/L is reached.

    CT

    Office1
    What happened to Office1@cooltrade.com? It is not on the copy strategy list anymore.
    gage

    I just sent email to CustomerSupport@cool-trade.com and Henry said he didn’t know why the strategy was removed from the Friends List, but he just put it back.

    If you don’t see it in the list now, restart your Strategy Wizard and it should appear.

    Enlightened

    Top Trader
    Can anyone please tell me where to find the top trader each day... Link?

    Thanks.

    The Top Trader is on the right side of the CoolTrade website.
    You can only see the P/L and the trades.
    Sometimes, based on the trades you can tell what the strategy is.
    For example, if all stocks are below $2 then it is probably the "$2 and below strategy".
    We are not allowed to display any more information than that is shown, as many traders feel that display the Exit Reason for each trade is giving away too much of their strategy.
    We’re thankful to be able to see what we do display.

    CT

    DOW 30
    Can I run the Dow 30 (1 moves) long and short on 1 trader or I have to run it on different traders. Which strategy is more consistent? The Dow 30 long/short or Dow 30 (1 moves) long/short. Thank you very much for your helps!

    yes. you can run them both at the same time (1 long and 1 short).
    the only thing is, when you run them both in the same automated trader, you will not ever be long and short the same stock at the same time.
    I prefer to run them on 2 accounts / subscriptions. That way I can be long and short the same stocks all of the time. I get paid no matter which direction any dow stock is moving.

    They are both equally consistent. It just depends on which overall direction the market is moving in. for a year the Long strategy looked GREAT and the short was lagging, but still taking profits. But when the market flipped to the downside a few months ago, the short has really cleaned up and the profits overtook the long 2 to 1.

    It’s a long term strategy that seems to just give and give...

    Enlightened

    position gone
    Today my trader showed that I have no positions in three seperate etfs ( which I have multiple lots. Why did this happen and how do I get them back in the trader with the orginal cost info.

    Click on the CONNECTIVITY button, on the upper right of the trader to see if the broker sent errors.

    Make sure the total shares of each open position (at the broker) is divisible by the share-lot-size that you have determined in your strategy.

    For example, if you are trading in 100 share lots, make sure the shares at the broker are divisible by 100. If you are trading in 200 share lots and the software see 500 shares at the broker, then the software will be waiting for the other 100 shares to come.

    Make sure your trader is logged into LIVE mode and not SIMULATOR.

    The program is designed to put all symbols into the Exceptions folder until streaming data comes. So, if the broker is not feeding you data, then all symbols will remain in the exceptions folder.

    If the symbols are in the BLOCKED list, then you need to remove them from the blocked list, and then they will automatically appear in the Active List. However, because the orders did not just occur, the broker will not send the entry prices and you will have to manually change each one to match what the broker says you paid. Click on each open position, and then on the pop-up that appears, select "Click To Edit Entry Price", and then manually change each one.

    I suggest restarting the application before doing anything.

    CT

    Upon restarting my trader now has new entry prices for most of my old trades. This is dangerous. Positions now look like they are making money when they are not. People can lose a lot of money this way.

    That is why I posted this on my first response:

    If the symbols are in the BLOCKED list, then you need to remove them from the blocked list, and then they will automatically appear in the Active List. However, because the orders did not just occur, the broker will not send the entry prices and you will have to manually change each one to match what the broker says you paid. Click on each open position, and then on the pop-up that appears, select "Click To Edit Entry Price", and then manually change each one.

    Why it happened, we do not know. If the broker sends zero’s for open positions, then the automated trader thinks the positions are closed, so the software closes the positions in the CoolTrade system. Then, when the positions re-appear, the software thinks they are new positions and reopens them in the system, and uses the current price of the stocks as the Entry Price. The only solution is to click on each symbol and edit the entry price.

    I suggest you click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION to get the latest version. It has improvements to the broker feeds.

    CT

    Day Trading
    If I want to use 25K for day trading, how should I set up Funds Allocation?

    In the Automated Trader, on the lower-right of the PREFERENCES screen, you can list $25,000 as the field labeled:

    Regardless of Account Balance CoolTrade should never utilize more than $25,000.

    However, if you are day trading, you can utilize 4-1 margin. So, if you want to use the whole $100k (25 x 4), then put $100,000 in the above mentioned field.

    Enlightened

    $2 and Below Strategy
    Does anyone use $2 and below strategy? If yes then what is the monthly % return on this strategy?
    Is there any day or swing trading strategy that works well in any market condition?

    Thanks in advanced!

    The $2 strategy is a long term strategy and get nice windfalls once in a while when a stock opens up a few dollars.

    The strategy was created by the Sun City West, Arizoina investment club, to help traders who have limited funds ($10,000 and below).

    The best strategies that I have found is running the Dow 30 Long and Short strategies. They have some drawdowns and sometimes when the market is going the wrong way for a while your overall position starts negative, but between the Long and Short, my traders take profits every single day, and those profits are adding up. Before long the market movement too far down or up won’t matter because the profits taken are far exceeding the drop in prices.

    Enlightened

    Thank you for your response.

    DOW 30 1.00 moves is it a swing or day trade strategy?

    No question about it. The Dow 30 is a swing strategy. I does not close positions at a loss.

    I am going to use DOW 30 1 move in SIM mode for a week then go live.

    Did you modify the strategy or using it as it is? If I want use 25K only, do I need to change the # of shares? I am sorry If am asking too many stupid question but I am new to cooltrade so plz excuse me!

    With $25k and 2-1 margin, I would hand pick 5 dow stocks and go long and short just those symbols.

    You can do that by manually adding them to the Portfolio list on the lower-right of the watch list (tab2) and then selecting the option labeled something like "only use MyPortfoli or symbol files".

    Also make sure the Share size is 100 shares and the Max Shares is 500.

    Do the above on the Long and Short strategy.

    You can always manually add more of the dow stocks later but for starters, you want to be sure to have enough funds to trade the initial 5 symbols.

    The above fixes mistakes I made when I started out, like opening too many positions and using too much of my money early on and not having enough funds to add on drops in the stock. Another problem I used to have is I would be long some stocks and short OTHER stocks and consequently, I would be down on the long and the short positions.

    Enlightened

    Thank you again for your help!

    I just pick 5 stock for long and short strategy. Can I choose different stocks for short strategy or does it have to be same stock that I choosed for long?

    Anyway today I ran this strategy on SIM mode for the first time and CT did not buy any shares at all, also I noticed I had same stock on watch list for long and short. Is this behavior normal.

    Yes, it is normal/ok to have the same symbol on the Long and Short watch list.
    I don’t think it matters if the same symbols are on the Long and Short watch list because you cannot be Long and Short the same symbol at the same time because when you are Long, the symbol automatically disappears from the Short list, until you close the Long position, and when you are Short a position, the symbol disappears from the Long list until the Short position is closed.

    If you were running a Long and Short list in 2 separate accounts, then I would suggest running with the same symbols, That way you can be Long and Short the same symbols at the same time. So you could be leveraged regardless of which direction the stock prices moves, while at the same time taking profts in either direction. That of course would require 2 separate CoolTrade accounts.

    It is normal sometimes to not have any trades. However, I would suggest you look at the right-side of the watch list to see the reason no trades are being made.
    I would also suggest you click "Show Trades" on the upper-right of the trader to see if any trades are being attempted, but are being rejected by the broker.

    Enlightened

    I am baffled by my results today. The market was up in all domestic exchanges today, yet with a simulated investment amount of $20,000 using the $2 and below strategy I ended up with a downward movement of $500 in the account value. My rules allowed purchasing 1000 share lots and up to 20 symbols. My strategy initiated with the opening of the market and the system immediately purchased 14 symbols of 1,000 share each. Within 1 hour it sold off one symbol with a $120 loss, the othr 13 symbols are still acitve. Does anyone have any insights as to why this happened?
    Baffled!

    Jerry, could be the stock price move quickly between the time the order was sent and the time it was filled (even in simulation things can move fast). A $120 loss is .12 on 1000 shares.

    I run the $2 strategy on one of my traders and rarely take a loss.

    since you just started the strategy today, the stocks were already up. If you had started that strategy, say a week ago, you would have been in the positions when they made the upward move in today’s up market. You don’t usually close positions on the same day that you buy them with the $2 strategy, as it isn’t likely that a $2 stock is going to go up during the day. I usually see a lot of overnight moves in those stocks. that’s a long term strategy.

    hedge2
    Thanks for the comments. I will stay with this strategy for a couple weeks in simulation to see how it performs. I already created an Interactive Broker Account. Which broker are you trading live with and have you had any problems with orders?

    hedge2

    Baffled again,
    So I have another week under my belt with the $2 and below strategy. The market is up again this week and my original $20,000 similated portfolio is down by another $420. Since January 16th CT sold 9 symbols each on the same day purchased or on the next day. In each case the losses were $100 or more per symbol sold. CT did sell 4 symbols in the same period for profits of $80, $110, $160 and $230.


    I am open to any suggestions about modifying my $2 strategy or going to different strategy.
    Have you used the DOW 30 both short and long strategies together with good results?

    Hello Enlightened,

    "Another problem I used to have is I would be long some stocks and short OTHER stocks and consequently, I would be down on the long and the short positions." How would you fix this problem?

    "With $25k and 2-1 margin, I would hand pick 5 dow stocks and go long and short just those symbols." What would be maximum symbols to purchase for the long and short DOW stocks. Thanks in advance for your helps!

    Intraday EMA
    Im using intraday EMA un my strategy.When I use intraday EMA (15, 50,1) and go to RULES,it showsa value of (-1.0000) but when I use smaller interval like intraday EMA (10, 14,1) then it works ok and when I go to RULE tab it shows correct values.What is the problem? is thereany limitations or Im missing something?. I need to use intraday EMA (15, 50,1 and 2) and intraday EMA (15,14,1 and 2). Any one here to help..Thanks

    The -1 means there is not enough historical data to make the calculation.
    The CoolTrade software only loads up to 2 days of historical minute bars for each symbol. Some symbols do not even load more than 500 minute bars at startup.

    Note there are only 60 minutes X 6.5 hours = 390 minutes per day.

    15 X 50 = 750 minutes
    15 X 14 = 210 minutes

    Profit requirements without using the profit requirements tab
    Is it possible to set minimum profits, that pair with the declining price purchases, by using the exit trade rules? If so, how?

    My understanding is that the exit trades tab will exit ALL current positions when the conditions are met.

    Example of what I am trying to accomplish.

    Rules:
    1) Profit minimum of $2.
    2) Once it crosses the $2 profit, I want to add an additional sell condition that is tied to one or more technical indicators. For example: Price crosses high bollinger band.

    Situation:
    1) Purchase at $25 then at $23.
    2) Price goes to $25 but still hasn’t crossed upper bollinger band
    3) Price continues to $26 and then pierces the upper bollinger triggering a sale of the lot that was purchased at $23 but not the $25 lot.

    No. You can do that easily as long as you want to close the whole position, but I don’t think you can do it for separate lots.

    Thanks Hedge!

    Maybe we could move this to the requests thread, because it would be nice to have the same flexibility in choosing when to exit a position that it has when you enter one.

    Agreed. I posted it here:

    Hey y’all.. I’m curious if this has this been implemented...

    IRA Short Strategy
    I can’t short stocks with my IRA account. Are there any downloadable strategies that incorporate inverse ETF’s as ’long" trades? -Andy

    Never mind previous post... the "Cynthialarmore2" strategy uses inverse etfs.

    Andy,

    Where do I find out Cynthialarmore2’s strategy? I am searching for an strategies and comments concerning CT trading in an IRA, understanding the regulatory environment that must be met.

    I am new to CT and just found the Community forums, which have been excellent.

    Thanks,
    Jack McKnight

    Jack- If you click on the "Options" box in the stategy wizard, you will see it in a list of downloadable stategies you can copy. -Andy

    Download DOW Strategy
    I am very new to Cool Trade, I have downloaded a couple strategies, but I do not see the Dow one. How would I find it ?

    Ok, I figured it out. But did not see the Dow 30 +1 . Is it called somemthing else?

    I can’t find the DOW strategy either. How do I download it?

    In Strategy Wizard
    click on OPTIONS in the position you want to download it
    then on COPY STRATEGY
    new window appears
    in the copy from scroll to office4@cool-trade.com there you can copy dow 30 long
    office5@cool-trade.com has dow 30 short

    hope it works

    Software Trading too Frequently
    I have created a swing trade strategy that should trade infrequently
    Entry:
    50 day Average volume > 100000
    MACD value > than MACD signal
    10 SMA > 30 EMA
    Yesterday close price > 5

    With a gain of .50 cents a share.
    and profit protection starting at 1.00 per share

    Exit:
    MACD value < MACD signal
    or
    10SMA < 30 EMA

    While running the strategy it executed 50+ trades in a day. These indicators don’t move that rapidly, so I’m wondering if anyone sees a problem with the configuration

    Yes. I see the problem.

    These are all End of Day indicators. Meaning they only get calculated at night.

    50 day Average volume > 100000
    MACD value > than MACD signal
    10 SMA > 30 EMA
    Yesterday close price > 5

    Create those rules in the Watch List (Tab 2) and then only the stocks that meet that criteria will make it into the Watch List.

    Since you did not put any Intraday rules in your Open Position Rules (tab 3), the symbols in the watch list will just open with no condition.

    If you want them to open without any conditions, but only trade 1 time per day, then on the lower-right of the Profit Requirements (tab 6), put a real big number in the ReEntry Pullback list. That means that after a position closes, it must retract back by that amount on the same day before the position gets reopened.

    Make sure you stay in Simulator mode until you get all of this working.

    If you want to open and close positions during the day based on things that change during the day, use the indicators that start with the word INTRADAY. Make sure you put the reciprical rule in the Open position rules that you put in the Exit rules.

    For example:

    OPEN POSITION RULE:

    Intraday Macd Value (12, 26, 9, 1, 0) > Intraday Macd Signal (12, 26, 9, 1, 0)

    EXIT POSITION RULE:

    Intraday Macd Value (12, 26, 9, 1, 0) < Intraday Macd Signal (12, 26, 9, 1, 0)

    Enlightened

    Enlightened
    thanks for the info. But here is the follow up.
    Since I am new to the software everything I am doing is in simulation mode for sure.
    So how would I configure an exit using the intraday indicators to calculate when the ten day SMA crosses below the 30 day EMA in real time.
    All the things I have used up until now calculate this on the charts in realtime and adjust accordingly
    Would I just have to adjust the mins/bar and interval to reflect the moving averages in a daily time frame.
    I don’t know if I am making any sense.
    So ultimately I would like to dump the stock the moment the 10 Day SMA crosses the 30 day EMA, not just as figured at the end of the day. or the moment the MACD value crosses the MACD signal line.

    >>>>> So ultimately I would like to dump the stock the moment the 10 Day SMA
    >>>>> crosses the 30 day EMA, not just as figured at the end of the day. or the
    >>>>> moment the MACD value crosses the MACD signal line.

    The Dynamic indicators are EOD indicators that update throughout the day.

    OPEN RULES (Make sure you sent these to OR and not AND)

    DYNAMIC SMA (10) > DYNAMIC EMA (30)
    DYNAMIC MACD VALUE (12, 26, 9) > DYNAMIC MACD SIGNAL (12, 26, 9)

    EXIT RULES (Make sure you sent these to OR and not AND)

    DYNAMIC SMA (10) < DYNAMIC EMA (30)
    DYNAMIC MACD VALUE (12, 26, 9) < DYNAMIC MACD SIGNAL (12, 26, 9)

    Hedge

    Thanks hedge2.
    In the 5 days I have had cool trade it continually seems to amaze me.

    Statistics strategy accuracy
    I can’t seem to follow the strategy statistics.
    I downloaded a strategy and went to the statistics tab and there were no open position rules. How would this work. In addition I find it hard to believe that the strategy had 347 profitable trades and no unprofitable trades. And in checking the statistics on my strategies it shows that they are profitable but the strategy has not been so.
    Am I missing something?

    I don’t know what strategy that you have selected.
    However, many strategy are not set up to take losses.
    Many strategy add to losing positions after the position has dropped x percent. And then closes the winning trades out LIFO (Last in - First out). So, there would be no losing trades in the report.
    To calculate the p/l, you have to subtract the open positions p/l from the closed positions p/l for the net total p/l.

    Regarding no open position rules, it just means that the strategy is set to open positions for every symbol in the watch list. Many only have 1 symbol in the watch list and the strategy is set to open a position in that symbol right away.

    CT

    Real/Legitimate Short Strategies
    Does anyone know of any good real short strategies.
    By real I mean, that actually has exit criteria and takes a loss if necessary.
    I am not interested in a strategy that has an a huge loss potential, by having the stops and trailing stops at 300 per share.
    All the top strategies that are recommended when copying all seem to be the same strategy and the statistics are worthless, as they can’t possibly represent the actual performance of the strategy as the strategy never takes a loss, so we have no idea what the real return is because the portfolio can have a huge net loss that would not be represented in the statistics.
    Thanks.

    I think "real" is in the eyes of the beholder. I think everyone trades differently.

    I used the conservative long and conservative short strategies during the 2008 crash and it worked like a charm.

    The conservative long strategy has an exit rule that closes positions if the 5 day simple moving average goes below the 18 day simple moving average and that got me out of my longs before the market turned down in that last big crash.

    At the same time the conservative short strategy has that same rule, but as an OPEN POSITION rule so my shorts when in as the market started to turn down.

    What Strategy
    When you input a stock symbol on hold vs cool trader, what strategy are you using?

    That strategy just compares the buy and hold of 100 shares, vs if you trade in 100 share lots and add shares whenever the stock price drops $1 per share, and then closes the last lot bought when the stock price goes up $1 from your lowest purchase price.

    It is similar to the Dow 30 long strategy.

    CT

    Need strategy that won
    I would like to get a strategy that won’t break my $10,000 account.

    May I ask why you are asking? Have you been losing while using the simulator? or ???

    Why not go with the B of A strategy? I was told that a friend’s business acquaintance started using it in November with a $30,000 brokerage account and CTP earned him $11,000 in 30 days...

    I am probably the last person you should be taking some advice from, but I do have some experience trying to start small over the last several months.

    The balance that you have is this. If you trade just one stock frequently, you run into the day trading rule, which is regulatory and is frustrating as hell once you get classified as one. (look it up for a definition, but it will basically keep you from being able to purchase stocks, or Cool-trade will manage it for you and prevent you from becoming a day trader by sidelining you temporarily and thus missing opportunities to trade)

    On the other hand, if you invest in too many stocks, you are succeptable to drawdown.

    My recommendation would be to take some time to simulate, then start with a low risk/low reward, conservative approach to a few low value stocks. Continue to save money and learn to like Ramen until you get your account value up. And gradually increase your ROI through knowledge and increased investment.

    Good luck!

    P.S. When I started, I thought that the most frustrating thing was just losing money. Now I realize that the most frustrating thing is losing money AND being sidelined from making more money AND not learning anything from it. Thus, early on, my recommended priorities are, in order, to 1) learn, 2) keep afloat, and lastly 3) make money. I have found that if you do 1 and 2, then 3 will come on its own.

    resourcehorse What is the B and A Strategy.

    If there is such a strategy where is it located.

    I believe BAC (Bank of America) strategy is similar to the Dow 30 strategy only it trades only BAC and adds on 10% drops. If you don’t expect it to drop more than 70% then change it to add on 7 percent drops.

    Anyone have a year or more of past results to share?
    HI,

    I’m new to Cool Trade--just got my software about a week or so ago. I’m doing a bit of simulated trading with the $2 and under stock strategy. I’m curious if there is anyone out there who has been using the software for more than a year. Would you be willing to generally share your experience with the software and (generally speaking) their results?

    Thanks,


    Ali

    Ali,
    I just purchased the software and have been operating in simulated mode with an amount of $20,000. During the first week I ended up $800. However, today, in my second week in simulated mode, the market was significantly up but my account value went down $500. I plan to test several strategies.

    Lets stay in touch. We are the newbies.

    There are always a lot of newbies. I think the biggest mistake made (based on the many posts I have read on these boards) is the changing of strategies too often. In my experience the biggest money to be made is after the stocks have gone down a lot and I am entrenched in positions at all different prices. After a few months of this you will start taking profits everyday on something. But psychologically you have to take the leap that in order to get entrenched in positions you will see a lot of red on the screen. That’s when you need to have the willpower to hang on and give the stocks a chance to move around.

    Hedge

    I am also new,,,, I would like to know some results of the plans that have done well

    hedge2, that is really great advice. I have noticed that as well.

    I notice that my auto trader doesn’t close out of positions without usually taking a profit. It is rare to see it close a position while in the red.

    You have to give it a chance to do its thing!

    There are a lot of proven strategies that you can choose from. Pick 1 short and 1 long and then just let them do their thing.

    To the original question. For us newbies it’s hard to believe that sticking with it works without being able to see the history.

    Also since the software can only trade one long and one short strategy it’s very hard to know which of the many strategies available is best for me to start with.

    I can definitely say having switched around a few strategies in the last four weeks that making lots of changes does not work. So far my trading is at a loss. Lots of trades, but several were just the wrong trade at the wrong time for large costs.

    Renko
    Is any one out there using Renko charts in a system to make trades. In my manual trading I love it. would be interested in collaborating wtih someone on this. Please be experienced if you reply. James.

    You might want to post this indicator request to the below Indicator Request section. I do not believe that CoolTrade has the indicator and I have not used it but would be great to get info into the use of it.

    cool-trade.com/cc/Topics.asp?ID=7

    Still can
    Since that last post from a few months ago - I cannot find the DOW 30 to download. It does not show up in the Strategy Wizard list or in the Strategy Wizard Options list. Any suggestions? Thanks.

    I found the answer on how/where to download Dow 30 (and other strategies) in another thread ("Easiest money I ever Made", post # 34 by
    g.mindock): Thanks Jerry

    "Re: Easiest money I ever made!!!
    To copy strategies from other people, click OPTIONS next to any strategy, and then select COPY STRATEGY. That will bring up the Copy Strategy screen.

    At the top of the Copy Strategy screen is a list of people sharing their strategies.
    If you click on one of the email addresses, it will show their strategies. You can then copy a strategy from their account into yours.

    The strategies that I am aware of are:

    Office1@cool-trade.com: FAZ strategy (Long and Short) DayTrading
    Office4@cool-trade.com: TVIX strategy (Long and Short) Day Trading
    Office7@cool-trade.com: Dow 30 Strategy (Long and Short) Long Term
    Office8@cool-trade.com: Dow 30 $1 Moves (Long only) Long Term
    Office10@cool-trade.com: HAL (Long and Short) Day Trading
    edbar1@cool-trade.com: Conservative Long/Short (No Stop Loss) Long Term

    Those are the common ones that I have seen appear on these boards resently.

    Jerry

    How to make sure I
    Hi, I am brand new to CTP. I already have an ETRADE acct & want to start my software in simulation mode to get used to it. I know this might sound like a really stupid question, but can anyone tell me how to make I am NOT trading my real money for now?

    Cheers,

    RJ

    Hi RJ,

    On the CoolTrade Login screen you will select ETRADE / SIMULATOR mode. Then at the top of the scxreen after you log in, it will say "DATA FEED ONLY - ETRADE". If you were trading in LIVE mode, it would say "LIVE TRADES ENABLED - ETRADE".

    CT

    Thank you, sorry for the dumb question. Once I watched videos for a day it was obvious how to do it.

    Cheers,

    RJ

    Dow 30 Long 1.00 moves
    I am looking for the above mentioned strategy & can’t find it anywhere? I’ve looked through all the office computers 1 - 10 & was able to locate the short strategy, but don’t see the long strategy anywhere. Can someone please help me with this?

    Cheers,

    RJ

    Forum Moderator should delete this post, since topic is covered here:



    There is a new user account that has these similar type (add to losers and close profitable positions LIFO), that is based on the amount of funds you have to invest in the strategy.

    From the Copy Strategy screen, find and click on NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM.

    These strategies only open enough positions that ensures you will always have enough funds available to complete the whole strategy regardless of where the stock prices go.

    With the traditional Dow 30 strategies they require you to not open too many stocks. I think the biggest problem that I have seen is people open too many positions at first and then when the stock prices go down, they have already used up the available funds so they cannot add to the positions at the lower prices.
    These new strategies prevent that from happening.

    Hedge

    Hedge

    If that is the LONG Dow 1.00 move do you know if there is a SHORT DOW 1.00 move and where to find it.

    thanks

    Russell Yates

    RYates6690@aol.com

    Still looking for someone that is trading FOREX also.

    Dow 30 Long/Short vs Dow 30 Long/Short 1.00 moves
    I’ve been reading the threads in the forum here and have come to the conclusion that it’s probably best to start testing the auto trader with the above mentioned strategies. Can anyone please share with me what the average annual return has been using this strategy, and if there is a big difference between the 1.00 moves strategy and the Dow 30 for example? I understand that past results are no guarantee of future returns, just trying to get a ballpark idea of what I can expect. Thanks in advance for the feedback..........

    Cheers,

    RJ

    Hi,

    I just went live today on the Dow 30 Long. I’ve been testing since 11-11 and used this one the most. I made about 10% on a $30,000 play account.

    Like you I was looking for the Dow 30 $1 strategy and I couldn’t find it. Can someone chime in as to where it is???

    I don’t know what the exact Dow 30 ($1 moves) strategy is.

    I do know that the only difference is that it adds on $1 drops and takes $1/share profits.

    So, to create the $1 move strategy, just make these changes:

    ADD TO POSITION RULES (TAB-4):

    Current Price is at least 1.00 less than My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price.

    PROFIT REQUIREMENTS (TAB-6):

    Change the profit goal to 1.00
    Change the pullback after reaching goal to .07
    Change the Profit Protection to .70

    Enlightened

    Thank you both so much for the reply! I was beginning to think I was the only one in here..........lol I am going to run with the strategy going forward and see how it pans out. If anyone in here has a longer term ROI using this strategy,it would be much appreciated by us newbies I’m sure. My goal is to cut down the learning curve and just start making some money:-)

    Cheers,

    RJ

    Thanks Enlightened!

    Thanks Enlightened!

    Leathal--- when you said you have done 10% with the Dow 30 Long, were you running that alone as a single strategy or together with the Dow 30 Short at the same time??? Big difference I believe and I am curious to your answer. Thanks in advance.

    I ran one strategy at a time to see how they performed.

    I am a newbie. Where can I find the DOW 30 Long/Short or the Long/ Short 1.00 moves.

    I can’t find either one

    Also is anyone trading Forex.

    Thanks
    Russell Yates

    Use the Copy Strategy and go to Newuser2 or Office8. Select either and the Dow 30 Strategy can be copied.

    Hope this helps,

    CT

    TheStreet.com Under $10
    Does anyone have experience good or bad using TheStreet.com Under $10 trading?

    I dont have any experience with this strategy.

    Did you end up testing it out?

    $2 and below stategy
    Baffled again,
    So I have another week under my belt with the $2 and below strategy. The market is up this week and my original $20,000 similated portfolio is down by another $420. Since January 16th CT sold 9 symbols each on the same day purchased or on the next day. In each case the losses were $100 or more per symbol sold. CT did sell 4 symbols in the same period for profits of $80, $110, $160 and $230.

    Is anyone having a different experience either simulated or live with a broker?

    I am open to any suggestions about modifying my $2 strategy or going to different strategy.

    Something must be wrong with your strategy. Because my $2 strategy never sells at a loss.

    I’m curious too.

    Jimmy, are you running the strat with default parameters? Carol, are you running it with custom parameters?

    Jerry- You must have STOP LOSSES set in your strategy---get rid of them. As long as you can hold them and wait for the stock to rebound, Carol is correct in that you should not take any losses--check the profit requirements tab in your strategy and make sure your stop loss is set higher than the 10 dollars- you are trading 2 dollars and below so they should never reach that--maybe you have it set on percentages.

    What is a good amount to start with this strategy?

    Anywhere from $5k to $10 seems to be affective.

    Yes I have been using that strategy for a week starting with 10,000 simulation and
    made $50 profit today but -300 to -400; ?? If I get clear on what I am doing wrong, will
    let u know. My sponsor is making profits using this strategy. +450; I have been using this a month and nothing above my 10,000 ? Learning curve . Will keep u posted;
    I think she just used long strategy I have both going.

    I’ve been running it in simulation mode since the 8th of Feb 2013. I started with $20k, it now sits at $17,800.
    P&L -$3990.
    I understand things go up and down, I’m just a bit concerned that it picks positions that tank so quickly. Almost right from the instance it takes a position 10 - 15% drops off.
    It’s taken 3 positions in one company -84% -55% -18%
    If I was hand picking I would consider I’d failed with this ratio of picking risers.
    I know it’s a strategy to run over a period of time, I just can’t get my head around it’s choice.
    I’ll stick with it a few more weeks but heaven knows what would happen if the markets took a sudden dive, everything it’s picked is already a distance away from the buy price. As the markets are fairly high at the moment I’m more than a bit nervous about using real cash.
    Everytime I ask a question about this strategy, I get told it can’t make the market move and it’s static at present. It looks to pick ones that move from what I can see?
    It would be good to hear from people using this for a long time and know exactly what they expect out of it.
    Some long time user feedback would be really helpful.

    I put stops at $10 much better

    I put stops at $10 much better

    How would that work? the spread is normally $10.

    Long & Short Strategy?
    Hello

    I am a little confused. Perhaps someone can answer the following questions:
    Q1. Which strategy should I be using?
    Q2. Should I use both short & long strategies at the same time?
    Q3. Are certain strategies more suitable for smaller investments (< 10K)

    Newbie

    Q1: CoolTrade sells software and do not provide investment advice. My logic tells me that the strategy videos they’ve been publishing may be good examples of some of the strategies they consider to be most useful:

    https://cooltraderpro.com/category/strategy

    Q2: That’s totally up to you. As you examine strategies, you’ll learn that some long strategies use the "Add to Current Position Rules" to purchase additional symbols when the market drops. (This can also be useful for 401k accounts that are not allowed to short.) I recommend that if you decide to run both a long and a short strategy, you get advice on money management so your account has enough capital to take advantage of opportunities. When I asked a similar question about running both long and short in the same account, CoolTrader Support replied with, "This will require a significantly larger account value though, as shorts will typically tie up your money until a correction."

    Q3: Here’s one popular option:

    https://cooltraderpro.com/content/200-dollar-and-below-strategy

    Dow Long & Short for Simulating $50,000
    I am a new user and am currently simulating on an Interactive Brokers account both "Dow Long for Simulating $50,000" and "Dow Long for Simulating $50,000". Both can be found at the NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM account.

    In my learning process, I have been comparing the settings of other Dow 30 strategies. I’ve noticed that the NEWUSER2 version does not contain any OPEN POSITION RULES, while many of Dow 30 strategies include the following:

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 ) is Less Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,1 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,0 )

    I’m wanting to learn how the NEWUSER2 version opens positions without these rules.

    Given that the MACD indicator utilizes minute bars and thus cannot be run without a brokerage account, even in simulator mode, I’m wondering if this simpler NEWUSER2 version was used just because it works for non-brokerage simulation, but if it may not be optimal. One one hand, I appreciate this strategy has been supplied, but on the other hand I want to simulate the strategy with which I intend to actually take live with real money.

    Thanks in advance for any assistance.

    I also sent this same question to CoolTrader Pro support and received back a helpful answer. I’ll include it below so it can benefit others.

    I’m aware that CoolTrade sells software and cannot provide investment advice, and I appreciate this fact. So, if anyone familiar with the the "standard" Dow 30 Long and/or "Dow 30 Long 3% Moves" strategies would like to further contrast and compare them with the NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM "Dow Long for Simulating" and "Dow Short for Simulating" strategies, I believe it could be really helpful.

    -----------------"quote"------------------
    Hi Kirk,

    You are correct, the newuser2 strategies do not utilize these indicators. They are set up more as range trading strategies using a few (3-7) stocks from the DOW.

    How this differs- It will only trade these stocks and not pick them out based on the rules. As soon as the market is open, the positions will open. If the stock goes down it will add more- this is the same in both strategies.

    You are also correct in your assumption of the reworking of these strategies to not include the MACD so that they don’t require a brokerage account. It is more of a hand picked stocks scenario instead.

    Hope this answers your questions, if you have any more questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.

    Thanks,
    Ryan Stack
    -----------------"quote"------------------


    I’ve decided to halt my current simulation and start fresh simulating with the "Dow30 Long 3% Moves" strategy located at OFFICE8@COOL-TRADE.COM.

    I have a three-part question for experience Cool Trade users:

    1.) Is the "Dow30 Long 3% Moves" designed to be run long only?

    2.) If the answer above is no, what paired strategy is most compatible?

    3.) Instead of running "Dow30 Long 3% Moves" with a compatible short strategy, would it be more advantageous (given that the same stock cannot be chose for both long and short) to run the short strategy on a separate Cool Trade account?

    From CoolTrader Pro support:

    -----------------"quote"------------------

    1&2) It certainly can be run by itself, however you also are able to run it with the DOW 30 Short 3% moves. It should have been hosted on the same machine. This will require a significantly larger account value though, as shorts will typically tie up your money until a correction.

    3) If you wanted to hedge, yes. Otherwise there are a lot of stocks on the DOW, and the strategy only will open a few of those positions at the same time. This will leave plenty of room for positions to be open on both the long and the short side.

    -----------------"quote"------------------


    I then asked about the location of the DOW 30 Short 3% Moves strategy and the cost of adding another software license and received:

    -----------------"quote"------------------

    It can be found on Office5, which I just checked. Just make sure you are looking on the short (right) side. If you would like a second license, from what I have heard it is only the monthly fee starting from month one. So $125/month with no start up cost of $3,500.

    -----------------"quote"------------------


    Actually KV, we don’t have the $125/mo method for additional accounts ready. At this time is a 1 time payment per year of $1500.

    -----------------"quote"------------------
    Actually KV, we don’t have the $125/mo method for additional accounts ready. At this time is a 1 time payment per year of $1500.
    -----------------"quote"------------------


    That’s fine since I’m with CTP for the long haul. Thanks for clarifying.

    Kirk VandenBerghe
    registrar@positiveprojections.com

    SMA Long Swing Trade (Long & Short)
    Hello Forum Users,

    I am new to this software, I just purchased it last week. Been running a simulation with SMA Long Swing Trade (Long & Short) Simulating with $30,000 fund with 2:1 Margin not exceeding $50k.

    Seems like the strategy is utilizing about $27,000.00 worth of funds. I have been averaging $100 a day. With 1 day over $290.00

    My questions are:

    1. Has anyone ran this simulation for the long term? Seems like the DOW hitting 14000 is getting everybody scared, will this simulation catch a sudden drop of 300+ points in the DOW? (Reason I am asking, I took a look at the Stop Loss, it’s at %25 Stop loss and %25 Trailing loss.

    2. I heard a "Rumor" that this is a very old strategy. If not one of the oldest, is this True? I don’t see much postings on it. I have been testing it for a while. The Profit looks good. Is this an old strategy?

    Thanks.



    While CoolTrader Support will make it clear the company sells software and does not make investment advice, I’ve found they will assist in locating and installing strategies. You may want to ask them if the strategy in this video...

    https://cooltraderpro.com/content/swing-trade-strategy

    ...is the same or similar to the SMA strategy about which you’re asking.

    Also, regarding the age of a strategy, I’m wouldn’t by how new or old it is, but by its performance in your and other’s simulation and live trading.

    Thx for the response, I have been running the simulation for a while now this week. Seeing good profits at around $100 to $290 plus a day. Today was down $40 ish..but overall it’s selecting good stocks.

    I spoke with the IT at Cool Trade. They showed me NewUser2@cool-trade.com where I can copy the newest strategies..I was concern about the new strategies they have.

    It’s a fixed Watchlist, not dynamic at all.

    Thx,


    The new strategies make it easier to select a strategy based on the funds that you have available. The symbol selected would always be in the list if you were running the Dow 30 strategy (a very popular strategy), but the number of shares (lot size), max shares, and max positions has been optimzed to ensure you have enough funds to play out the strategy completely even if the stocks were to drop by 70%+ in value.

    The biggest problem people have is tha they open too many positions in the beginning and then when the market drops, they do not have enough reserve funds to add to their holdings at the lower prices. That is a human error, not a software error. The new strategies aim to reduce that problem.

    CT

    I’ve been finding it instructional to study the new strategies at NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.com. My customer support conversation on this topic here...



    Thx,

    I have a question for Customer Support. When selecting the New Strategy for Dow Short and Dow long under NewUser2. Should I select both the "Long" and "Short" Strategies to trade simultaneouly?

    The reason I am asking, in SMA Swing Trade, I selected both Long And Short Strategies.

    Please let me know.

    Thx,


    That’s more a community board question as everyone has a different opion and mine would just be my personal opinion. The perpose of the newuser2 strategies is to ensure you are selecting a strategy that matches the funds that you have available.

    so your question is that if you have $50k funds, then should you select a $50k long strategy and no short, or a $25k long AND a $25k short.
    The answer is, you can do both.

    However, on a personal note, I don’t like shorting because shorts can go up forever, whereas longs can only go down a fixed amount. So my preference in the above example would be to go with the $50k only.

    Now for this $50K Simulation, have you guys ran the $50K Simulation for a quite a while now? Or has the simulation not been run yet? If it has been ran for a while, how long has it been running or in simulation mode?

    I was just curious why there are no stop losses in the $50k strategies. IN SMA Swing trade, CTP placed it at %25...

    Thank you, sorry for all the questions. Your IT Department is so bogged down from calls, alot of us has to work from 8am to 5pm. So we can’t pick up the phone calls when you guys call us back in a day or 2. Love the community boards.



    The SMA strategies were created from 2005 to 2009 and were quite popular. However, in 2009 the Sun City West, AZ Investment club introduced us to strategies that removed the Stop Losses (Lock in Losses), and the DOW strategies were born (without Stop Losses / Lock in Losses) and instead add on drops and close profitable trades LIFO (Last In - First Out). Since then these strategies have been refined.

    There are video demos of accounts running for over a year, in Simulator mode (that is all that is allowed). Other users can share their stats on these boards if they like.

    For the $50k, would it be ok to use the simulation with the following criteria.

    $25k current account value
    2:1 Margin
    Funds available

    Cool Trade never use more than 50k.

    Very useful thread, especially the @customersupport comments about how "SMA Long Swing Trade" is a legacy strategy and taking short positions isn’t the inverse of long. As members, we’re clear about the disclaimer that CoolTrade sells software and doesn’t provide investment...and...all personal opinions are worth their weight in gold because they’re based on experience and knowledge. Please keep sharing -- it really helps.

    @MarketAmericaWorld, you might also look at the OFFICE8 "Dow30 Long 3% Moves" strategy. You’ll need to be up and running with a brokerage account to simulate with it because it uses the MACD in it’s Open Position Rules. I’ve chosen this strategy as my foundation and will tweak/test small settings changes.

    Thank you,

    I might have to call CTP IT Support on Monday or Tuesday if they are closed. My software will not open anymore.. yikes..and it’s a brand new computer I am using.

    Thx.



    @MarketAmericaWorld, it’s Friday well after the closing bell and I can get the CoolTrade Watchdog to open, but neither the Strategy Wizard nor CoolTrade will open for me, either. I’m with Interactive Brokers.

    Kirk VandenBerghe
    registrar@positiveprojections.com

    @KV I am not sure if it has to do with Windows 8, what platform are you running it on ? Windows XP?



    Microsoft put out an update on Friday that broke teh software. The solution is to uninstall the Flash update from WINDOWS UPDATES.
    If you don’t knnow how to do that then send email to support@cooltraderpro.com and they will connect to your computer and uninstall that update.

    @Customersupport, most of us have to work next week so we won’t be able to pick up the call.

    Can you give us all a brief step description on Windows 8 on how to uninstall it?
    I am very familiar with Windows XP. Window 8 sucks..they should mess around things :)

    Thx,


    @Customer Support I found the Uninstall menu in Windows 8 for the Can you tell us with KB Number for the updates that we should uninstall? Thx.

    I am thinking of switching off the Windows Automatic Updates. And do it manually when needed..

    @MarketAmericaWorld, I’m also running Windows 8. I’m an experienced WinXP user, but have found Windows 8 Metro interface very difficult to understand. Most of my time has been invested in getting as much of Metro as possible uninstalled. I can see if I was running a touchscreen tablet and just wanted to "stay on the surface" how it could be useful, but in my case it has been a massage time waster.

    What you first need to do is open the Windows Control Panel:



    Update: A second Windows 8 restart after deleting the above-mentioned Windows Update of Flash resulted in CTP correctly loading.

    @KV Thx, it’s running right now. I do not have that much time setting it up during the day. I have to be at work.

    I am curious, what strategy are you using personally ?

    Thx,


    @KV Thx, it’s running right now. I do not have that much time setting it up during the day. I have to be at work.

    I am curious, what strategy are you using personally ?

    Thx,


    @MarketAmericaWorld, glad you’re up and running.

    I’m currently simulating the Dow 30 Long 3% Moves with no short strategy. I like the concept of this approach, but will also be running more than one computer + CTP license + strategy. If all goes as well as I hope, I’ll be running many since I like the idea of diversifying within CTP. After I go live with my current strategy, my next test will be on a single stock.

    MarketAmericaWorld and KV, are you letting the strategy choose all of the stocks or did you add some of your favorites? Also, have you added any parameters to the "Buy Rules"?

    Thanks, Clare

    @clare, my current preference is to allow CTP to select the stocks. With the similar "Dow Long for Simulating" strategies at NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.com versions, stocks are preselected by CTP.

    @Clare I do use my own ETFS, I have been developing a new strategy to Swing Trade USLV and DSLV, haven’t finalized it yet...it’s for Precious Metals. This will work great for IRA accounts since you can’t short. USLV is a 3x ETF for Silver and DSLV is a -3X ETF for Silver . Also trying the same method for SQQQ and TQQQ

    @MarketAmericaWatch I have always liked trading the precious metals market in particular SLV and silver futures/options. I really want to develop a strategy for SLV; I would be very interested in your Swing Trade USLV and DSLV that you are working on. I was not sure if you would be willing to share that once you have finalized it, if so it would be greatly appreciated.

    ******Correction to previous post******

    @MarketAmericaWorld

    @woodcrowbacon I am still Ironing out some bugs, but once it’s finalized I could share it. I have to work on the Dollar Amount parameter. I know how to do it manually looking at charts. Just need to program my own strategy with CTP, ex if USLV is 20 ish and DSLV is 30 ish...then the percentages will not correlate directly with the dollar amount. Hence it will not be 1 = 1 dollar. Therefore I am playing around with the number of shares to buy OR NOT buy at a given situation. USLV is working fine right now.. buying and selling..made good money today.. over 4% Gain as we speak. but DSLV is having some issues kicking off....

    I will keep you posted. This is great for IRA accounts.

    @MarketAmericaWorld Thank you very much for your response, that is great that USLV is working out and making good returns. I am really excited to see what you come up with and truly appreciate you being willing to share your strategy, please keep me posted as things progress.

    Anyone have a good strategy for account balances less than $25k?
    We have recently installed Cool Trader Pro and are trying to setup a good strategy. It looks like most of the pre-loaded strategies are best for balances above $25k. However, our balance is under around 10k. Therefore we are subject to the SEC limitations on day traders. Can anyone help me develop a trading strategy that will help us successfully trade with our limited funds?

    Thanks,

    While I haven’t simulated or run live this strategy myself, I’ve heard that "$1 to $2 Long for Simulating $5,000" found at NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM is one useful option to consider.

    P.S. - I think the strategy in the following video is the same or similar to the one I mentioned in my previous post:

    https://cooltraderpro.com/content/200-dollar-and-below-strategy

    Ira trading strategies
    I am new to CTP but what I see so far, I like. I am just using it for the first time today. I have a traditional IRA with $110K. I have been reading and I have discovered that a good way to keep from violating the free-ride is to split the funds into quarters ($27.5k) and use that figure. So really, for all intense purposes, it would look like a 27.5K cash account but with a few more restrictions.

    I have also found out that an ira account cannot sell short because it requires a margin account. Not sure if that is true but that is what I read... anyone know if this is legal in ira? If this is true, then how do you protect aginst a market drop... inv-etf’s?

    With all that being ssaid, I am looking for a strategies that are specifically designed for trading ira’s. I wish there was a way to check a box that states I am using an ira so that it would automatically not violate the rules specific to ira’s. I thought for sure that I heard Eric state that in one of the conference calls. Maybe I just can’t find it. I think that I should check the box that says " always enforce dav trad rules, regardless of account bal" since the working bal would be $27.5

    Any help in building a strategy would be gretly appreciated.

    I’m not aware of the IRA "free-ride" factor or account splitting, so cannot comment on that.

    The last item here...



    Thanks Kv... I will check those out....

    this is what the link said -

    Research Brokers Before Trading in a Retirement Account

    You can you day trade in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) but not all firms allow your trade proceeds to be available to continue to open new positions immediately. Interactive Brokers is the only broker that we are aware of that offers something called an "IRA-MARGIN” account. All other brokers only offer IRA-CASH accounts. An IRA-MARGIN account frees up your funds immediately after every trade and thus allows you to continue opening and closing positions without a waiting period. Whereas, an IRA-CASH account takes 3 days to clear funds and makes you wait 3 days before you can utilize the funds again, even if you have no open positions. Even though they call it an IRA-MARGIN account, you still cannot borrow funds or short in an IRA account.

    We do in fact have an account with IB and it is an IRA-Margin so this will keep me from having to split the account in order to avoid the "free-ride" rule.

    I have downloaded the Dow 30% long swing 3% - will keep you posted as I test it.

    Kv,
    I found this about free-riding-
    The following example illustrates “freeriding:”
    An investor holds $10,000 of fully paid for and settled ABC stock in a cash account. The investor does not holdany additional cash or securities in the cash account. The investor sells all the ABC stock on Monday and buys $10,000 worth of XYZ stock on the same day. On Tuesday, the investor sells all of the XYZ stock without adding any additional cash to the account.
    The settlement date on the sale of the ABC stock that the investor used to pay for the purchase of the XYZ stock would be Thursday (three business days after the date of the sale). Since the investor used the proceeds from a sale of securities that has not settled yet, to purchase the XYZ stock, the investor cannot not sell the XYZ stock prior to Thursday without adding additional cash to the account to cover the purchase price of the XYZ stock. Since the investor sold the XYZ stock on Tuesday without adding any additional cash to the account, the investor’s actions constitute freeriding.

    also, what amount are you simulating with in your account ?

    Dee. That is correct for a cash account. However, with a margin account, the funds are freed up right away and can be used over and over again on the same day.

    As far as IRA accounts, I believe IB is the only broker that provides an IRA MARGIN account. That doesn’t allow margining like 2-1 margin, but it does all the funds to be freed up immediately so it can be utilized multiple times a day.

    Thanks...


    Should I check the box in the edit Account Values that states " always enforce day trader rules, regardless of account balances since reg - T apply to IRA trading?

    KV you mentioned above how the dow 30 long 3% is a "swing" strategy, what does that mean exactly?

    no. you do not have to check ’always enforce day trader rules’. That is unrelated to Margin. That only refers to the sec day trader rule which states that accounts with less than $25k cannot execute more than 3 round trips in a 5 day period.

    If you have an IRA account, do not check 2-1 or 4-1 margin.

    If you have over $25k then you can utilize your funds over and over again without the 3-day clearing process, as long as you have a margin account at IB. For your comfort, you should confirm that with IB as they are the broker and they enforce the rules.

    CUSTOMER SUPPORT, thank you so much for your help....... I am trying to make sure I don’t violate any rules.

    I did confirm with IB that I do have an IRA Margin account. with a 1:1... NOT a 2: or 4:1 like some non-ira accounts have.....


    Check this out, came straight from the IB knowlege base..... plus here is the link to the page...

    points 1 & 3 under restrictions are the ones that concern me.



    Perfect. #1 just says if you have under $25k you will be subject to the same day trader rules as anyone else. I don’t know what #3 means, but I know others doing dozens of round-trip trades a day with their IRA margin accounts.

    can you share some strategies of these dozen other folks?

    It seems like to me that Ed would willingly share his strategies since he knows this software the best... It still falls under the disclaimer...

    It’s simple. My absolute favorite strategies are those under newuser2@cool-trade.com (based on the funds you have to invest).

    They are long term strategies that perform better the deep entrenched you get into the positions. So, positions that go down 10%, 20%, 30% is a good thing, because you own many positions / stocks at different prices, and then your trader starts taking profits on something pretty much every day. That is when it becomes a money machine.

    The problem is, while you are trying to get there for a few months, you see a lot of red and the profits taken don’t keep up with the decline in account value because of the drops. if you can survive that you will be truly enlightened. That is the psychology part that I find challenging. People see a red and want to hit the CLOSE ALL button and throw in the towel.

    but given the inability to short the market, do you still think it is a good fit? should I use the 50k or 100k given I have 110k ?

    I also do not see any difference in strategies for regular margin account and IRA accounts. Other than do not check teh 2-1 or 4-1 margin for the IRA account.

    You do not have to check the "enforce day trading rules" for either type of account as the sec day trader rule applies to both reg and ira accounts the same. And, if you have under 25K in the account the software will automatically enforce the sec day trader rule for you.

    With good money management (built in the software), shorting and going long are just as good, only on the long side you have limited loss potential (as a stock can only go to 0) while on a short, the loss risk is unlimited, as a stock price could go to the moon, so, I am not in favor of shorting in any type of account.

    The Dow strategies in newuser2@cool-trade.com are my favorites. (but only the long. not the short)

    I’m interested in the Inverse Index EFT’s as these could be used to, effectively, short the Market while trading inside an IRA.

    Also, these are not subject to the up-tick rule for opening a position in a declining Market.
    Thus CTP wouldn’t get blocked from opening new positions if its strategy called-for such.

    Based on the average daily trading volumes, any of these would work to go long with the Market.
    But only SH and maybe RWM appear to be useful to short the Market.
    The liquidity on the other two is too low and perhaps the consequent B-A spreads might be too great, to profitably trade with CTP.


    Here are what I think are the most popular Index EFT’s that track, or inversely track, the major Market Indices.

    Index Tracking EFT Av. Daily Vol. Inverse EFT Av. Daily Vol.

    S&P 500 SPY 127 mm SH 2,800 k
    DJIA 30-Index DIA 5.7 mm DOG 340 k
    Nasdaq 100 QQQ 33 mm PSQ 250 k
    Russell 2000 IWM 34 mm RWM 933 k


    It seems to me, that while the return trading these in CTP might not be as dramatic as trading individual stocks, these EFT’s, will never go to zero $
    as was the case with individual stocks such as Enron, Kodak, and some other notorious notables.

    And these Indexes will recover, within a few years, as has happened twice since the bubble and crash of 2000.

    Enron, though an extreme and fraudulent example, declined from $80 to ~$0 in just 12-mos. An if that had been
    held in your CTP – Portfolio inventory, it would never come back into profit for you.

    I’m aware there are 2x and 3x EFT’s available to trade, which would price swing as dramatically as any stock.
    But I suspect the trading volumes on these are thinner, the spreads wider, and the volatility too tricky to risk messing around with.

    There are ETS to trade that track sectors, and I believe individual stocks as well.
    Inverses of these are available too. But again, volatility, light volume, and wide spreads may be problems best avoided

    I need some much more experienced advice on this !

    Any pro or CPT Customer support willing to weigh-in on this ??

    Chris

    A more readable list of those EFT’s

    S&P 500
    EFT is SPY with 127 mm av. daily volume
    Inverse EFT is SH with 2,800 k av. daily volume

    DJIA 30-Index
    EFT is DIA with 5.7 mm av. daily volume
    Inverse EFT is DOG with 340 k av. daily volume

    Nasdaq 100
    EFT is QQQ with 33 mm av. daily volume
    Inverse EFT is PSQ with 250 k av. daily volume

    Russell 2000
    EFT is IWM with 34 mm av. daily volume
    Inverse EFT is RWM with 933 k av. daily volume

    >>>Any pro or CPT Customer support willing to weigh-in on this ??

    I can’t image what CTP Customer Support could weight in on, as there isn’t a technical question. I’ve talked to some of their guys in support and they are fairly new. They are good at installing the software and making sure it is set up correctly on your computer but they can’t possibly know more than the experienced veteran traders on these boards who have been using the software for years.

    The SEC eliminated the up-tick rule a few years ago, so a stock does not have to up-tick before you can short it.

    I notice you call them EFT’s. But the abreviation for Exchange Traded Fund is ETF.
    You can definitely use the inverse-ETF’s in an IRA account instead of using a Short and that works fine. The Dow 30 Long strategy works great with the ETF’s becasue all it is interested in is the price movement of the individual symbols and it adds on X percent moves in the wrong direction.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge.
    ETFs’ they are! (dyslexia could be costly when entering stock symbols!)
    I saw some Forum posts from ’cooltradeesupport’ so I’m hoping for a response from one of the staff that may some trading experience in this area.

    I am very new to Cool Trade. I have just been testing out some long and short strategies. I am thinking that I might have made a mistake purchasing the software. Not because it is bad, but because I will be trading strictly through my ira. I have transferred about $50,000 over to IB. I really want to be able to run short strategies, but I don’t think IB will allow that. Having gone through a couple of major market corrections, I would like some protection against an eventual correction. Is there any other way to protect ourselves? I guess I could just make 100% on the longs and then I won’t have to worry.

    Jimmie5555,

    The way I am reading this is that you have an IRA with IB. And if that is true then no you will not be able to do shorts or covered calls. You can look at stocks that are inverse ETF’s like UCO/USO or FAS/FAZ. There are many out there but I know these are a few good one’s. If you are really wanting to short you will need to put money into an account that is not an IRA.

    There are some great long strategies available. Don’t give up on the software! It can do great things!

    Not being able to short in an IRA is not a rule created by ct or ib. That is an sec rule. However, I trade long and add to losers on 10% drops. So, even in a down market the stocks still go up and down and my traders continue to take profits forever. That is how all of the Dow 30 strategies trade.

    Enlightened

    I understand why I cannot short stocks in my Ira. Thanks for mentioning the ETFs Carol. Do you think the long rules would work the same for them? It seems like they might. Enlightened, one of my worries about adding to positions on 10% drops for example is that I would have a significant amount of money sitting idle waiting for the bust. I guess I am asking for my cake and eating it too without the availability of a short strategy. I will probably trade outside my Ira but I like the tax advantages inside it. Thanks for the help.

    Jimmie, the adding up of profits from selling LIFO will more than make up for the idle cash. IMO. Imagine never selling a position at a loss for the rest of your life.

    Enlightened

    Results since early January 2013
    I’ve not seen any actual detailed results posted on the boards so I’m going to post mine.

    These results are from early January through February 15, 2013. They cover several different strategies and several manually closed trades. All of these are simulated trades.

    Initial account size was 30k, 2:1 margin and no more than 45k allowed of stocks were allowed to be purchased.

    Our initial objective was to get the CoolTrader to trade as frequently as possible to get a feel for how it made decisions and how it would do with managing the money and trading.

    Our results were not what we had hoped for. By the end of the first week of February we were about $1500 down including commissions. Lots of trades and many that we as humans would never have taken give their charts. Basically the CoolTrader was going Long on bearish stocks and Short on bullish ones.

    Not to fear. I always learn more from my mistakes than my successes. So after much more reading on these boards we closed our everything on February 11th and started with a new approach.

    We looked at the Dow 30 and S&P 100 and took 100 stocks and assessed if they were bullish, bearish or sideways. We then set each strategy to trade only stocks that were sideways or correspondingly bullish or bearish.

    This week has been much better. Closing $377 after commissions and only $-17 for the positions it still holds.

    The strategies we’ve run this week are Aggressive Long and reedh (short) from the Downloadable User Strategies list.

    We also set each to take one lot to entry one lot on any add and no more than 3 lots. Also we have only 5 short and 5 long positions possible. This we hope will give good utilization of the 45k it is allowed to trade and have capital available to add to positions.

    For the week of February 18 we will change the strategies to downloads from NewUser2. The board seems to say these are newer in design and do a good job of adding to positions and frequently taking profits.

    See results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Akd3CGIwhYXAdEMwc2xpRjlNMVJXUGVrdG9vMTBXT0E&usp=sharing

    @dreamgineer, thanks for sharing your strategy results. Sounds like you’re making great progress.

    Personally, I don’t like the NEWUSER2 Dow 30 strategies since they trade a set of specific symbols in a range and don’t use Open Position Rules. They’re also biased to work in simulation mode without being connected to broker (thus, cannot use MACD as an indicator, as just one example).

    Instead, I’m using the OFFICE8 Dow30 Long 3% Moves as my first base strategy (I plan on running multiple license of CTP). I don’t want to have to manually and periodically analyze stock trends, so will will probably just rely on the simple "Yesterday’s Close Price is Less Than 50 Dollars" Watch List Rule (or perhaps 60 dollars to bring under consideration DIS and UNH) and allow the strategy to handle all of the selections.

    With this approach, I can tweak and test Max Symbols, Profit Goal, Profit Pullback, Start Profit Protection, ReEntry Pullback, and Profit Amount. There are no Exit Rules and I don’t plan to add any.

    I plan to leave the Add to Position Rules as they are, since they’re already proven.

    Once I go live with my first strategy, I will connect to Collective2 at...



    KV, You can use the broker’s feed and run in simlator mode with any of the strategies and use any of the indicators. The only reason the newuser2 strategies fix the specific dow symbols is becasue that ensures you can play out the strategies completely with the funds that you have specified that you have. You can of course do the same thing with the other dow strategies but we made it simple with newuser2 for those who just want to select a strategy based on teh funds they have available, without making the changes themselves.

    Thanks for the input kv and the follow up from customersupport.

    I’d love to get indicators to give a reasonable assessment of the direction of a stock, but after four years of working on this I’ve yet to see anything that works as well as drawing lines on a chart and making trade decisions based on that. The strategy we’re using now requires us people to do the visual assessment of direction and then let’s CT trade the direction. Not 100% automated, but my wife is an ace at reading charts and can whip through 100 charts in an hour so it’s not too much trouble.

    We’re also looking at getting multiple licenses to try multiple strategies and I’m still working on building my own robot using NinijaTrader, but after years of work I’ve not come as close to a viable system as CoolTrader has now.

    I’m going to look more closely at both the NewUser and Office8 today. Based on how these trade I’ll decide if we change or not.

    @dreamgineer, sounds like you and your wife are creating a great custom strategy. I hope CTP turns out to work very well for you. I don’t have your experience base with the stock market, so will be relying heavily on prefabricated strategies.

    Kirk VandenBerghe
    kirk.vandenberghe@gmail.com

    Update: A second Windows 8 restart after deleting the above-mentioned Windows Update of Flash resulted in CTP correctly loading.

    I’ve updated the results file: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Akd3CGIwhYXAdEMwc2xpRjlNMVJXUGVrdG9vMTBXT0E&usp=sha - ring

    Not doing any better in the last 2.5 weeks than previously. The cash flow is slowing and there are a few positions that are drawing down the account.

    Total earnings are at $(1000) with commissions. CTP positions are down $(1116) right now with 3 long and 5 short positions.

    With new records on the Dow and many technical indicators saying the markets are overbought I’m expecting a pull back of some kind. I’ll be very curious to see how CTP deals with it.

    I’ve been on vacation skiing so I didn’t get a chance to look at other strategies. I’ll post an update again next week with the latest trades and if I find a better set of strategies.

    Dear KV,

    Regarding the update problem on Windows 8, just make sure after you delete the update, that you check for updates, and uncheck it so it will not re-install and therefore bypass until the software company finds a solution.

    Thanks,
    Technical Support

    IRA - 2-1 margin... Not allowed???
    I read in a previous post that that if you are trading an IRA margin account with Interactive Brokers, that you should not check 2-1 margin in the strategy wizard. Does this mean that it will not utilize margin dollars to trade?

    We’ve been simulating trading with a balance of 9000 with 2-1 margin selected for a total available balance of $16500. If we cannot use 2-1 margin with a self directed IRA account does this mean that we will only be able to use our $9000 balance to trade? Our whole strategy is based on using a margin account so this is kind of big deal for us.

    Also, please clarify for me, are we able to run a Short Strategy with our self directed IRA account? Is this not allowed... or not recommended?

    Thanks,

    You are correct in that it is NOT ALLOWED to run short strategies on IRA account... PERIOD (from the IRS). If you do, then your account will be converted to a ccash account and be subject to all applicable taxes etc.

    The IB firm is the only one out there with an IRA marging account. All others (to my knowledge) only have regular IRA accounts available..... this is a good thing because you are able to utilize all your funds immediately (in most cases) without having to wait for the funds "to settle".

    In a margin IRA, you are able to utilize all the funds in your account so it is 1:1 margin, not a 2:1 or 4:1 or 6:1 like some CASH margin accounts. In a regular IRA account, you can ONLY utilize funds that have settled (usually 3 days-depending on what you’ve traded) if you make sells.

    There are also some account dollar limit limitations for day-trading



    Profit?
    I am using the Dow 30 long and 30 Short Strategy. The software just closed a long position with a $7.00 profit. How can it do that? The parameters are .80 profit, .40 profit protection. Don’t understand how it closes that position? Please explain someone.

    @philbenson, was it a long or short position that closed?

    There are 2 sections dealing with when to get out of a trade, the exit trade section and the profit requirements section. What parameters do you have set up in the exit trade section? It is possible a setting there triggered the sell.

    It was a short position but the parameters were close with a .80 move on a .40 profit protection. No other exit rules hard to figure what the computer did to give a $7 profit. Thanks

    What are your profit protection settings?

    Sorry let me first have it clear about all 3 of your settings. Your profit goal was .80 and your profit protection was at .40 so the missing one in this discussion is the pullback. What is that setting?

    The .40 profit protection means once your profit has reached .40 if the stock pulls back before you reach your profit goal of .80 the software will take you out of the trade at .40. In your case your profit goal was .80 but if your stock continued up.The software will not take you out of the trade until your pullback setting is met and your stock went to above a $7.00 profit and had a pullback that met your pullback setting and took you out of the trade with a $7.00 profit. Congratulations!

    Which stratergy for low funds
    Hi,
    I’ve been running the $2.0 strat in simulator mode, it’s been running for a couple of weeks. Losing a chunk at the minute, bot that I don’t think it will turn around.
    But as it takes so long to run a meaningful test and I would like to go live with a toe dipped in the water, say $15,000, I’m wondering what strat is pulling out profits with this kind of funding.
    All the ones in the list are ten times that amount. It would be nice if Cooltrade could run different lists of strategy performance depending on funds invested.
    Us newbies with little trading experience that want to move slowly could do with a little help in selecting a strategy.

    Hi Kevin,

    On the COPY STRATEGY screen, if you select NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM, it has long strategies that are optimized based on the funds available.

    I hope that helps!!!

    @kevin_allen, I agree that if Cool Trade ran all popular strategies, either live or in simulation mode, and published the results, it would be extremely useful. All they would have to do is enable connection to

    is anyone using the reedh strategy
    I would like some iinformation on the reedh strategy- is it working - need some infirmation on installing Thanks just new Susan

    Did you already get this figured out?

    I don’t have any personal experience with the strategy.

    Once you have chosen and downloaded a strategy, open your strategy wizard.

    On the bottom of the screen, there is a pull down menu. You will find your downloaded strategy there.

    Let us know how your strategy is doing!

    Carol

    Carol,

    I have copied several strategies to examine and/or use in simulation mode. None of them appear in my downloaded strategies bar. Is that because I just copied them, even if I made them active/

    Jimmie555,

    Here are some detailed instructions on the steps to download a strategy. I will also detail them here. But I am getting them from this link.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/copy-new-strategy

    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/copy-new-strategy

    I posted it again without the https because full links tend to vanish.

    1. After logging into CoolTrade click on the Strategy Wizard menu at the top.

    2. Within the Strategy Wizard click any of the “Options “ buttons.

    3. Click Copy Strategy.

    4. In the field for Copy Strategy from click in the field and make sure the field is selected. It will be highlighted with a grey dotted box.

    5. You can Scroll up or down using the arrow button or if you know the specific account you are wanting to copy from you can type the account name. As well you can choose the first letter of the account name and scroll to the specified account. (i.e. Type ‘N’ then press down until you see NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM)

    6. Before choosing the specified strategy you can click Print and review the strategy rules.

    7. Once you have decided which strategy you want then click the Radio button on the left side of the strategy.

    8. Then select the specific strategy you want to replace in the Copy Destination section.

    9. Finally, click on copy strategy.

    Let me know if this helped!

    Trailing stop loss
    Would someone tell me if I have a grasp of what the trailing stop loss is...

    example: I buy a 200 share lot of a stock priced at $100.00. I have a profit goal of 5% ($5) with a 0.5% pull back (.05) and a profit protection at 2.5%.. I set the stop loss at 3% and the trailing stop loss at 1.5%.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    scenario 1:

    The stock goes up to $102.49 then steadily drops to $100.47 .. with the trailing stoploss, would it have sold at $100.95 (1.5% ($1.54) below its highest trade?)

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    scenario 2:

    The stock goes down to $97.01 then goes up to $99.67 and then drops down to $98.08.. would the trailing stop cause it to sell at $98.17 which is 1.5% below the highest trade..
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    thanks

    Dee,

    Yes the stop loss would react just as you say. The question I want to ask is why lock in loss? If you are looking at a strategy that is going to buy into stock on the way down and profit from a stock on the way up I would rather remove stop loss and just make sure only to sell when have made your profit.

    Carol

    Yes. I agree with Carol.

    Adding symbols to an existing strategy
    Fairly new to CT. I am running a downloaded strategy and want to ask: if I add a symbol to my existing inventory, is the new symbol going to have to meet all of the existing rules to trade? What I am looking at is adding an inverse ETF as a hedge against a sudden down turn in the market.

    While the software is running, add symbols in the "personal", either long or short.. The symbols WILL NOT have to meet the criteria for being in the "line-up" but will have to meet all other criteria before trading.

    what is your email so we can discuss our strategies? I am at dee@moerstuff.com. shoot me an email....

    I am new to the CTP as well and I am trying an ETF strategy with long and inverse for the same reason. I am mainly using direxion funds and it is working really well. I am excited about the splits that are coming April 1st as it will make trading these funds a bit easier since the range is emormous (ie 150 vs 5). after the spilt they are all going to be 50 range and it will be much nicer.. . Example, if I am buy 200 shares of FAS at 150$ and the market begins to fall, ctp buys the inverse but it only buying 200 shares at 5$. It is hard to make that work well. or NUGT and DUST, like yesterday with a 12% swing. after the split, most of these difficulties will be eliminated.....

    shoot me an email so we can discuss

    Max Range to Trade Across
    What does ’Max Range to Spread Trades Across’ mean in the Wizard, Auto Trader Prefernces tab? How should I use it?

    I would be happy to answer your questions about the max range to spread trades across. Please feel free to email me at patrick@cooltraderpro.com

    Why don’t you answer on this forum so all of us can benefit from your answer ?

    why are so many people so tight about sharing information on the community boards? So many times I see questions that I’d like the answers to with responses saying "email for the answer." Kinda defeats the purpose of the board....

    I agree that the answeres should be posted so that everyone can see them without having jump through hoops. In some cases though, a walkthrough or video demonstration is more affective because it is hard to explain. We have a series of videos that are going to be made available in the next day or 2 and 1 of them talks about ’add to profitable positions’ and ’add to losing positions’, which is what ’minimum purchase interval’ and ’max range to spread trade across’ is used for.

    I will post a link to the videos here.

    If you search the community board for ’max range to spread’ you will see many discussions that have taken place on this subject.

    Here’s a good one:

    Now Customer Support links are getting deleted

    Try posting them without the http at the begining. Lets test this.

    www.cool-trade.com

    cool-trade.com

    Lets see if these stick.

    ctpromckinght,

    The Max Range to Spread Across tells the CoolTrader System how far down to spread out its purchasing of shares until your max shares is reached.

    Need help with stochastics
    Hoping I am posting this in the right spot. I’m new to CTP and relatively new to trading in general. Still running in simulator mode to get the hang of things. I have learned much by looking at the strategies made available in the wizard. However, I am more comfortable looking at charts and changing the strategies than at setting up those same parameters using the descriptions provided in CTP.

    As an example, I know how to change the Stochastic Oscillators of 20 (oversold) to 80 (overbought) using charts, but I do not know how to establish those oscillators using CTP. Not saying that is my only strategy, but just trying to get the idea of how to set it up.

    Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

    Unfortunately CoolTrader is not a very chart based tool. But if you are wishing to use specific indicators like Stochastic’s and the such a large majority are there. If you are looking to run CoolTrade with these say for instance Stochastics’s there is a section under the Indicator field in the Strategy Wizard called Stochastic(14) with about 10 sub-indicators that you can setup the specific value you are looking for for both the (RAW/FAST/SLOW) (D%/K%). As long as you understand that the calculation I believe runs %K = (Current Close - Lowest Low)/(Highest High - Lowest Low) * 100 and %D = 3-day SMA of %K when setting the value to each of the indicators.

    Are you wanting to setup your strategy to react to buy or sell as it meets the oversold / overbought? Or are you wanting to make a manual decision based on that?

    select the technical indicators near the bottom of the indicator list, just before the candlestick patterns. Like this:

    .Stochastics is Bullish
    .Stochastics is Bearish

    Thanks for the update on the two Candlestick Stochastic indicator’s! Those look to be possibly a better choice.

    Learning every day!

    New user - Day Trading questions...
    Hi, I am interested in hearing from some folks who have been using a day trading strategy that they are happy with for a minimum of 3 months. I am a new CT customer and would really like to go with a strategy that will trade both sides of the market and will have me in cash at the end of the day. I plan to start with somewhere between 50 and 75K.

    I wanted to try the "Momentum Day Trading Strategy" that is used as an example on Cool Trader Pro web page but I cannot find it anywhere. Can someone from support point me in the right direction?

    I’m really interested in utilizing the day trading strategies that are readily available to us so I would totally appreciate insight into those and if you’ve found success or not so much with any of them. Any and all insight would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you! tj

    Ditto on that.

    TJ,
    Feel free to email me... dee@moerstuff.com to discuss strategies. I am currently developing a startegy using ETF’s (leverged and inverse) that is working quite nicely. I am only trading in a day and do not hold any positions overnight.

    Check out the FAZ intra-day located under Office2@Cool-trade.com. I’ve heard good things.

    no stop loss
    Various strategies mention "No Stop Loss".
    When someone says that, does that mean in the "Stop Loss" box they are either setting the $ amount to something very very large, or they are setting the percent to something very very large .... OR is there somewhere else in CT where they are, perhaps, checking a box "no stop loss"?

    No stop loss usually means setting the stop loss to a very large number, like 300.

    But if you are trading stocks with prices above 300 like AAPL then you can set the stop loss percent to a very large number, like 100%.

    moving ave of 15--minute periods
    Is there a way to follow the 20 period moving average ... I like to follow 15-minute bars. So I want the average close of the last 20 15-minute bars.

    Actually, I want to compare that 20 period average to the current price. Can I do that? I would like to buy if the current price is < x% below the 20 period moving average (of 15-minute bars).

    thanks, Rick

    I believe our moving averages are set to day verses intra-day. I couldn’t locate anything less than 1 day SMA or EMA

    Carol, the INTRADAY indicators are on tabs 3, 4, & 5

    Current Bid Price is at least x percent < Intraday SMA (15, 20, 0)

    Dow 30 Long (Only) 3% Moves
    The "Only" in the title means I didn’t run a paired Dow 30 Short strategy. I started with a $50K account using 2-1 margin with max funds available set at $95K. I don’t have exact numbers on the normal funds allocated level, but eye-balling it each day the average was about $12K - $18K. A key component of the strategy is the Add to Position Rules, relative to Trade Shares, Max Shares and Max Symbols settings. Basically, it "saves for a rainy day" so it can buy on the way down during market drops. I get the logic and I know it’s worked for many, especially when the market rebounds quickly, but I don’t like the low level of utilization of my deposited funds. Plus, if the market dropped way down and stayed down for a long while, all of the account’s funds would be tied up until the rebound. Sure, I could add additional funds so the strategy could still range trade at the lower levels and I wouldn’t experience losses unless I overode the strategy, but having all that cash tied up with be a opportunity cost.

    The "Attach File" feature in this (very limited) forum software is currently broken, so I just uploaded the two docs to my server. I hope the two URLs are preserved:



    One thing you can do to speed profits up a bit is add on 7% drops instead of 10%.
    That protects you down to a 70% drop in the stock instead of 100%.
    I’ve seen others on these boards lower it to 5%.
    That helps you buy/sell more quickly.

    @enlightened.investor, thank you for your comments. I appreciate the tips. My concern about using this strategy, even though it has many time-tested strengths, is what would happen if there was a large market drop and stayed down for a few years or more. As I’m sure you know, many think we’re in a bubble right now.

    Question: Might you be able to recommend a favorite day trading strategy?

    Regarding my post, this forum software stripped out my two URLs. Since the Attach File feature is broken, I’m not sure how to share the results of six weeks of simulation. Many have requested detailed sharing of data, so I thought it be useful.

    I don’t have any daytrading strategies, because that involves dumping stocks at a loss when they go the wrong way, when in reality there’s no way to know what direction a stock is going to go.

    With the ’add to loser’ strategies a stock can go down and stay down there forever and it doesn’t bother me because where it goes, my strategy will be buying and selling and taking profits forever.

    I’ve been using this software for a number of years and feel that the software is taking all money that can be taken.

    @enlightened.investor, thanks.

    Do you run your Dow 30 long only or both long and short?

    Is your favorite strategy available to copy?

    I do run both long and short strategies but lately the short strategies have been accumulating a real lot of positions. I’m confident that when the market crashes (and I’m confident that it will go down this year or next, or next...) then it will clean up.

    I run the dow 30 strategies that can be copied from newuser2@cool-trade.com from the copy strategy screen (based on your account value).

    However I do not run the long and short on the same automated trader. the long and short runs on 2 separate traders with 2 separate brokerage account. That ensure that I can be long and short the same symbols simultaneously.

    @enlightened.investor, you rock. I hope you continue participating in this forum. Really helpful info, currently and in your legacy posts here, all of which I’ve studied.

    enlightened, are any of those accumulated Short positions still getting some profitable trades under lifo philosophy or are the underlying stocks maintaining a steady bullish position?

    enlightened, are any of those accumulated Short positions still getting some profitable trades under lifo philosophy or are the underlying stocks maintaining a steady bullish position?

    Yes. many of the short positions are underwater, and some are actually out of the position because the stocks have dropped enough to close all of the lots. every position though is taking profits as the prices wiggle up and down. the positions are holding their own as I await the inevitable drop. whether it happens this year or next year or the year after that, it will happen and when it does, those positions I’m sitting on will close profitably. In the meantime the profits continue to pile up as the stock prices keep moving around.

    enlightened

    $2 and below, whats normal?
    I’m trying to get a feel for this strat, I’ve been running it in simulator for a few weeks.
    So far it has turned $20k into $18.2k. It has been worse so it has managed to claw back a few $.
    The trades it has made total about $1500 profit, so loss is about $3k.
    I understand this is a long term strategy, I’m itching to go live
    .
    Is it normal to see this kind of loss in a few weeks, can I expect to see it $3k to the positive at some point?
    If it does swing around plus or minus $3k is it really making a profit or just churning the same money and shares around.?
    When do I take the profit or is it best when in profit to add say number traded or quantity per symbol traded?

    Every position I’ve seen it open goes red by some margin only about twice have I seen it pick something on the up.
    One position is down over 70% and 50% on two trades.

    What can I expect to see from this strat over a year? Is there anywhere I can see a performance for this over a long period. A few cherry picked videos of a good period don’t tell me much.
    Thanks all

    Kevin,

    I am sorry to hear that your $2 and under strategy is not doing so good for you. This strategy seems to be a more long term based strategy but you might want to make sure strategy is setup to deal with more of an account value as $20K. I believe this one was setup for people who have like $5 - $10K. Thus it is only normally buying in about 500 shares at a time. With $20 + you should change that to at least buy 1500 + shares. If you control more shares you can control more profit. I’ve added a link below to help you move through the auto trader and update things as needed in the strategy wizard.



    Long Strategy
    Dear cynthialarmore2, I love your strategy.
    Question: I have put your strategy in action/simulation to do more testing at a lower account fund...$55,000. This is an IRA account and I am not allowed to use margin or Short strategies. I have unchecked the 2-1 box assuming that margin will not be used. I have a Current Account Value of $55,000; Funds Allocated is $62,440; and Funds Available is -$7,432. This tells me that Margin is in effect...which of course is not allowed by the Broker. How do I disable the Margin so I can put this into live trading?
    Thanks and best regards,
    Bill

    I’m not familiar with the cynthialarmore2 strategy, but regardless of the strategy in affect, the negative funds available is probably due to the positions going down in value.

    Funds Used Definition
    In the section for "Top strategies" that we can download it has an amount that it calls "funds used". Is that equal to funds allocated or is equal to account value?

    Funds Used = the maximum funds used at one time in that strategy.

    It is not necesarily the Account Value.

    @cebudata, I consider that section in the Strategy Wizard less than useful and don’t think any of those strategies are the best. I love Cool Trade, but in my view the company needs to do a much better job communicating with members on available strategies and selection, based on investing goals. Yes, legally they sell software and cannot provide investment advice. That’s clear. But they have many machines constantly testing strategies, based on years of on-going research.

    In my view, the best business model would be for a third-party licensed investment firm to provide this consultation -- a company completely unrelated to Cool Trade but privy to its strategy testing, one able to legally provide advice -- for a reasonable fee. Surely, this company’s exposure to so many clients would generate related new business.

    Personally, I purchased the software 3-1/3 months ago, have been engaged in a steep learning curve for a newbie, and still have not found a strategy I’m comfortable taking live. Soon, hopefully.

    FORUMS
    HI Everyone , I am a new member , does anyone now specicaly of a Forum web-site specically on COOL TRADER PRO ?

    CoolTradePro is a reseller of the CoolTrade robotic trading software.
    This is the forum to discuss and share strategies.

    Welcome!

    New to Cool Trader Pro
    I have recently bought my trader. I am looking for strategies that people are using to consistantly generate 4-7% a month. I would like to email or talk with you if you have a strategy that you have been using for several months successfully. Please contact me at: cashtrackingcoach@gmail.com or call me at 719 641-4304.

    Also new and looking for same info! Please contact me @ johnstetler@me.com or call me 480.241.0650 THANKS.

    Returns can obviously never be predicted (short term). You will need to run your trader for a few months with a strategy that has been running for a few years with steady returns. Only then will see the power of consistently taking profits.

    My fav strategy is the "dow 30" strategies that have been optimized for the amount of funds you plan to trade with. i.e. $10k, $20k, $50k, etc.

    Copy the above strategy (based on your funds) from the "newuser2@cool-trade.com" account, located on the Copy Strategy screen.

    Welcome to CT.

    Need help with strategy
    I have the conditions to open a new position in long strategy; however, I am not sure how correctly to interpret them into cooltrade sw. Would you help me on this?
    For the long strategy:
    1.>
    The market opens with an upward gap (an opening price above the previous close) signaling a bullish sentiment. The benchmark is the opening price. A confirmation is valid if the day’s prices stay above this benchmark. The pattern of this confirmation can be defined as a white candlestick with an upward gap.
    In cooltrade............

    2.>
    The market opens at a level either equal to or below the previous close. The benchmark is the closing price of the previous day. A confirmation is valid if the day’s prices stay above this benchmark. The pattern of this confirmation can be defined as a white candlestick closing above the previous close.
    In cooltrade......

    3.>
    The market opens with a big downward gap (an opening price way below the previous close) suggesting a very bearish day in this rarely observed case. However, the prices turn up and the day ends with a long white candlestick that still closes below the previous day’s close. The benchmark is the closing price of the long white candlestick. The pattern of this confirmation can be defined as a long white candlestick closing below the previous close.
    In cooltrade.....

    I am looking forward to your help and highly appreciated.
    Thanks a lot,
    Sang Le

    Sale,

    1> I believe what you are looking for this signal is:
    Under CandleStick Formations -- .TasukiUpsideGap is Bulish (This should give a bullish upside gap)

    2> Your best option for Previous Day’s Close is equal to or Less than Today’s Open.
    Close Price 1 Day Ago is Less Than or Equal to Todays Open Price

    3>I would like to find out if you are looking for a specific Candlestick Pattern here ie. Morning Doji Star or Hammer? Is this looking at current day compared to one or two days back? I am trying to understand if you are also looking for a bearish or bullish reaction as well. We have a list of CandleStick Formations that you might go through that might help this as well.

    Tell me if any of these help and if we can get more info on #3.

    Carol

    Day Trading question
    Does anyone know if I DO NOT margin my account does the 25K day trading rule apply to me?

    Yes, the rule still applys.

    I wanted to get you a quick answer, but my kids were going crazy so I couldn’t elaborate right at the moment.

    In summery, the FCC says that anything 25k and above can trade unlimited. But as soon as they are below that, you are only allowed 3 intraday trades in a 5 day period.

    Carol

    Carol.... How long have you been trading? You seem very knowledgeable. What do you know about IRA trading?

    Hi Dee,

    Thank you!

    I have been trading since 2002. I started using the auto trader in 2005. I remember how confusing it was for me back then, so I like to help as much as I can here.

    As for IRA trading. I like that there is no annual tax on it. But a downfall is that you can’t short a stock while using an IRA account.

    Different brokers have different rules for what you can do, so if you are thinking about doing it, do your homework and figure out which broker is best for your strategy.

    I hope that is helpful.

    Carol

    Carol, are you currently running an intraday / day trading strategy?

    Great having experienced members like you participating in this form, thanks.

    Thanks Carol. Sorry I have one more confirming questions. So you said 3 intraday trades in 5 days, does that mean round trip in the say day? So, if I hold it over a day it does not count? Sorry if this seems like a real beginner question.

    That is correct. round trip = bought and sold on the same day.
    you can buy 10 stocks today and sell them all tomorrow and you haven’t executed any round trips.

    Hedge

    Is there any money making strategy
    I simulated using the $2 long strategy for a few weeks and made no money
    I then tried the CynthiaLArmore2 andmade no money
    Technical support then helped me load a strategy that traded AA, BAC & HPQ. They even tweaked it but still I’m making nothing but losses.

    Does anyone have a strategy that makes money that they are willing to share? OR help me build a strategy that will take trades and make money?

    Thanks in advance.

    I have steadily made only profits with the Conservative Long and Short. It is made for more long term gains though.

    Have you checked out the strategies under NewUser2?

    I’ve only heard amazing things about his strategies.

    Thanks for your reply.

    How do I go about copying the strategy from Newuser2?

    Here is a step by step process for changing your strategy.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/copy-new-strategy
    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/copy-new-strategy

    I will also list out the steps, just in case the link disappears.

    1. After logging into CoolTrade click on the Strategy_Wizard menu at the top.

    2. Within the Strategy Wizard click any of the “Options “ buttons.

    3. Click Copy Strategy.

    4. In the field for Copy Strategy from click in the field and make sure the field is selected. It will be highlighted with a grey dotted box.

    5. You can Scroll up or down using the arrow button or if you know the specific account you are wanting to copy from you can type the account name. As well you can choose the first letter of the account name and scroll to the specified account. (i.e. Type ‘N’ then press down until you see NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM)


    6. Before choosing the specified strategy you can click Print and review the strategy rules.

    7. Once you have decided which strategy you want then click the Radio button on the left side of the strategy.

    8. Then select the specific strategy you want to replace in the Copy Destination section.

    9. Finally click Copy Strategy button.

    Also, make sure you have the latest version of the software.

    Here are the steps on how to update:

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/update-cooltrade
    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/update-cooltrade - put the https:// in front.

    Carol, in this thread you mentioned you are trading "Conservative Long and Short". If you have a minute, could you check in your strategy wizard the NEWUSER1@COOL-TRADE.COM and let us know if they’re the same long and short strategies you’re currently running?

    KV, sorry I didn’t see your post until now.

    I am running the conservative strategy that comes with the software.

    I like it!

    Thank for your reply, Carol.

    call TS and inquire about the UCO/USO strategy

    GAP ?
    Hi, Has anyone figured out a good way to exclude GAP UP or GAP DOWN stocks from a strategy? THANKS

    mbulluss,

    I have not used this specific indicator but I believe if you add both of these rules inside the Watch List Rules tab. Gap Up Count is Less Than or Equal to 0 and Gap Down Count is Less Than or Equal to 0.


    I Hope this helps!

    I’m not away of a specific GAP indicator. However, here’s all I do to catch gaps up or down:

    LONG OPEN POSITION RULE:

    [to catch a stock gapping UP x percent from the previous day]

    Current Bid Price is at least x percent greater than Yesterday’s Close Price

    SHORT OPEN POSITION RULE:

    [to catch a stock gapping DOWN x percent from the previous day]

    Current Ask Price is at least x percent less than Yesterday’s Close Price

    Hedge

    Thanks Carol & Hedge!

    Just wanted to add that Hedge is more knowledgable than I am! Go with his answer!

    I can see how Hedge’s rule would stop you from opening new positions. Would you suggest selling a position that is gapping or do you think that would just be locking in losses. This will happen a lot around earnings time.

    It depends on the stock and how much the GAP is. I personally suggest not selling at a loss but you should do what you are comfortable with.

    I stopped selling stocks at losses in 2009 when the Dow 30 concept of strategies was created by the Sun City West investment club. Since then everyone I know has removed the stop losses. Now we never hear anyone saying "I was stopped out", which was an every day occurance before then.

    Enlightened

    ATR % (14) > 5 Short (% 23.5 gain in 6 days)
    Hey there,

    I am currently using the aforementioned strategy (ATR %(14) > 5 Short) with some success. This strategy can be found under BOBBENTON0760-2@YAHOO.COM in the strategy wizard. Currently, I have 40 000 dollars on simulation with a twenty three percent return in 6 days. However, I have a number of questions for which I am seeking some insight;

    1) I am working with Interactive Broker and am wondering if they require notification for me to utilize a hedge strategy. Anyone have any experience in this regard?

    2) I currently have a negative balance in my ’Funds Available.’ Would this affect my ability to trade in real time? I am in stealth mode as of yet and have yet to test the program with real funds.

    3) Are there any persons reading this who have used this strategy with success, or perhaps even failure? I am looking for guidance in this regard. Also, any additional recommended strategies which would result in positive and significant gains?

    Any information in this matter is much appreciated and I anticipate the opportunity to pay it forward in the near future.

    Happy Trading.

    I don’t run any of Bob’s strategies. Last I recall he was specializing in writing strategies for Jim Cramer’s action alerts plus!

    1) I am working with Interactive Broker and am wondering if they require notification for me to utilize a hedge strategy. Anyone have any experience in this regard?

    I HAVE NEVER KNOWN ANY OF THE BROKERS TO GET INVOLVED IN ANY OF OUR STRATEGIES.

    2) I currently have a negative balance in my ’Funds Available.’ Would this affect my ability to trade in real time? I am in stealth mode as of yet and have yet to test the program with real funds.

    IT MEANS YOU ARE LEVERAGED. IF THE ACCOUNT VALUE IS NOT ALL USED IN OPEN POSITIONS THEN IT MEANS YOU ARE LIMITING THE AMOUNT OF FUNDS THE PROGRAM CAN USE. ON THE LOWER-RIGHT OF THE PREFERENCES SCREEN, SEE IF THE VALUE IS TOO LOW IN "REGARDLESS OF ACCOUNT VALUE CT SHOULD NOT USE MORE THAN XXX".

    Thanks for your swift response, hedge2. It is a pleasure to see a person of your caliber comment on my threat - much appreciated.

    After seeing your post, I attempted to access your strategy bank but was unsuccessful in doing so. Do you share them with CT users?

    My personal experience is that Bob’s strategy (mentioned in the subject line) is working - mostly. If his strategies are effective, why do you steer clear of them? I ask - not to be facetious - but I am inquiring if there is something in particular I should be leery of prior to me using real dollars.

    Also - Is it possible that I can contact you via email or another more private venue? It would be greatly appreciated.

    Regards.

    There is nothing special about the strategies that I use. In fact they are probably muddied up than the strategies that are made available today (by default), because mine have many unnecessary rules as I have been refining them for years. The default strategies provided (Dow 30) which account for the funds that you are trading with, have been optimzed for that amount of money. That is a huge part of trading. The biggest problem is when someone over-buys and then does not have enough funds to add more shares after the stock price drops 10% - 20%. The new strategies ensure that will not happen.

    I have nothing against Bob. In fact I only looked at his strategies a few years ago when CT automated Jim Cramer’s Action Alerts Plus! and Bob wrote a strategy for that and shared it with the community.

    The Conservative Long strategy is a strategy that I have run for a long time and it closes positions with the 5 day moving average goes below the 18 day moving average. That is the strategy I ran during the 2008-2009 crash and it closed all of the long positions in the early days of the crash and didn’t get back in until the stocks started to recover about a month later. Whereas, the Dow 30 strategies continue added to losing positions on 10% drops but are optimzed so you can ride a stock down about 80% and still have funds to buy/sell. Both strategies are excellent.

    I have found that if I take the time to analyze and think about the questions and answers on these boards it helps a lot with my trading. More people should try it.

    Cheers!

    Hedge

    Result report
    I’m curious, anyone has half or one year report with profits and losses to show? Cos I’m curious to see whether the robots really work! Please share if you have. You can email me at limroy@yahoo.com. I wanna make sure before I put in my hard earned money. Thank you and greatly appreciate!

    Just wondering. Have you been running your auto trader in simulation mode? How has it been doing?

    @limroy, as a relatively new CoolTrader Pro customer of four months, I haven’t yet seen any detailed sharing of results. I attempted to share my six-week simulation results for the Dow 30 Long Only 3% moves strategy, but didn’t generate any interest. This forum software eats links and the attachment function wasn’t working, so I gave up. If you email be at kirk [dot] vandenberghe [at] gmail [dot] com, I’ll be happy to send you the final report.

    In my view, the bright light in this forum are posts from enlightened.investor, hedge2, carolnetzer27, CTP support, Ed (Barsano), and a handful of others.

    Personally, I’m assisting in testing an intraday strategy developed by another CTP user. Promising overall results, but needs more tuning.

    Limroy
    I just posted the UCO/USO strategy. Please look at my comments.

    How do I get to "Result Report"? I don’t see any link or attachment.

    Yarajes.

    In the upper left area on your auto trader, click on the button labeled "reports" and a box should pop up with a bunch of different options.

    Limroy,

    I don’t think I read your question correctly when I responded above. Or I responded to the wrong thread. Whats your email address? I can give you a 6 month report simulating the BAC strategy.

    Please send me your report to Yarajes@hotmail.com
    Thank you,
    yarajes

    could somebody please send me their results at automaticmoneyrobot@gmail.com

    thank you
    Chris

    @automaticmoneyrobot & @yarajes, I’ve provided a six-week test of one of the better (IMHO) Dow 30 Long 3% Drops strategies to a number of people. But the test ended on March 26th, 2013 and I decided to try a new "intelligent buying" strategy approach. It’s very different from anything else I’ve seen and is doing really well. Nonetheless, if you want the Dow 30 Long 3% Drops reports you’re welcome to email me at registrar [at] positiveprojections [dot] com.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    If I could have some report that would be nice. I just downloaded the Cool Trade software and am anxious to go live.

    WWILDEEEEE@COMCAST.NET

    Hi Carol Netzer,

    Would you kindly send me your 6 month report simulating the BAC strategy?

    I am also new here.

    thanks,

    bayrun2@gmail.com

    Hi Carol,
    Could you please send me the 6 month report too?(& which BAC strategy it is-long and short)
    Thanks,
    Pete
    pete@midlands.net

    Hi Carol,
    Could you please send me the 6 month report too?(& which BAC strategy it is-long and short)
    Thanks,
    Pete
    pete@midlands.net

    Hi Carol,

    I, too, would be most appreciative if you would kindly send me your 6 month BAC simulated report. Is it long only? This is what I’m looking for. Could you also please send me the strategy parameters you used?

    Also, wondered what you thought of the UCO/SCO ETF (long) strategy? I’ve been simulating it and am now starting to look into how risky these ETP’s are. Any thoughts on this?

    Thank you!

    Will you be going to the convention? I will and would love to meet you!

    Warmly,

    Linda

    Linda@LindaHetzel.com

    Hi Eternal,
    What do you think about or do you know of the risks associates with trading the UCO/USO/SCO type of oil ETF’s?

    thanks!

    @linda, re: the risks of any given symbol, one useful approach is to check out the 1-year chart at a service like finance [dot] yahoo [dot] com. If you look at the charts of USO and UCO, consider the effect of running a strategy that doesn’t employ smart Open New Position Rules -- either no rules or minimal intraday technical indicator rules like simple a MACD crossover and/or Bollinger Band. Look at the peaks (high points) on the charts for USO, UCO, and other ETFs and imagine buying there, and if you’re running a strategy that buys on drops, continuing to add positions as the price drops. You could be underwater a long while and there’s no guarantee a given ETF will return to its highs.

    I get why Ed (Barsano) is comfortable buying Dow 30 stocks under $50 without many (or any) Open New Position Rules, and going both Long and Short on two different CoolTrade licenses. He has the stock’s historical trends as a context, and the overall trend of the entire market as a meta-context. His approach isn’t what I use, but he’s proven his method works well if users are willing to be patient and manage money correctly to keep enough funds available to buy on drops.

    But 3X ETFs -- really, most (all?) ETFs -- are a completely different animal. If I were trading ETFs, I’d only buy them below their 200-day moving average, and more preferably, way down close to their 52-week lows. Still not risk-free, but a little insurance against their crazy volatility.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk,

    I started using the etf bull long ira which has some very simple rules. Basically, they are purchasing 3 bear etfs that cost the same as two bull ETFs. Once I got it synched up with IB it seems to be working very well, especially in this downtrend the last couple of weeks. I did change the profit goals a little.

    One problem I had was a glitch in the software that was sending a purchase order to IB on FAS and not executing it. I was getting discouraged with my results at that time. Phil fixed the problem for me and it has been working pretty well. Especially considering this bear spell.

    @jimmie5555, how have the last few weeks been?

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    new user also curious about results please forward any results to glennwoods66@gmail.com

    I am new to CT. My first impression is that the system is powerful! I am concerned in viewing the Fourm by the number of people still looking, configuring and testing for a optomial trade system.

    In my expereince using robots (like CT) for the Forex market is that they work well in some market some of the time but over time the "drawdown" eventually exceeds the winning positions.

    jimdye1@gmail.com

    Can anyone email me reports of their success with CTP and the strategy used in the past three to six months.

    Thanks in advance
    Dorothy
    dwatts60@aol.com

    There is no robot like CTP. All the others, including the ones you were using are just black boxes. Ref. Spotlight archived calls. 641-715-3800. prompt 3.
    Rick Moore

    Changing Strategies
    I have been Simulating the Dow Long 25 & Dow Short 25 and most of my funds are tied up in shorts. If I want to change my Strategy to the SMA long Swing Strategy. How do I overwrite the current one and just have one long strategy on my Cool Trader? I read where New User suggested to have two different accounts to run a long and short at the same time otherwise your funds can get tied up waiting for a correction.

    Thank you

    In addition to my previous post. When changeing strategies how do you clear off the old positions and reset the account to start over?
    Thx

    @eternal, if you want to clear everything out including reports and owned positions open up the "Launch CoolTrade.exe" icon and at the "CoolTrade Login" screen navigate to "File > Refresh For New Strategy", select, and login as usual. You’ll be prompted for what you want to clear, which is everything, along with setting your new Account Value. Depending on your computer technical level, broker, and the version of Windows you’re running, you might want to consider calling CTP Support to schedule a time for them to check everything out. There are lots of "little settings" that make a difference, especially it seems with Windows 8.

    Regarding running short, I recommend you think carefully about whether to run a short strategy at all. Long and short are not equally inverse. Here’s an excerpt from investment writer, Devon Shire, speaking about traders who utilize short strategies: "...they have a lot more to lose. If I make a terrible investment and a stock I own goes to zero, I lose 100% of what I’ve invested. If a short seller makes a terrible investment decision, the stock he or she has shorted can go up five or ten times and the short seller has a loss of 500% to 1000% of the initial amount involved." I would add that when you open a short position, you open a loan Shorting can be really profitable unders some market conditions, but from my simulations I haven’t yet seen a short strategy I trust enough to take live. I need my money working for me and don’t like the idea of having a lot of trades sitting underwater for an extended period.

    This forum doesn’t allow links, so if you want to study more search Google for "10 Things You Must Know Before Shorting a Stock" for an article by Michael Shulman. You’ll note some additional issues with shorting, including margin account interest and possible margin calls.

    Of course, if one’s account funds are tied up in a number of long trades and the market goes south, those trades will also be underwater until the price rebounds back to the buy points, assuming that happens (always has, but there are no guarantees).

    If your market outlook for the next month is bullish, consider running long only. If bearish, consider short only. Running both is a method of not committing to either by hedging and expecting lots of swing trades vs. buy and hold. If you don’t want to continually follow the market and adjust strategies, consider simulating the "Dow30 Long 3% Move ForDemo" strategy found at OFFICE8@COOL-TRADE.COM. I like its lower profit goals. Make sure you get money management assistance on Trade Shares, Max Shares, and Max Symbols relative to your account value. Just know you need a real brokerage account to simulate, since the strategy uses to the MACD technical indicator to open positions.

    Personally, I like scalping strategies that use even lower profit goals of 1% and .5% profit protection and am testing a customized strategy that uses them. This method generates lots of trades and it’s important to use a discount broker like Interactive Brokers.

    You will read posts like this in the forum, and from members much more experienced and knowledgable than me: "The markets go down, often times, more than they go up. Therefore, it is important to run a Long AND a Short stock trading strategy. Shorting the market is just as easy as going Long, since the software manages the positions and can just as easily take profits no matter which direction the market or your positions are going. If you set your auto trading program to take a maximum of 5 long positions and a maximum of 5 short positions, then no matter which direction the market is moving, you can take profits on something." So, there’s your counter-point to my opinion.

    Re: your two machines question, CTP does not allow being both long and short on the same symbol. When a trade is entered on the long or short list, it is removed from the other list. With two copies of CTP running on different brokerage accounts, one machine can run long and the other short so you would be leveraged regardless of which direction the market moves, while consistently taking profits. If someone chooses to run both long and short, this seems to be the best route.

    I agree with Kirk. Shorting is very dangerous for the reasons he listed. The day-trading idea just seems to keep popping out at me. Trade begins in the am and then I am out in the afternoon with nothing in the market at the end of the day. To me... this is ideal.....finding a strategy that wins more than it loses is the key and has proven to be quite tricky.

    As far as running two machines with the same symbols on long and short... I am told that this works when the stocks remain within a certain range... it is when they begin to trade on the edge or beyond the edge that money management cannot be predicted. You will either have two situations... first, your money will be depleted and no additional funds will be able to purchased and you will have no option but to wait for correction or bail out. Or second, add more money so the traders can add shares... I am told this strategy rarely works as planned.

    Thank you KV & Dee for your insights.
    I also got my answer regarding changing strategies I went to Cool Trade Installatin from this Community Board/How to rest Cooltrade? regarding changing strategies from carolnetzer27’s post.

    KV
    You mentioned in the above post:
    "Just know you need a real brokerage account to simulate, since the strategy uses to the MACD technical indicator to open positions."

    I was looking at the strategy mharriganfunds $77,940,mret $7,643.00 however I am simualting without a broker. The above strategy uses MACD indicators.

    Will Cool trader be able to trade this strategy by simulating without a broker?

    Also I was looking at the SMA Long Swing Trade Strategy. Have you hear how anyone is doing with this?

    thanks

    You will be able to use the EOD MACD indicator as it uses EOD data.
    You will not be able to use the Intraday MACD indicators with just the ct feed because it needs historical minute bars data that on IB, MB, and TDA provide.

    Enlightened

    The forum does allow links. You just have to post them like this.

    cool-trade.com

    Do not put the www at the or put a space between it.

    Eternal, I know you figured it out, but for others who may read this thread, I wanted to share a really informative site that has simple directions for things like the followng.

    Copy New Strategy:
    https ://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/copy-new-strategy

    Refresh New Strategy:
    https ://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/refresh-strategy

    Also you need to make sure that CoolTrade is up to date as it will not always allow you to download the the new strategies. You can follow this link below to help with that.

    Update CoolTrade:
    https ://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/update-cooltrade

    If you copy and paste, I put a space after the https to make sure the links stay.

    Chart Conversions
    Hi, Can anyone tell me how to convert CTP’s (mathematical) EMA’s or SMA’s or any other indicator for that matter, to a graphic form or visa versa? I have strategies I have been using for years on other programs(graph based) and bought CTP to trade them Robotically but CTP’s numbers do not match the numbers on any graph anywhere anyhow and I am setting the parameters exactly the same. There must be some type of conversion table I could use. As far I as I was taught graphs are just a visual interpretation of the numbers. A duck is a duck! All other sites and programs have the same reading except CTP. Has anyone figured this out yet? Thanks Mike

    I’ve been using the system for a number of years and have learned that ct indicators are accurate. The key is to understand how the different indicators are built:

    EOD indicators use EOD data. That is the closing price each day.
    So, and EOD SMA(5) or EMA(5) uses the close price of each of the previous 5 days.

    Whereas the DYNAMIC EOD SMA(5) or EMA(5) uses the close price of each of the previous 4 days + the current price.

    The indicators that start with INTRADAY use historical minute bars:

    Intraday (2, 5, 0) uses 2 bars, lengh of each bar is 5 minutes, and returns the value of the last closing bar.

    Wheras Intraday (2, 5, 1) uses 2 bars, length of each bar is 5 minutes, but returns the value of previous bar. That is because the last parameter (OFFSET = 1), meaning 1 bar back.

    so the ct software / rules are only interested in the final value of the bars to create the indicators and do not focus at all on the look of the chart.

    That’s the best way I can explain it. I would base my strategy on the values that ct places on the indicators since ct is looking at those values to make the decisions.

    Hedge

    Hi Hedge, First of all I want to thank you for your response and your time! I am not questioning the accuracy and I understand how they work. I guess I should have written my question better. What I am trying to figure out is how to set that info up on a chart so I can try to compare and convert my previous strategies to the world of CTP. For example lets take a simple scalping strategy: a 5 min chart and you are running a 20 EMA and a 50 SMA and you buy and sell when they cross. So I set CTP up as follows, Rule 1- Intraday Exp MA (5,20,0) is Greater than Intraday Simple MA ( 5,50,0) Rule 2- Intraday Exp MA (5,20,1) is Less Than or Equal to Intraday Simple MA (5,50,1) But when I compare the two numerically( on a chart and in CTP Rules window) going back to the last closing bar they differ and that happens for any indicator. Problem being, I think, is you can not set a graph to read back only 20 bars or 50 bars. There must be a conversion like to setup the above strategy in CTP, maybe you would have to make Rule 1- Intraday Exp MA (5,24,0) is greater than Intraday Simple MA (5,44,0) or some other offsets. So it jives with charts. I hope I explained myself better this time. Do you have any ideas for me? I would have thought CTP would have provided us with a conversion table. Thank you again for your time- Mike

    5 X 44 = 220 minutes

    Would love to help but I only use small move to determine immediate movements and I don’t need charts for that. Like:

    current price > price 1 minute ago and
    price 1 minute ago > price 2 minutes ago

    Jerry

    The Street - Cramer
    Will the Cramer strategy work with IB?

    Yes. I can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t.

    thank you Carol.

    Another Question:

    I have never been very comfortable shorting the market. I have tried a few short strategies with no luck, but I really want to have one active should the market take a major hit.

    Can I run a long strategy (non Cramer) and use the "Follow Jim Crammer Short Strategy" for a short strategy. I have opened and account and verified it.

    Your thoughts please or anyone elses. thanks.

    Yes you can run any long and any short at the same time as long as it is not the same stock.

    You are testing in simulation mode before going live, right?

    Note that you need a active account/subscription with theStreet.com (Jim Cramer’s) Action Alerts Plus! in order to receive Jim’s alerts into your automated trader. Click on SUBSCRIPTIONS at the top of the Automated Trader to enter your user/pass for your Action Alerts Plus subscription.

    Enlightened

    Trade the Australian Market
    I need help. I configured my PC to think I am in Australia. I bring up CTP and it says Market Closed.
    What do I need to change to let CTP know the market is open?

    Bill,

    You will need to make sure that your Strategy that you are using is set to the ASX exchange. Open the specific strategy your are using click on the Watch List Rules Tab on the right side. Make sure that only the ASX (Australia) exchange is checked.

    Also, make sure you are using IB as your broker to simulate with. When you are logging into CoolTrade on the left side you will see Interactive Brokers choice for either Australia ASX (Live) or ASX (Simulate).

    Here is a little walk through on choosing Brokers. I’m posting the same link twice because sometimes they disappear.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/connect-to-broker

    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/connect-to-broker

    Teach A Man to Fish Initiative
    Good morning ambitious Cool Traders,

    What is interesting is that the majority of people in this Cool Trader system are around the same place in their evolution with the software. I bought Cool Trader on February 28th of this year and I’m aware it is in it’s organic stage. This company in general has one very important power that should be poignant in our relationship with one another; the success of one helps the all. Lowes and Home Depot are competitive with each other and their success is inverse of one another. Cool Trader is unique in that information need not be secret or competitive, the resources of Cool Trader will eventually out grow the resources of the number one fortune 500 company.

    Many people want to get to the place of belief before they buy something so close to the leading edge as Cool Trader Pro. It will help all Cool Trader salesman to have hardcore evidence of a support system that will be with them on their ride on the leading edge. I have spent all of my time in simulation mode. In the month of April with 5,000 using the UCO/USO strategy I had a return of 5%. This took me on the giant leap from hope to belief. Right now the company has just finished their founders tour and there are over 16,000 users and about an estimated dozen of strategies known by the strategists in Arizona, who field the calls that connect the community.

    All of us are at different places in our backgrounds. I’m 22 and have the business meme within me and enjoy the rush of resonating with a new idea. There are many who have backgrounds in the stock market that span any years. This system though changes the rules. This takes Ricky Carmichael off of the motorcycle and into a stock car. Right now we all have the equipment but this is the process of building "precept by precept, indicator by indicator" the book on how this is done. Ed wrote the software and now have to assemble all the information that we can share in common. The stock market in all it’s relationships. I hope to use this thread to put a fire under your chair, and built on market knowledge which could then be translated into indicators and strategies. You want to sell the robotic trader, you have to sell yourself on it’s functionality.


    *I’ll add a piece of information and you can built off of it

    I recently got a book by William J. O’Neil who studied the stock market between the 1950s and 1994 when the book was written. He orders his thinking by the way the stock market reacts as in, I would say "Monday, Tuesday" he would say "October of 1962" and he would envision the pulse and the vibe and the system of the market at that time.

    In his book he mentioned on the way to being an industry leader, "big winners" within 10 quarters or 2 1/2 years will have one quarter of rising in growth 85-90%. Information is power. See if you can built off of this. I’ll end with Jesus quote, "teach a man to fish and he’ll have food for a lifetime."


    well I posted on the forum!

    Good post!

    Welcome to the forum!

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Andrew. Good to have you here. In my view, the company would be well-served to provide more strategies, including actual testing results, aggregated and anonymized.

    It is not up to corporate to run thousands of strategies. Corporate produced an easy-to-use system to help us create and share strategies. Each of us is welcome to run our own strategies and share with the community.

    I would prefer we communicate with each other so we understand every aspect of a strategy and what makes it great and profitable.

    @carolnetzer27, I appreciate your perspective. While I’m receiving value in learning CTP and strategy creation, my perspective is very different than yours. Every live and simulated strategy is generating test data, but to very little of which I have access. Having access to that data would be invaluable. I yearn to query a database of strategies where I can search for various strategy and results criteria. For example, display all strategies that have been running for greater than 30 days and contain Watch List Rules with "Average True Range(14)" and/or "Beta" where monthly P/L is greater than 5%. The list of example searches is endless. Once displayed, the data could be filtered and sorted by columns. By comparing X number of strategies, the need for multiple computers and CTP licenses in order to test, compare, and optimize strategies (like I’ve purchased) is unnecessary. Technically, this isn’t a very difficult problem, an order of magnitude simpler than actually creating CTP. The query results provided at pro-trading-profits [dot] com are a good example.

    My tunnel vision right now is on the stock SCTY:

    Solar City got it’s IPO in December and took off like a rocket since then. They install solar panels and are verging to my knowledge, as the industry leader of alternative energy. I qualifying that by altenergystocks.com. I see this to be an emerging trend that the world will align to. Today it’s selling for $45 share.

    I would like to put this into the language of CT software. My idea in it’s ignorance is to have an identical short and long strategy that adds shares as it either falls or rises so that the profit balance finds equalibrium. This is difficult for me as it’s a $5,000 budget to buy 100 stocks of SCTY. Translating this into the vocabulary of putting together a strategy is daunting at first glance.

    Does anybody have any incite?

    Andrew, if your budget is $5000 then SCTY isn’t the right security to be using with CTP unless you hedged it with options (a married put, covered call, or collar) which I’m assuming you have no experience with. If you use the trading style that is promoted with the software (no stops, just add to your position) then you need that $5000 to be divided into multiple lots of 100 to cover long purchases of a security at more than one price. You would need to further divide it in a similar manner if you want to play the short side as well. And regarding the short side, you won’t be able to go long and short the same security with CTP unless you have a second CTP installation (which costs more money). That’s a restriction of CTP, so your only workaround is to go with ETFs that have a long and short (e.g. UCO/SCO, FAS/FAZ etc.) or pick 2 securities that are closely correlated with respect to price movement and go long on one and short on the other. Given the amount of funds you’re using you’ll have to decide how many shares you want to work with and pick an appropriate stock or stock pair. This will also restrict you to stocks of a certain price that still have good liquidity and the ability to move. BAC and GNW are an example. You can go even lower in price but you should look closely at what you’re buying.

    The fewer shares you work with, the more risk you’ll be taking since you can’t as effectively use the CTP FIFO method. If you purchase 100 shares of a stock and it gaps down due to some unforeseen event, you could be stuck in that position for a very long time. The same would be true for shorting. That’s the reason for dividing your capital across several purchase prices.

    As previously mentioned, you can use options as a hedge as an alternative to FIFO but you would need to first learn how to use options which takes time and practice. But there are some good resources out there if you’re willing to put in the work.

    Re: Teach A Man to Fish Initiative
    While it may not be up to corporate to run thousands of strategies, it makes absolute sense to provide the capabilities within the CTP software to do so. Forward testing alone is a very time inefficient way to test a strategy. And from the strategies I’ve seen that are shared, its easy to see the best ones aren’t being shared, which is understandable since trading requires making money from other traders.

    What you need is an edge and back testing capabilities can help you find this. I was told at one time CTP had this capability, but the feature was taken out because some people complained that the back testing process took too long. I don’t know how long "too long" was, but I think it was a big mistake to drop that feature. A back test that took days would still better than months of forward testing, which gives you a far shorter period of testing time. Even back testing on end-of-day data would be useful if intraday back testing couldn’t be supported. I would like to see this feature re-introduced to the platform.

    In the meantime my solution will be to use another autotrading platform that can do back testing (EOD and intraday) and come up with a set of strategies that the CTP platform can implement. This will take some time to learn a new scripting language but in the long run it will be worth the effort.

    Re: Teach A Man to Fish Initiative
    While it may not be up to corporate to run thousands of strategies, it makes absolute sense to provide the capabilities within the CTP software to do so. Forward testing alone is a very time inefficient way to test a strategy. And from the strategies I’ve seen that are shared, its easy to see the best ones aren’t being shared, which is understandable since trading requires making money from other traders.

    What you need is an edge and back testing capabilities can help you find this. I was told at one time CTP had this capability, but the feature was taken out because some people complained that the back testing process took too long. I don’t know how long "too long" was, but I think it was a big mistake to drop that feature. A back test that took days would still better than months of forward testing, which gives you a far shorter period of testing time. Even back testing on end-of-day data would be useful if intraday back testing couldn’t be supported. I would like to see this feature re-introduced to the platform.

    In the meantime my solution will be to use another autotrading platform that can do back testing (EOD and intraday) and come up with a set of strategies that the CTP platform can implement. This will take some time to learn a new scripting language but in the long run it will be worth the effort.

    @satruss, great posts. I hope you continue to participate here in the forum.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    I did some Scorpio moon studying on investopedia.com concerning stocks

    My finding is that the stock market moves by two metaphoric human emotions; "bull" and "bear." These emotions can be read in timings with bulls representing intent to buy and bear representing intent to sell. Concerning any particular stock there is a trend that arise in the currents of people.

    The stocks temporarily spent time consolidating between two boundary price zones called "support" and "resistance." When a stock breaks from this boundary old supports become new points of resistance and old resistance become new supports.

    Here is why. Short positions will buy to cover their loss. Longs will add to their position. Herd instinct congregates around a support and follows the action of others. As a result these two price points of the long and likewise with the short become grooves between the human emotions of fear and trust. Movement from a support or resistance gives rise to trends. That can be measured over time. Volume confirms a trend as it is a collection of all buying and selling which doesn’t control the price. Low price points there is more supply, higher there is more demand.

    And when trends is broken, either resistance becomes support or support become resistance.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    I can only trade long positions due to IRA
    I have been watching CT for a few months now. My IB account is finally funding from a transfer from another 401k. I can only trade long positions with no margin. I am starting with 50k which is about 10% of my stock portfolio. I have max usage set at $40,000.

    Currently, I am trying the Dow long simulating for $50,000. I also looked at the newuser 2 strategy. Like KV, I have a problem with the low utilization of funds. Right now I only have $14,000 allocated. In addition it basically has no watchlist rules and only trades the 7 stocks in the portfolio. The $1 profit goal seems fairly large since most of these are under $30. I do take anything over $50 per day. However, the open new position rules make it look like it will just open up and buy those same stocks again.

    From listening to Ed it appears that I am hoping for a downturn and play the bounces.

    What do you recommend for max returns long term with some protection for the declines since I cannot trade shorts?

    Cebudata,

    First when you say Max Usage are you referencing to the section within Funds Allocation field in Strategy Preferences for the drop down for how much CoolTrade should never utilize more than this amount? Is there a reason you don’t want to increase it closer to $45,000 or so to maximize your funds?

    If you are wanting to change the stocks that the strategy chooses for the DOW strategy you can add or remove them from the My Portfolio field under the Watch List Tab. These stocks are currently static for this strategy. If you want the strategy to choose the stocks for you you can un check all the fields at the bottom for Add My Portfolio to the Watch List / Add My Symbol Files to the Watch List / Use My Portfolio or Symbol Files Only. I believe the only rule that strategy uses is Yesterdays Close Price is Less than $30. So the strategy will grab all the stocks that are below $30 on the DOW and choose 6 or 7 to purchase.

    If you are grabbing the DOW Long for Simulating $50,000 from NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM account them the Open New Positions Rules tab should have two rules (Todays Current Price is Greater Than Todays Open Price and Todays Open Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price).

    You can change your Profit goal down to $.80 or lower if you feel that your not matching your profit potential as well you can lower your Profit protection down to .40 or so.

    The biggest change I would suggest would be to go under the Auto Trader Preferences tab and change your Trading Shares from 100 to like 200 or more if you would like. Controlling more shares would increase your profit potential.

    I hope this helps!

    I would keep it at 100 shares. I prefer 100% safety. I can add on 10% drops with 100 shares and never have to worry about having more than 1000 shares even if the stock went down to 0.

    Enlightened

    VPS
    Is anyone using a VPS. If so can you let me know which one? I just bought the software and seems it will not work on my computer. Need a dedicated computeror a VPS. I would rather usea VPS.


    Tim

    VPS
    Is anyone using a VPS. If so can you let me know which one? I just bought the software and seems it will not work on my computer. Need a dedicated computeror a VPS. I would rather usea VPS.


    Tim

    I’ve never heard of a Windows computer, with Windows XP or later OS, that the software would not work on. What is the problem that you are having?

    Enlightened

    just taking forever to run. more than 10 minutes just to open. Support did instillation, not just me on my own

    just taking forever to run. more than 10 minutes just to open. Support did instillation, not just me on my own

    Timmysg,

    What are the spec’s to your system? Do you have less than 2Gig of RAM or less than a 2.0Ghz Processor?

    Do you run other programs at the same time that you are running CoolTrade or is this a system you just turn on and set in the corner?

    Are you running the latest version? Many problems have been solved just by updating.

    https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/update-cooltrade

    Are you running with xp, windows 7 or windows 8 or other?

    Tim,
    YOu might have viruses or malware in your computer. I had that problem too & had to get a technician to remove over 1400 viruses & it works ok now. Your bandwidth needs to be 2mb up & 1mb down.

    This happens to me to, a lot of the time. Sometimes it makes it to the log in screen, sometimes it makes it to the account selection screen. And then sometimes it will make it through all that and get stuck on a Ctrl-C to copy the access code for Etrade.

    I close it or use task manger to close it and restart it. Sometimes it takes 3-5 try’s before it will load up. After the initial boot up, it can take up to 10min to populate, if it doesn’t. Then I need to restart it again.

    I used to automate the whole process with an auto launched macro program, but it got to the point that I was having to remote log in and check it every morning anyways, wasn’t allowing me to take a more of a set it and forget it approach, and when simulating you should be letting it run for days before touching it.

    Bottom line is, about 10-15% of the time it doesn’t load right. And it will burn 2 core’s of a Multicore CPU, so you should have at least 3 logical CPU cores available or the system can be unresponsive

    My best solution so far has been to push it into a VM from an old Vista x64 disk, it seemed to eliminate a lot of launch problems and allowed a Virgin OS/Drivers for just running CT. In my case it was a far cheaper solution then renting a server.

    CTP does a lot of calculation and is CPU-intensive, and rightly so, thus a big factor is the number of symbols in the watch list. Running with 5 - 10 symbols is very different from 80 - 100.

    For my two Windows 8 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7-3630QM with 8 GB memory machines that are running CTP, about 50 watch list symbols is the working max with which I’m comfortable. Much beyond that, in the 65 - 75 symbol range I start to experience stability issues like CTP or the CTP Strategy Wizard hanging.

    I’ve also found that when running a large watch list, like 50 symbols for my machines, it’s wise on CTP startup to let the software fully initialize all symbols before doing anything else; for example, opening the Strategy Wizard.

    Slope of moving average
    I like to use 150SMA/EMA and slope change of averages.
    Can this be done or can this be added?
    Ali

    Oconnor.alison,

    It is possible that new indicators can be added.

    Just post your request here:



    Here is the link again.



    Thanks, but didn’t get the link.
    ali

    Thanks, but didn’t get the link.
    ali

    Thanks, but didn’t get the link.
    ali

    Ok. That is so weird.

    Go back to the forum homepage.

    Look toward the bottom, you’ll see customer requests.

    Post your request under the Indicator Requests.

    Carol

    ATR%(14) > 5 Short (mret 50%)
    Hey there,

    I have been running this strategy for the past month (4/11/13 to 5/11/13) and am now requesting some assistance with a couple ’quirks’ in the way it runs.

    I have noted that this strategy provides stunning results - within CTP, but that when I review the data from outside data streams (google finance), I have discovered the strategy believes the stock is falling when it is in fact rising. This causes the strategy to purchase when the stock is at its peak, and sell when it is low. CTP, however, falsely believes the strategy is making a killing.

    It ’appears’ to have gained 20 658 dollars (with a 40 000 dollar simulated investment) withing the past month or so. However, this is not accurate and likely would reflect a 20 658 loss.

    My question is valid because I believe with the correct data stream (or software fix?) this strategy could prove to be profitable.

    Appreciation for all input much appreciated. This one really boggles me... Would love to hear what the ’think tank’ says about this one.


    Cheers!

    - Tom

    I’m not familiar with the specific strategy. But if you would like to post the specific rules or which account you retrieved the strategy from I will look it over.

    I suggest checking out the strategies under account NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM. These have been tested and I’ve heard many great things by the many people who have been using these.

    I hope this helps!

    If you have been running the strategy and the software has generated those results, then generate a trade report and see the p/l of each trade. That is the best way to see the results. I am not also not familiar with the particular strategy that you are running.

    If that is a top strategy that is on the website, then that is the result of actual trades. No way to fudge that report. But, as they always say, past results are no indication of future returns.

    Enlightened

    Double Negatives in Rules
    When I see a rule like...

    Todays Close Price is at least -15 Dollars Less Than Lowest Price During Previous 50 Days

    ...is that equivalent to the following?

    Todays Close is at least 15 Dollars Greater Than Lowest Price During Previous 50 Days

    If so, is there a reason for writing one way or the other?

    Thanks.

    kv,

    I believe that they would react the same way.

    In this case, I don’t see a reason for writing one way over the other.

    Actually when you see a negative sign it means NO MORE THAN.

    Therefore this: Todays Close Price is at least -15 Dollars Less Than Lowest Price During Previous 50 Days

    means:

    Todays Close Price is NO MORE THAN 15 Dollars Above the Lowest Price During Previous 50 Days

    Note: you can only use this on the OPEN, Add to, and Close rules. You cannot use that rule on the Watchlist rules (tab2).

    Enlightened

    Ahh, I didn’t know that.

    Thank you enlightened!

    FAZ short strategy
    This was great in simulation but then when I tried to short FAZ manually from my brokerage acct I found I couldn’t short it because there were no shares available to borrow. Anyone running that strategy live and if so how are you getting around this?

    Kevin,

    Which broker are you using?

    I have seen others on here with this same issue with their broker.

    All I can think of is to reach out to your broker to confirm that they have shares of FAZ to short each day. If they don’t, you might want to consider moving to a different broker.

    Carol

    trader keeps closing out positions at a loss
    I set up a really simple short strategy to short stocks under 30 bucks that have more bearish than bullish indicators and trading on volume over 5,000,000 shares. Positions open when the intraday macd value (12, 26, 9, 10, 0) is less than the intraday macd signal line (12, 26, 9, 10, 0). Unprofitable positions can be added to if the same rule exists. I have no rules for exiting an active trade except for my profit requirements which are .50 per share, profit protection starting at .40, and pullback of .05. I have no stops set.

    So, under this scenario I should enter my short position and not close until I reach my profit target, right? Well, I keep getting positions closed in the negative. I can’t figure out why. Any ideas?

    Make sure you do not have "close all positions" checked on Tab1 in the strategy wizard.

    That is the first of the 3 close options near the bottom of the screen.

    If that is checked it will close positions at the specified time regardless of whether they are up or down.

    Hedge

    doh! Sure enough, it was checked. This was driving me crazy. I thought I had it set the same on all my strategies but somehow this one was set differently. Thanks!

    Wow. I’m good. ha.

    Based on your description, that was the only logical thing it could have been.
    I’m glad that solved it.

    Hedge

    Rick Moores webinar
    I tried to locate the strategy he uses , he gave it out "MOORERICKS" but I could not locate it . Does anyone know it ? Thanks

    It’s moorericks@gmail.com . I just started running her strategy this morning . I ran into her at the Las Vegas money show yesterday . There isn’t much help after the purchase of the software . So far the strategy is running a short . I’m not sure if I need to stimulate using tdameriatrade . Going back today to ask more question .

    I’m not seeing the strategy listed under moorericks@gmail.com account either.

    Rockon,

    If you need help, your sponsor should be there to help you.

    If they aren’t helpful, you can usually get your questions answered within 24 hours right here on the board.

    Customer support is always there as well.

    Techinal Indicators
    I am a newbi, and do not have a lot of computer skills, when I have to open "file" or "properties" I walk softly. I want to pick a few stocks to become a strategy, does CTP pick / assign the technical indicators?

    Oppertune1,

    You might want to look through some of the training videos that explain how the CoolTrade Strategies work.

    CoolTrade University: https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/cooltrader-training-videos/cooltrade-university

    CoolTrade Software Training: https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/cooltrader-training-videos/software-training

    Other CoolTrade Reference Videos: https://sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/cooltrader-training-videos/cooltrader-pro-videos

    I hope this helps!

    Techinal Indicators
    Good Morning to you all.

    I have been trading since 1991. The traders results shows that 95% of traders lose money when they trade on the 1min or 5min , 10min and 15min times chart / indicators.

    Now if the charts / indicators are set to time frame of 1 Day , 1 hour or 30 mins are more likely to be on the 95% winning side.

    I am new to CTP , and I am trying to setup a new stock strategy on these bases:

    1- 1 year time frame daily
    2- RSI (10,0)
    3- MACD ( 10,26,9)
    4 - buy signal ( RSI @20-25% and MACD @ -20-25 ) going up
    5- Sell signal ( RSI @0.9-0.8% and MACD @ 30-20) going down
    6- all the other usual setting of CT

    with the rest of the setting as the swing formation.

    I know CT is robotic and can buy and sale 100 times a day but to make money you have to look at the bigger picture

    If you have this Stock Strategy I wold like to try it out or see the result of this Stock Strategy .

    thank you

    Orders,

    Here are two rules that seem to be close to what you are looking for. With the the strategy wizard under Tab 3 "Open New Postion Rules" Try these.

    Buy Signal

    Relative Strength Indicator (2) is Greater Than or Equal to 20 Percent
    MACD Value is Greater Than or Equal to -20 Percent

    Sell Signal

    Relative Strength Indicator (2) is Less Than or Equal to .8 Percent
    MACD Value is Less Than or Equal to 30 Percent

    You can try these to start off with or if you would like to look through the RSI Indicators to tweak it how you would like there are two sections for this. First one is Relative Strength Indicator (2) and Relative Strength Indicator (14). Both of these have variation of -1 Day to -5 Day. MACD indicators are located under MACD(12,26,9) and these include Value/Signal Line with specific days from -1 to -2 days.


    If you are looking for more Intraday there are also RSI and MACD indicators you can tweak all located under INTRA-DAY INDICATORS

    HI
    Thanks for the replay.
    when i select 20 Percent add rule goes grey colour.
    why

    bot nor 30 or .. dollars


    thanks

    I see. If you click on a blank space in the right indicator pane the "ADD RULE" button should be active.

    I hope this helps!

    Dewey

    Small account ?
    Does anyone have a $5,000 and under account that is making money and could you share some detail and the strategy used?

    Thanks for your help,

    Info,

    There are a few strategies that I am aware of that could work with a $5,000 account. The one most people reference to is the "$2 and Below Strategy" located under account NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM.

    I know someone who simulated with $5,000 with "BAC 200 share lots add on .30 drops" strategy located on OFFICE1@COOL-TRADE.COM and it worked out really well.

    Carol

    Hi Carol,

    Thank you for your input, I have been running the same strategy for buy Long small account since 6/5/13, its profit 15% but now my concern is the CT is showing red loss 65 -)
    How do we prevent loss? Can we download the strategy for sell short too? Could provide me with your report to my email ndion2@gmail.com so we can exchange report

    Thanks

    Cerasse

    Broker Comparison
    Does anyone have a broker comparison chart, like fees, minimums etc?

    I don’t have a side by side comparison but here is the link to all the info for the current CoolTrade Parteners:

    www.cool-trade.com/partners/partners.asp

    @grant, I don’t have a comparison chart, but the lowest prices I’ve found are with Interactive Brokers and TradeKing (URLs obfuscated so this forum software doesn’t eat them):

    interactivebrokers [dot] com/en/index.php?f=1590

    tradeking [dot] com/api/partners

    I hear, but haven’t yet confirmed, that on request TradeKing offers an unadvertised special of matching Interactive Brokers pricing.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Go to www.finviz.com. Click on the ’store’ tab. There is a comparison of many brokers listed there. Not all of the brokers listed have a relationship with CTP.

    Have fun.

    Re: Teach A Man to Fish Initiative
    While it may not be up to corporate to run thousands of strategies, it makes absolute sense to provide the capabilities within the CTP software to do so. Forward testing alone is a very time inefficient way to test a strategy. And from the strategies I’ve seen that are shared, its easy to see the best ones aren’t being shared, which is understandable since trading requires making money from other traders.

    What you need is an edge and back testing capabilities can help you find this. I was told at one time CTP had this capability, but the feature was taken out because some people complained that the back testing process took too long. I don’t know how long "too long" was, but I think it was a big mistake to drop that feature. A back test that took days would still better than months of forward testing, which gives you a far shorter period of testing time. Even back testing on end-of-day data would be useful if intraday back testing couldn’t be supported. I would like to see this feature re-introduced to the platform.

    In the meantime my solution will be to use another autotrading platform that can do back testing (EOD and intraday) and come up with a set of strategies that the CTP platform can implement. This will take some time to learn a new scripting language but in the long run it will be worth the effort.

    Good Strategy UCO Long/UCO Short 10 k Acct.
    I have just gone live today after simulating UCO Long/USO Short. It may have been an great month but on a $10,000 account 2 to 1 margin. It recorded $1,014.00 gain over 26 days. When I went live I closed out my open positions with a -$118.00 P & L which equals a net $896.00 or 9% over this period. This is a practice Rick Moore mentioned at one of his seminars to give correct results.
    Had I not gone live I would not have prematurely closed this positions and the gain over the month may have been better with 3 days left of trading on the month.

    This strategy may be a little more boring to look at than say the Dow 30 Strategy however at least for the month of May the gains look great. As per the CTP disclaimer any results from the past will not guarantee the same performance in the future.

    Is anyone else getting similar results on this strategy?

    Sounds like a great strategy!

    There is nothing boring about gains like that.

    Thanks for sharing!

    @eternal, thank you for sharing your results. Very helpful. If you’ve elected in your CTP Preferences to share your strategies, would you be willing to post your associated email address and specific strategy names?

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Response to kirk.vanderberghe

    I have just canged my settings to look at the Strategy at: eternal@telus.net
    It is my UCO Long - Profit_Trader888 & USO Short - Profit_Trader888

    You can email me at eternal@telus.net or profit_trader888@telus.net

    Thanks

    Andy
    PS- Perhaps this was just an unusual month but I have just gone live on this strategy and hopeful even if I get half the results would be good on an average.
    Sorry I have taken a little while to respond.

    Response to Bev Gallegoes:

    I went live with Interactive Brokers. It is the only brokerage in Canada which will connect with the CTP software platform. Pricing and margin & exchange rates are very good.

    Andy

    Response to Bev Gallegoes:

    I went live with Interactive Brokers. It is the only brokerage in Canada which will connect with the CTP software platform. Pricing and margin & exchange rates are very good.

    Andy

    All, Thanks for sharing!. It helps to know that something is working and how to get at it. Is anyone wiling to let me down load from them. Thanks,Joel

    TheJessees,

    You can download the UCO / USO Long/ Short strategies from account "PATRICK@COOLTRADERPRO.COM".

    Thanks. How do I use the address to download? Joel

    Here is a quick how-to that will explain how to download a new strategy:

    sites.google.com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/copy-new-strategy

    I am considering running this strategy in IB sim mode but have a question.
    Would it be better to add a trend indicator like SMA or MACD instead of just having the rule to just buy if the price is greater than or lower than $X?
    Otherwise this is just a buy limit order.

    eayala604,

    I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. I think the MACD would work well, but go with what you like. It would be great if you would post what you do to change the strategy and how it works for you.

    Thanks Carol, I will look into one and post results after a while.

    Running MACD in Simulation
    I read on another blog that MACD in simluation does not operate in real time unless you have an account open with one of the CTB brokers and use a live broker feed in simulation. If you use the Cool Trade Live Feed the MACD only updates at the end of the day.

    USO Short
    Just discovered when going live on the USO short strategy that IB (SEC rules) can call you to buy in or close out your short positions if they do not have enough shares they have borrowed to hold your position regardless of when you purchased it.
    I doubt that the buy in will be indicated when your are simulating this strategy.
    The problem here is that they may require you to buy your short shares when the price may not be favourable. With long positions this type of situation does not occur as the market maker is required to provide liquidity and you should be able to hold the stock as long as the company is viable.

    Andy, great to see you have gone live with the UCO/USO strategy. I’ve been running this strategy in simulation for about 6 weeks as I learn the software and looking to go live mid-July. I’ve been playing the different setting and options the software has only for learning purposes but still managed to get 5.5% results over a 6 week period.

    Again thanks for sharing your progress and glad to know someone else running this strategy.

    ~Angela
    dangelagpt@gmail.com

    Andy,

    If you want to avoid those short sells and run into the risk of IB not having the shares to sell back, you could always add SCO into your long and turn off your short as a substitute. SCO is an inverse ETF of UCO and USO so it would be basically doing the same thing. The only down side is that SCO costs more than the others, right around $37 so it will eat your funds a little quicker, especially on a $10k account. Just have to be careful.

    Thanks Andy & Eternal for the heads up on the USO Shorts when going live.
    ~Angela

    Is this uco long uco short OR are we using uso in the trade?

    Is this uco long uco short OR are we using uso in the trade?

    Is this uco long uco short OR are we using uso in the trade?

    The strategy that they are referencing to is the UCO Long / USO Short combo. You can find this strategy under DEMOTRADER2@COOL-TRADE.COM account.

    I am new to Cool Trade and I appreciate the post about folks that have gone LIVE with their strategy.

    Please keep the information coming.

    I am new to Cool Trade and I appreciate the post about folks that have gone LIVE with their strategy.

    Please keep the information coming.

    I have posted this elsewhere also. I have been trading UCO Long/USO short live for about 7 weeks and in the first five weeks I made 17%. And then UCO and USO moved out of their trading range and I did not buy any more UCO positions and purchased USO which I have been stuck in for about two weeks. When oil comes down as it has been doing the last couple days I will be able to move out of my USO positions.

    I recommend moving to UCO Long/ SCO Long which work exactly inverse of each other and you remove the risk of trading a short stock. Although SCO moves like USO with a short stock the broker like IB did with me is call up one day and say they can no longer cover the position and in sense are calling the loan and forcing you to "buyin" that is buy back the stock or close the short position. I had to do this at a loss which was not a whole lot however I’d rather take a loss on my terms instead of someone doing it for me.

    If you want to look or download the strategy UCO Long/SCO Long go to phil@cooltraderpro.com when you open your Strategy Wizard.

    test
    test

    kirk c/o andy @ ctp

    Test ack.

    Test Ack 2.

    "Market Closed"....
    As of now CT is still showing "Market Closed" and it has not being loaded all existing positions yet. Any hint???

    Please restart your automated trader now and it will fix it.

    Thanks, but the symbol FAS has been removed from watch list, do you know why?

    test - c/o joe and andy
    test

    Test Ack.

    Watchlist analogy
    Looking at the following Watchlist rules:
    1. Yesterdays Close Price is at least 2 Percent Less Than Close Price 5 Days Ago
    2. Yesterdays Close Price is at least 1 Dollars Less Than Close Price 200 Days Ago
    3. Average True Range(14) is Greater Than 1.5 Dollars
    4. Yesterdays Close Price is at least .5 Dollars Less Than Close Price 5 Days Ago
    5. Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than 50 Dollars

    No rules for opening positions.

    Would you look at this as a long or short strategy?

    This would look like a short strategy. This seems to be looking at price dropping. Unless your are looking for stocks that have been dropping and are going to turn but there are no Moving Averages rules to help that so I would go with a short side.

    I believe it could go either way. I see it as a Long strategy, wanting to get in after the dip.

    Hedge

    Hedge, Dewey,

    Thanks for the replies. This strategy is posted on community boards as a long strategy. My first week of simulating, I inadvertantly opened this strategy as a short, because I had looked at the parameters and felt like this had to be a short. It was profitable for the days that I ran it, but I really did not feel that I was getting a confidence building run/result and would probably not go live based on this conflict. Curiosity getting the best of me, I opened (simulation) this strategy as a long on the first trading day this month. Short time, but am showing a loss in the first two days of trading.

    My gut tells me to leave this alone, so, I will search for a more definitive strategy.

    Thanks again.

    Trading Multiple Stock Markets
    Can CTP be setup to trade multiple markets?

    My idea... have CTP trade the US market during the day, then an Asian market in the evening, and the UK market at night.

    If that’s possible, can it be done with 1 version of the software?

    Would I need 3 brokerage accounts?

    Logic: If 1 market is able to produce a 5% to 10% monthly gain, then using a similar strategy on 3 markets could potentially triple the monthly ROI.

    Thanks for your feedback!

    ~ Jason "Ski Bum" Olson

    skibumbiz,

    I would consider getting more than one auto trader if you plan to go down this path. Just so that you aren’t having to log out, switch markets, switch strategies...etc. so many times in a 24 hour period. You’d have to change your time zone on your pc for each one as well.

    Sounds like a great idea though!

    Currently CoolTrade does not trade the UK market. The markets that are available right now are the NASDAQ, AMEX, NYSE, ASX, HKX, NSE, SGX and TSE.

    Very interesting idea/concept. Something definitely worth looking at in the future. I’m currently just trying to get my first Robot live my mid-July (2013).

    Angela

    Jason,

    Like Carol said, it would be a very difficult thing to do with a lot of manual intervention. You could also run the risk of confusion on the trader side and if you don’t do everything just right you could have trades that you didn’t want to execute.

    I would say, like Carol has said, get separate traders, with separate brokerage accounts to avoid any confusion. Remember if you have a brokerage account and that account has open positions, your trader will look at those positions and attempt to pull them into your open positions. You would have to block and unblock all the symbols every time you switch from market to market.

    @skibumbiz, I’m finding just trading ONE market to be quite a handful. Trading 24/7 gives me a headache!

    Try Forex Kirk. Your head will explode.

    @phil, yes, I’ve heard same. Way more leverage than I’m currently able and willing to handle. I *am* being mentored real time in day trading, but just in the U.S. stock market and with very tight money management.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    It’s not that bad really, well with CoolTrade it isn’t.

    Check out the strategies on tech8@cooltraderpro.com

    Yellow Stealth
    Hi,

    What does it mean when the colour of the word "Stealth" is YELLOW? Normally, I see it is green during market open times, but sometimes I see it is YELLOW and I don’t understand why.
    Thanks,

    From one of the CoolTrade articles:

    Orders in Stealth Mode - A standard feature of many trading software programs is the ability to enter limit, stop and stop limit orders. While it is important to have an exit strategy from your positions, telegraphing it to the institutional traders in the form of publicly viewed limits is not. It’s a little like poker--whoever can see all the hands has the advantage. Instead, newer programs (like CoolTrade) allow the user to enter these price points in the auto trader system, but trigger a market order when the conditions are met. This is one advantage of a truly robotic stock trading program.

    I agree with Kirk.
    I also believe the yellow stealth just means it is a short position.

    Strategy for stocks that Gap Up??
    I just purchased CTP and wanted to implement a strategy for stocks that gap up in the morning. The problem I am having with CTP is that it wants you to create a watchlist. I can create a watchlist to narrow the stocks somewhat on volume and price but the watchlist I want does not happen until the morning when the stock actually gaps. Then I want to apply my add to position rules. Can someone help me on this because I may have purchased a product that will not work for my strategies!!!

    The system has what you want. However, we highly encourage you to start simulating with the default strategies that we provide until you understand the software.
    The indicators you will use on Tab3 (Open Position Rules) are “Todays Top Up Mover Rank” and “Todays Top Down Mover Rank”.

    Example Long Rules to get the top 5 up movers:

    Todays Top Up Mover Rank > 0
    Todays Top Up Mover Rank < 6

    Example Short Rules to get the top 5 down movers:

    Todays Top Down Mover Rank > 0
    Todays Top Down Mover Rank < 6

    All day, the symbols that meet the above criteria will appear in your watch list and depending on your other open position rules will decide if the positions get opened or not.
    Note: symbols will not get removed from the watch list. Therefore if a symbol’s rank changes to a number outside of your rules, it will stay in the list, only it will not pass the open position rules.

    Thank you,

    Steven,
    CoolTrade Support

    Dow moves
    Hoping someone could shed some light on the rule: Todays Dow is greater than 0...
    I added this rule for my strategy but it opened a position even though the Dow was -80?
    Did I miss something??

    Make sure "all rules must pass is checked".

    Hedge

    eayala604,

    Was the position a new position or an added position? If this is an added position then the "Open new position Rules" tab will be ignored.

    Good point Carol.

    If it was an added position then make sure the "add to position rules" have "all rules must pass" also.

    Hedge

    Yes, the check box for "All of these conditions must be true before the position will be opened" as checked and they were all new positions...

    I’ve never seen it violate a rule.

    If you are live, make sure you are not allowing the system to open positions too late in the day because some brokers will take an order submitted at 4pm and hold it until morning.

    I have mine set to stop opening positions at 3:30pm EST.

    Also, if you just added that rule to the strategy, you need to save the strategy in the strategy wizard, and then stop and restart the automated trader for it to pick up the new rule.

    I suggest you change your open times to 9:35am instead of 9:30am, because the first data arriving during market hours could be late data from the pre-market.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge,
    Not sure what the problem is as it opened up these positions at 9:49 onwards but I will revise it to 9:35am regardless. I added this rule yesterday and saved it hoping it would act on it today. Looking at the rule tab on the trader itself I can see the rule:
    Todays DOW Move > 0
    Dow Today Move: -85.00

    Yes it still opened a new position.

    It actually opened up 5 new long positions even though the rule should’ve prevented it from. I do also have the same rule for the S&P and nasdaq and all were in the negative also but still managed to open up positions..

    I looked at my trader this morning and noticed that the indexes were positive even though the TV had them down. Then a few minutes later the indexes on the trader changed to negative. I bet that is when the trades occurred.

    I would put these rules because I’ve been told these indexes come from different sources:

    Today’s Dow Move > 0
    Today’s Nasdaq Move > 0
    Today’s S&P Move > 0

    That way all of the feed services must agree on the direction of the market before a trade can take place.

    Thanks Jerry, I did also have those rules in place for the Nasdaq and S&P. I will monitor it again next week and contact support if this happens again. I am using the Interactive Broker feed if that matters.

    Check to see what the rule value actually is too inside the Rules menu on the trader itself. This can give you an idea of what the value is and why it is buying in. Maybe the value is reading something different then what you are seeing and maybe another indicator could be used instead. Just trial and error

    Dow Stratagies
    Which of the DOW Long Stratagies have you had the most luck with? I seen a 3% and a 10%.

    @leathal13507, with the Dow 30 based strategies, the reported monthly percentages will reflect the market. Since we’ve been in a bull market rally for quite a while, this method has done well over recent years.

    Long-term, with Ed’s strategy approach, if the market crashes, he’ll buy on drops on the way down, continue to trade within the new ranges that consolidate, and as the market returns (assuming it does, since it always has in the past) profit when positions sell on LIFO. For this method to work, money management has to be setup correctly so sufficient funds are available to buy on drops.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) Strategy
    I am new to cool trade. On the site

    where can I find Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) Strategy?

    @yarajes, you’ll find a number of ETF-based strategies at DEMOTRADER1@ROBOTICTRADINGSYSTEMS.COM - DEMOTRADER10@ROBOTICTRADINGSYSTEMS.COM. Most trade a single symbol and use relatively simple Open New Position Rules based on the MACD and sometimes Bollinger Bands. The NEWUSERx@COOL-TRADE.COM strategies are the recommended place to start. You can always replace, for example, the Dow 30 stocks with a hand-picked list of ETFs, but I’d first improve the Open New Position Rules.

    Translating Stockcharts.com Into CoolTrade
    I’m would like to convert the following StockCharts[dot]com Scan into CoolTrade Watch List Rules. Might anyone here be able to assist?

    [type = stock] and [country = us] and[daily ema(60,daily volume) > 300000] and
    [daily low > yesterday’s daily low] and
    [yesterday’s daily low > 2 days ago daily low] and
    [SMA(10, close) < EMA(30, close)]and
    [daily close > daily SMA(10,daily close)]and
    [daily close < daily EMA(30,daily close)]and
    [weekly sma(10,weekly close) < weekly ema(30,weekly close)]and
    [ADX Line(10) > 20.0]and
    [close >= 10]

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk,

    Here are as many of the indicators close enough to what you are looking for.

    Dynamic EMA (60) is Greater Than 300000
    Todays Lowest Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Low Price
    Todays Lowest Price is Greater Than Price Change Since 2 Days Ago
    Dynamic SMA (10) is Less Than Dynamic EMA (30)
    Close Price 1 Day Ago is Greater than Dynamic SMA (10)
    Close Price 1 Day Ago is less than Dynamic EMA (30)
    (I am not finding a Weekly SMA or EMA indicator listed.)
    (I also do not see an Average Directional Movement Index indicator as well.)
    Todays Last Trade Price is Greater than or equal to 10

    HI Dewey,

    Your rules are good. However, if you use 30 or 60 days in the dynamic indicators, they will retrieve too much data into his trader and it will exceed his available memory.

    I suggest using the 30 and 60 Day EMA EOD indicators in Tab2 to reduce the watch list and then skip the dynamic indicators on tab2.

    Enlightened

    That is good to know! Thanks.

    @dewey & @enlightened, thank you both so much for your help!

    Very much appreciated.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    strategy statistics questions
    Hello all!!!

    First let me say i have been lurking on here since November and I would like to thank those who participate and answer questions!

    I have a couple questions on the strategy statistics in the wizard area.

    1: When it says average daily or max funds used, does that include margin? or is that all cash acct?

    2: When it says days ran, are those trading days or all days ?

    Thanks for any help

    AutomaticMoneyRobot,

    1. Average Daily or Max funds used does include margin.

    2. Days ran would mean trading days. So it doesn’t include the weekend or holidays when the stock market is closed.

    Thank You for your response, so if i understand correctly, and of course the "disclaimer" applies, the ed test strategy that received 15% avg with max daily used of 66k ish could also say.... 30% on his 33k ish money over 4 ish months of trading trading on margin 2:1 again past results dont equal future results and no guarantee of profits etc...

    That sounds about right to me.

    interesting.... thanks

    Just remember the context that we’ve been in a long bull rally.

    And the last couple of weeks has been a good example of how the Cool Trade "standard" Dow 30 strategies when *not* in a steady, long uptrend. Depending on configurations, some customers will now have experienced the software buying on drops, assuming their money management was setup to keep funds in reserve. Many will now have symbols underwater since they are no stops. When the market consolidates to a new level of support, the climb back up will begin and the positions will sell LIFO without losses. I don’t use this strategy approach, but I sure respect the logic inherent in it.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    thx Kirk , your input is definitely appreciated

    Dow 30 short & long strategy
    I am looking for a solid Dow 30 Long & Short strategy with $25,000 to start with.
    Any one have something they want to share, with all the settings, that is producing some good returns?

    @spokanebroker, if you use the Strategy Wizard copy function and search for NEWUSERx@COOL-TRADE.COM, replacing the "x", as there’s more than one email, you’ll find the version prepared by the company. They’re quite basic, but at least provide a starting place. If you’re new to the software, having CoolTrade Strategy Support configure live on your machine via TeamViewer can be useful.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    conservative L/S strategy vs. Dow L/S simulating $20,000
    With around$25,000 to start with, I’ve seen both the Conservative L/S strategy and the Dow L/S Simulating $20,000 thrown out there as starting points.

    Is $25,000 enough to do both L/S with either program?

    It seems from the print out the Conservative L/S Strategy has way more rules than the Dow L/S Simulating $20,000, but seems very similar.

    Anyone able to explain why this is and which one would be a better fit for the average investor.

    I’m not real conservative and yet not real aggressive, some where in between.

    Thanks for taking the time to help out. This is how we will all learn!

    SpokaneBroker,

    I personally would suggest going with the DOW Long/Short strategies under account NEWUSER@COOL-TRADE.COM. As these will pretty much be always in a Long or Short position and maximizing profit. The Conservative Long is looking for more institutional long term 3-6 month stocks and your profit is gained a bit more over time.

    $25K would be good to start with on the Long or Short side of the DOW.

    @spokanebroker, you may want to run both long and short, but I recommend you carefully think through money management first. You may know that short is not the inverse of long when it comes to risk. A short position includes 100% risk because the price may never drop to that level, and buying a short position means you first borrow from the broker and sell the stock. You can tie up a lot of funds shorting and losses can be high if the Cool Trade strategy doesn’t buy intelligently.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk VandenBerghe,

    Good advice I’m sure. Thank you!

    It seems like good planning to have longs and shorts. But, You made an interesting comment about the CTP program being able to pick good stocks to carry out positive shorts.

    Have you or anyone else, on this board, had some experience with this they would be willing to share?

    I know that the USO / UCO strategy’s do very well as a L/S combo. I believe you can get the strategy from the DEMOTRADER2@COOL-TRADE.COM account. With a $20K or $25K + account it works very well. I’ve never seen it buy over it’s means of an account and CT has the ability to make sure you are not buying your complete 2:1 margin as well. So that’s where I would look for a good L/S combo.

    I know that the USO / UCO strategy’s do very well as a L/S combo. I believe you can get the strategy from the DEMOTRADER2@COOL-TRADE.COM account. With a $20K or $25K + account it works very well. I’ve never seen it buy over it’s means of an account and CT has the ability to make sure you are not buying your complete 2:1 margin as well. So that’s where I would look for a good L/S combo.

    @spokanebroker, for me, the Open New Position Rules (Tab 3) are crucial. I’ve been developing my own strategy the last few months and have two identical Cool Trade machines that run A/B split tests each day. I’ve been working to synthesize Bollinger Bands, ROC, RSI, Parabolic SAR, Stochastics, and 1-minute price changes, all of which are Intraday technical indicators. I’ve been making steady progress in getting Cool Trade to "buy smarter" and exit trades quickly when it doesn’t. I’m looking forward to sharing once I’m out of beta and have declared my 1.0 version.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    @Kirk
    Hi I’m new at Cooltrader and looking forward to learn some of the strategies discussed here to run on simulation and later going live.

    Would you mind keeping me updated with what you’re testing and let me know when you’re ready with your new strategies Kirk?
    Thanks.
    alwinrsamayoa@gmail.com

    @alwinrsamayoa, you’re welcome to email me at...

    kirk [dot] vandenberghe @ gmail [dot] com

    ...if I can be of any help. I’m making great progress on my custom strategy and am happy to share what I’m learning, along with learning from everyone else’s experience with CoolTrade.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    macd open position rules
    I have loaded these strategies (reedh) and (mharringan) and the trader will not open new positions even though the crossovers occur on the 10 minute charts.

    I have tried in in CTP simu and IB real money.

    (reedh)
    Intrday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) is less than Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1)
    Intrday MACDValue(12,26,9,10,1)isgreaterthanintradayMACDSignalline(12,26,9,10,1)
    Intrday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) is less than Intraday MACD S.L. (12,26,9,10,0)

    (mharringan)
    Intrday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) isgreater than Intraday MACD S.L.(12,26,9,10,0)
    Intrday MACDValue(12,26,9,10,0)isgreaterthanintradayMACD value(12,26,9,10,1)
    Intrday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1) is less than Intraday MACD S.L. (12,26,9,10,1)

    I also changed the Max Ask/Bid range to .04 so it would be less restrictive.

    Can anyone help?

    I recommend clicking on the RULES button in the automated trader to see the values it is showing for those indicators.

    if you see 0 or -1 for any of the indicators it means that the trader does not have enough historical minute bars to perform the calculation, as you must be using mb trading, interactive brokers, or td ameritrade, since they are the only brokers that provide the necessary historical minute bars data. The cooltrade datafeed does not provide historical minute bars.

    Thanks, fxjerry

    I will work with that information and see how tomorrow goes.

    a very huge loss made by the software, why?
    Tech support’s response ........? really didn’t help a huge loss that the trading platform made in my account. 1 really bad trade wiped out all my gains and then some: Hi Was hoping for more help. I don’t think I got much of an answer here. I didn’t set this trading platform up. Your people did. I am a new user and I told them what I wanted and it did not get setup that way it would appear. There was no old strategy before because there was no strategy at all since I am new. So if you expect me to know what you are talking about I unfortunately do not. I never touched a thing in the trading simulation and what you described makes no sense to me since all the trades and before that huge loss look normal. That huge loss is a very big problem since I never tweaked or touched anything. The trading platform did this not by me intervening. That to me is a major mistake by the software and I was hoping for someone to look at this in a more involved way but you are only sending me to some forum. Is that trying like trying to find a needle in haystack? So I am sorry to say I am disappointed. From: Support, CoolTraderPro.com Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 10:54 AM To: jgarufi1@nycap.rr.com Subject: [Ticket #12103] Needs an explanation, please On Jun 24, 2013 @ 07:54 am, Technical Support Phil wrote: Anthony, There are only three things that will sell out a trade in CoolTrade; Stop Loss, Trailing Stop Loss and Exit Trade Rules. If any of these are enabled, the trader could sell a position at a loss. I would suggest taking a look at the CoolTrade forums which can provide answers since there is a wealth of information from individuals that have used the software for many years. Here is the link to the forums:

    Did the software sell your positions or did your positions go into the red?

    First, you are trading in simulation mode. That is good. That is what simulation is for. You can test your strategies and see if they will make money or not BEFORE trading in LIVE mode. There is no need to blame anyone for that.

    Second, a review of your trade logs shows that you are running the Aggressive Short sample strategy. So it doesn’t surprise me to hear that it takes losses as that is what that strategy does. You could look at the Exit rules on tab5 and the stop loss rules on tab6 to see that it could take a hit if a stock goes the wrong way. That is why many have moved to the many strategies provided that do not take losses and instead manage the positions and add additional shares appropriately when the stock price goes the wrong way.

    CT

    Top gainers on any given single day
    I want to get the top gainers on any given single day into my watch list. Can some please help me with the formula?

    Are you looking for top gainers for one day or over multiple?

    I just searched for: Todays Top Up Mover Rank

    and it came up with this link that shows a good example of how to trade the top movers of the current day:

    looks like the links on here are still not working.

    Just click on the search link up above and enter "todays top up movers"

    Enlightened

    This would be pretty tough to do. I think the watchlist will refresh when you open the trader in the morning but how could it pull in today’s top movers when the market opens? Maybe look at after market which I still think would be difficult.

    This is how I would do it.

    Watchlist Rules
    1. In my watchlist I would pick the stocks that are heavy in volume, something like:
    Yesterday Volume is Greater Than 20 million.
    2. Trade stock under $40 or whatever price you want to trade in depending on your account value.
    3. Enable all of the sectors.
    4. I did this and ended up with about 25 stocks as of right now, this number can obviously change.

    Open Position Rules
    1. Maybe add a rule in to only add a position that looks at the Top Up Movers Rank, something like:
    Todays Top Up Mover Rank (All Exchanges) is greater than 5
    2. You could change that indicator around a bit to increase or decrease rank. I have never actually used that indicator so I am curious to see how it works. I’ll test it out and let you know.

    I would also probably avoid opening positions the first 30 minutes of the market to let the ranks settle. With those high volume stocks you should have some top ranks.

    Actually I think the indicator would be:

    Today Top Up Mover Rank (All Exchanges) is Less than 5. Greater would be a lower rank

    Doesn’t look like it is pulling the rank anyway, ill wait to see if it populates the rank later. Might just be building data to get that info.

    Form, you don’t need a watch list because the Top Movers indicator is an intraday indicator so it doesn’t care what symbols are in your watch list.

    The Top Movers indicators are the only Intraday indicators that will actually pull symbols into your trader without them being in the watch list.

    If you want those conditions that you mentioned (like volume > 1000000, etc) to eliminate opening positions in undesirable stocks, even when they are in the Top Mover list, then you would need to add those rules to the Open position rules Tab3.

    Hedge

    Open New Position
    What is the rule to use for the trader to choose the best stock in the watchlist, rather than select them alphabetically?

    There isn’t a "best symbol" rule.

    Even though the symbols load into the watch list alphabetically, and the program loops through them alphabetically, it only opens the positions that meet the open position rules.

    If your open position rules are either non-existing (have none) or the rules are too loose, and every system passes the open position rules, then they would be opened alphabetically.

    You should at least put in a rule like:

    current Bid Price > Price 1 minute ago, so you are atleast opening position going up.

    I recommend you study the rules on the Conservative Long Strategy.

    Enlightened

    RE; Open New Position Rule?? Wondering if someone could help me with this..... I’ve just started simulating UCO/SCO long a week ago and I noticed that the first day of my new strategy (6/19/13)-my CTP made it’s first purchase of UCO at $31.74. It’s continued to add 2 more positions on the way down as it’s supposed to. BUT, it appears CTP made this purchase of UCO when it was at a pretty high point for the whole year... in fact I went back to the historical data for this symbol and see it doesn’t get that high till back in February. So, I could be waiting months for this/these positions to close. Is there a rule that can help to avoid this from happening? Ie; what might be the rule for CTP to look back at historical data for the last year and only open a new position when the price is not at it’s high point or something?? It appears this is possible but I’m not sure how to formulate this rule. Can anyone help me with how to set an Open Position Rule like this?

    (See historical data for this symbol;)



    Linda, I’ve been using this software for years and it will do most anything you can think of.

    On the Watch List rules (Tab2):

    Many only enter Long (wanting stocks to go up) positions when the 5 day SMA is above the 18 day SMA. That at least ensures you are going in while the stock is on a long term uptrend. That will ensure you do go into position while they are on a long-term downtrend.

    You can also add a rule like:

    Yesterday’s Close price at least 10% less than Highest Price During Previous 50 Days

    Many of the default strategies don’t worry so much about the long term trend of stocks simply because they know how to handle the losing positions, by adding to the losing position at appropriate x percent drops and taking profits along the way. But you can certainly add the above rules (and other similar rules) to only go in stocks that have come down from there highest prices.

    Enlightened

    Linda,

    There are a few ways you could avoid the edge trade like you highlighted. It sounds like you know how to look at historical values so maybe look at the chart and see where it has gone in the last 6 months. Maybe you could put in an indicator like:

    Todays current ask price is less than X Dollars.

    This could limit the trader from entering those positions at a high. You could also add an indicator like:

    Today Current Ask Price is 5% less than the 52-week high.

    This would look at the highest price achieved in the last year and not trade within a 5% range of that to avoid the edge trade.

    Then again, you never know if that ETF will reach that area again and if it does, you will be in the money when it hits profit

    today's top trader and Strats
    Not sure if its me or if it simply does not work. The section, today’s top trader. When i click ’see trades’ nothing happens, when i try printer friendly version i get a broken page. Does this feature actually work?

    Top Strategies.
    Noted in the community area 5 Long/Short Strategies. Been looking off and on for over a month and it appears that the ’days running’ have not moved. How often are these strategies and their actual real time statistics updated??

    Those used to always work. However, a few weeks ago one of the ISP’s that ct was using crashed and burned and went out of business so ct moved to a new facility and it looks like they haven’t got those non-critical systems up yet. I can’t blame them as the important thing is that our servers are running.

    I will say that those web features were up there for years and it was nice to see the traders some of the top traders are making. It’ll come back when the dust settles a little.

    Enlightened

    Thanks for the update.

    trading opposite ETFs
    This last week showed me some weaknesses in my strategies. Assume that you are trading 1000 share lots in FAZ and FAS at the same time. I have my profit goal set at $.27 and open new position at 10% decline. The first problem I have is that the stock that is going up might hit its pullback and sell while on the rise. Let’s say that happens at $.50. Then the stock continues on up another $3. It does not trigger a buy signal because the price/bollinger criteria is not met on the watchlist so I lose that $3 climb. In the meantime the other ETF has gone down a corresponding amount so I might lose about 8% or so overall in my account. I know that it should come back but some of these shorts were at an all time high and they have only recovered half or so.

    Secondly, is the bollinger band criteria critical in this instance?

    Next. I have charted several of these ETFs back over the last few years and notice that it is quite common for them to gap in after hours trading. I had one instance this week where the stock went up $.32 but did not sell on my $.27 for whatever reason during the last hour of trading and then went down $1 plus after hours.

    I have a few other questions but I know I have taken more than my fair share of space here.

    Thanks a lot

    @jimmie5555, your post is a bit stale, but I thought I’d still check in and ask:

    -- What strategy are you running?

    -- What are your Open New Positions Rules, specifically? (Various CoolTrade off-the-shelf strategies use Bollinger Band technical indicators.)

    Regarding running a strategy that concurrently goes long on inverse ETF pairs -- one bullish and one bearish -- the concept is that it’s a hedge. I liked the *idea* when I first learned of it.

    Note: If buying by lot size, it works best if the prices of the pair are close.

    Personally, I tested this method and couldn’t get it to work well at all with my custom strategy. I liked the *concept*, but ETFs, especially the 3X variety, are just WAY too volatile to work with my approach. I like a scalping approaching where I’m in and out as quickly as possible. I don’t want to hold unprofitable positions long, but if I have to I want them to be a small % portion of my overall available funds.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Thanks Kirk,

    We seem to like similar strategies. I have pretty much modified the FAZ/ FAS strategy with different ETFs that mirror the market and are close in price as you say. The thing that gets me are days like to day where they both move in the same direction.

    I am experimenting with using a 3x bullish etf along with a 1x bearish since the bulls come out so much more often. That seems to be working a little better in this market.

    Thanks Kirk,

    We seem to like similar strategies. I have pretty much modified the FAZ/ FAS strategy with different ETFs that mirror the market and are close in price as you say. The thing that gets me are days like to day where they both move in the same direction.

    I am experimenting with using a 3x bullish etf along with a 1x bearish since the bulls come out so much more often. That seems to be working a little better in this market.

    @jimmie5555, thanks.

    I took another run at simultaneously going long on paired bull and bear (inverse) ETFs, but once again it wasn’t profitable running with my custom strategy. Ideologically, I like the idea of the implicit hedge, but I’m becoming more and more "symbol agnostic" (not being married to any symbol) and focusing on charts where technical analysis indicates a short-term (day), medium-term (week) and long-term (month) buy, along with double checking the fundamentals (especially the aggregate of analyst’s ratings).

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    hey thats great

    my strategies are building up everyday

    trading opposite ETFs
    This last week showed me some weaknesses in my strategies. Assume that you are trading 1000 share lots in FAZ and FAS at the same time. I have my profit goal set at $.27 and open new position at 10% decline. The first problem I have is that the stock that is going up might hit its pullback and sell while on the rise. Let’s say that happens at $.50. Then the stock continues on up another $3. It does not trigger a buy signal because the price/bollinger criteria is not met on the watchlist so I lose that $3 climb. In the meantime the other ETF has gone down a corresponding amount so I might lose about 8% or so overall in my account. I know that it should come back but some of these shorts were at an all time high and they have only recovered half or so.

    Secondly, is the bollinger band criteria critical in this instance?

    Next. I have charted several of these ETFs back over the last few years and notice that it is quite common for them to gap in after hours trading. I had one instance this week where the stock went up $.32 but did not sell on my $.27 for whatever reason during the last hour of trading and then went down $1 plus after hours.

    I have a few other questions but I know I have taken more than my fair share of space here.

    Thanks a lot

    Jimmie,

    I don’t see anything wrong with the strategy as long as you are willing to be in it for the long haul. I’ve been trading FAZ by itself for about a year now and I do good on the few rare down days in the market but there haven’t been many of those in teh last year. I wish I had coupled it with FAS to cover the market in either direction. Even with the market going completely against my position I still manage to take profits atleast once a week.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Jimmie,

    I would say first off take a look at the Dow strategies that are the defaults and check out their open position rules and watchlist rules. One thing you will notice in the indicators is there are none. In my correlated and inverse ETF strategies, I dont worry about when I get in the position, just buy in and wait for it to go the way I want. Granted this is all subjective to how you want to trade, I just like to use the CoolTrade moto; "Maximize your profits". It’s about managing your loser and just being in the trade to take the profits when they are there. It’s also about money management. Find out how far down you can go and how often you want to add.

    ETF’s do have heavy after market trends sometimes because of what they own and how they are indexed. This is common. Doesn’t really affect you though if you just get in the trade. You might sell a position right away when the market opens because it moved in the direction you wanted it to. I’ve seen them move $2 overnight at times.

    Just my two cents

    Thanks guys.

    Form, I can see the method behind your madness there. It seems to me that an important factor would then be where you set your profit goals vs open new positions. If you are using a $1.00 profit goal with a 10% open new position it seems like you might be exposing yourself to holding unrealized losses for quite a while and tie up capital.

    I am new to CT so still pretty ignorant.

    Also, I know that Ed is not in favor of adding to winning positions, but I have always loved that. Is there anyone out there that is adding to winners? The only obvious pitfall I see is that you are adding positions based on numerical advances rather than the original watchlist rules.

    I’m wondering what % returns you guys are getting on the FAZ /FAS strategy?

    I always shoot for at least 3% for all of the strategies I run. Of course that number can go up and down month to month based on what the stock I am trading is doing. I hear people bringing in 10% a month and I am always a little skeptical. Show me those consistent results over a years time and please share your strategy!

    Since FAZ and FAS are ETF’s, there is a lot of volatility there and you can make some decent money with just using the concept of adding to your losers.

    There are a few things I personally don’t like about FAS/FAZ. One is they are triple leveraged, meaning they move very fast, which is great if you are winning, but can be scary when you are losing. The other thing I don’t like about them is the range they have within 52 weeks. The range is about $50 for a stock that trades between $25-$70.. That’s just a little wide for my liking. I will usually find something that trades within a $5-$10 range. If they go outside that range, I will usually put something in to avoid that "edge" trade or just buying in higher than what I am comfortable with. With this smaller range, your realized vs. unrealized profits will become consistently positive a little quicker so you will start to compound your money over time and begin seeing your account value increase.

    All in all, if you really want to learn what strategies can do well, simulate with them and see how they do. Talk to your upline and get information from your network for some tips and maybe even reports that someone might want to share. I know you want to see these results now and want to get that real money in there, but a little research and testing goes a long way. This program works, trust me. It just depends on what you want it to do and how you manage that hard earned money.

    Happy Trading!

    Running with my custom strategy, I’ve analyzed and tested over 50 ETFs, both bullish and concurrently running bullish and bearish ETF pairs -- all long and none short -- including all of the 3X variety.

    As Phil expressed, the movements up can be exciting and profitable, but the downtrends can be devastating. In my testing, the granddaddy of this thrill ride was DUST with its 52wk Range of 22.04 - 166.50. Wow...if you buy near the 52 week high and then it drops...it may fall through the floor before consolidating at new support level and *never* return.

    I definitely want volatility, but all I need is enough to meet my modest 1% profit goal with 0.05 profit protection in a day or two.

    Phil has been working on a new strategy for some time and that is instead of UCO Long/USO Short. He has been working with UCO long/ SCO Long.
    They are crude oil ETF’s and work well together as SCO works in inverse to UCO and removes the risk of a short position however it seeming operates the same. As CTP ad says make money on the way up and on the way down.

    Thanks Eternal. After the National Conference, a lot of people were wondering about that particular strategy and are still wondering. Just want to throw it out there that I was not a trader before I learned about CoolTrade some 7 months ago, so take everything I say with a grain of salt as my knowledge is limited and there are many other people out there that know much more than me. I just simply love the software and know how to work with it.

    I get a lot of people asking me daily about the strategy I am currently running and when it will "do something". Eternal is correct that I am using UCO/SCO together and just trading long, but over the time that I have used CoolTrade, I have learned how to play these strategies somewhat safe. The one key rule in this new strategy is "Todays Current Ask Price is 10 Percent Less than the 52-Week High". This simple indicator helps to insure that I don’t get stuck in that dangerous edge trade with these ETF’s since at that point, they become unpredictable (ha like there is such thing as a predictable stock). When I put this rule in the strategy, I started to analyze UCO and SCO. I noticed that SCO’s 52-week high was something like $63. There is no way that I would want to trade that high. I again looked at the chart and noticed that really the next 52-week high resistance was around $44 so I put in another indicator specifically designed for SCO and that one reads "Todays Current Ask Price is Less than 44 Dollars". Notice how these 2 rules are really specifically designed for each individual ETF, but the rules actually apply to both due to how CoolTrade works. UCO is mostly using the 52-week high as a reference, while SCO uses the $44 high as it’s reference since there is no way I am getting close to $63/share. My strategy made a little over 1.3% last month. Am I worried and thinking about throwing my strategy out the window? No. I know that oil will settle back down, and when that day comes, all my losers I am holding, will become winners. It just takes patience and the money will just come to you.

    To become good at using CoolTrade I have learned two things; throw all of your obtained "knowledge" about how the stock market works out the window and learn to be patient and analyze. I see a lot of people out there trading with 30+ stocks at times, which is great and CoolTrade can do that very well, but my personal preference is less is more. The less stocks I have to look at, the better I will be able to manage them and adapt my strategy to the ever changing market. Not drastic changes, just small changes here and there to help keep myself safe, so to speak.

    That brings me to another thing I love about CoolTrade, the versatility of how you use the software. There really is no right or wrong way, you just run it how you want to. You can be the person with a $100k IRA account that just wants to use a default strategy like the DOW long, or you can get a little more into it and really learn how to manage your equity investments. There is no right and there is no wrong. There is only money. Trust me, you will make money with this software. The day you start getting angry because your "software isn’t working" is the day you maybe need to take a step back and see what you can do about it instead of demanding a refund. Get involved, learn the software, have fun with it and most of all, don’t play those high frequency traders game. Like Ed says, take the stock market back.

    Sorry for the long post, just glad you actually made it to the bottom and care enough about your software to read other peoples experiences.

    Happy Trading!

    @phil, first off, you ROCK for taking the time to contribute such great content.

    Next, if you use the TD Ameritrade data feed, I encourage you to audit the their 52-Week High data (for your "Todays Current Ask Price is 10 Percent Less than the 52-Week High" rule). In my testing, it was WAY off and unusable. Our strategy approach is *way* different and play momentum stocks up to the dangerous bleeding edge, but with your approach I think you’re being very smart.

    Our watch list approach is also also polar opposite. I like having 30 - 35 symbols and freshen it every day. Like players on a baseball team, if they don’t perform they don’t suit up for the game. :-) Still, there’s a lot of benefit in really getting to know a limited number of symbols, their ranges, volatility, effect (or not) by major news events, chart patterns, etc.

    Best of fortune as you continue to evolve your custom strategy. I hope you do really well.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk,

    I appreciate the words!

    One of the greatest things about CoolTrade is the freedom you get from the software. You aren’t just waiting for an "investment advisor" to give you a signal on when to get in and out, where is the fun in that? I LOVE making strategies, by far one of my favorite things to do with CoolTrade. I just talk to people and see what they are doing, if I like what they are doing, I might do the same, just in my own style.

    That is a good point about the 52 week high number and you do need to be careful to just watch the values every once in awhile via the "Rules" window. If I didn’t look at this, I wouldn’t have known that the CT feed was showing a $64 high for USO, that could have been bad if it ever got that high again. Everyone should be getting into that strategy wizard and at least trying it out to see what it can do, that is where you will get a lot of respect for program. I understand some people just want to pay for the software and pick a default so the trader can make some money, and that is perfectly fine. I just like to know how things work

    Your style of trading does intrigue me and I know a few others out there that have the same trade mentality. I saw what the DOW long strategies could do, I just didn’t want to trade the DOW, so I took the concept of managing your losers and put my own little spin on it with the correlated and inverse oil ETF’s. Having lots of stocks is a lot of fun, just hope you have the computer to support that much data and calculations

    Good talking to you Kirk, and Happy Trading!

    @phil, how’s your last month’s results been? Lots of volatility, that’s for sure.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    The ETF’s are finally back in a range where I like to see them, so the strategy is doing very well!

    Patience pays off with auto trading, just let it make you some money :)

    Looking for the $1 strategy
    Hi,

    I have been told that the CoolTrade strategy that is used on the CoolTraderPro web site to compare the value of 100 shares of stock bought and held for 5 years versus using CoolTrade is a simple $1 strategy. The $1 strategy does not appear to be one of the downloadable community strategies provided by CTP and I can not find it referenced anywhere on the CTP website. Where might I get a copy of the $1 strategy?

    Thank you,

    That is just the original Dow 30 strategy. However, if you added on $1 drops then you would have to add too quickly. for example a $20 drop would result in 20 buys. Yes it works, but most people could not affort to do that.

    So, the Dow 30 strategy has been optimized to add slower, like on 10% drops. That still works the same as the $1 strategy, only it is more affordable.

    Enlightened

    Utilizing more funds
    1) My trader is only using about 30-50K of the available $125K

    2) I want to see if I can add symbol "SCO" long to the current "UCO" long
    with the same strategies that Henry has helped build into it. (If so, how
    can I add it immediately?)

    Reference reply from your other post:



    Utilizing more funds
    1) My trader is only using about 30-50K of the available $125K

    2) I want to see if I can add symbol "SCO" long to the current "UCO" long (If so, how
    can I add it immediately?)

    ....ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil (SCO)

    That makes sense, especially with the market as high as it is.

    It’s easy to add:
    Just edit your Long strategy and go to the WatchList Rules on Tab2 and add SCO to the box on the lower-right of the screen where you see UCO.

    Rules for Open not working as designed
    There is a rule to open long buy when the MACD value line is 30 percent
    great than it was 2 minutes ago.

    CTP says it passed, but -0.0176 is not 30% greater than -0.145. In fact
    because it is a negative number it is smaller.

    If CTP cannot perform this function please let me know or if I have
    something wrong, please let me know as well.

    How about posting the exact rule that you have created in your open position rules so that we can evaluate it.

    Here is the Rule:

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,15,1,0 ) is at least 30 Percent Greater Than Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,15,1,2 )

    And here is what it bought at:

    MinuteMacdValue (12 , 26 , 15 , 1 , 0) : -0.0094
    MinuteMacdValue (12 , 26 , 15 , 1 , 2) : -0.0091

    If you look at the log files and only the log where it says "ALL OPEN POSITION RULES PASSED" you will see that it did not make that statement while those indicators had those values.

    Also check the option above the rules that says "ALL RULES MUST PASS". If "ANY RULE MUST PASS" it can still make the trade if any of the other rules has passed.

    CT

    @phil, remember that CoolTrade submits market, not limit, orders. If a symbol’s price is moving quickly, there will almost be slippage. Given you’re constructing your own MACD parameters, you’re probably aware of the definition of slippage, but I’ll include it here in case the term is new to some of the other readers:

    From investopedia [dot] com

    "The difference between the expected price of a trade, and the price the trade actually executes at. Slippage often occurs during periods of higher volatility, when market orders are used, and also when large orders are executed when there may not be enough interest at the desired price level to maintain the expected price of trade."

    Feedback on Trade Alongside with Cramer
    Hello,

    I’m new to CTP ... on my third week of simulating. Very cool stuff.

    So far I’ve done the $2 under stock strategy, UCO Long strategy, and BAC Long strategy.

    As of today the $2 under strategy pulled the most profit ($639 in a week)

    I was wondering if the Cramer strategy is any good ?

    Also wondering what are some other good strategies out there I should try?

    I’m going to start investing with $10,000 so nothing to expensive.

    Thanks.

    Zac,

    First off welcome to CoolTrade! I am happy your simulation is doing good. If you are looking around at strategies that are very useful with $10K. I would suggest looking under the accounts for NEWUSER and DEMOTRADER. There are multiple ones that are very effective like the one’s you listed above.

    Others you might want to consider are BAC Long or Short for Simulating $10,000 as well as even the DOW Long for simulating with $20,000 I have seen to work well with $10,000.

    Unfortunately I do not have a lot of insight into the Jim Cramer strategies but hopefully others that have more insight into this will respond.

    I hope this helps.

    Great... thank you for the response. I’ll check out these strategies.

    I’m really interested in playing around with as many reputable strategies as I can so this helps a lot..

    Thanks again.

    New User
    Good Morning,
    I just downloaded the Cool Trade Software and have practiced a few days.

    I am considering running the Under $2 strategy both long and short since it seems this strategy has worked will for a long while now.

    My plan is to have a $25,000 account to comply with the Day Trading Rules but only
    utilize $10,000 for live trading.

    I also plan on attending the Webinars and watch all the Cool Trade University information.

    I really hope a live workshop will come to my area of Delaware sometime soon.

    Finally I was wondering if I could find some "user groups" in my area.

    All The Best
    Ed Wilde
    wwildeeeee@comcast.net

    wwildeeee,

    What area are you in and maybe we can locate some information for you?

    Dewey,

    I live in Wilmington, Delaware 19808

    3022344149 Would love to share information also.

    Dewey,

    I live in Wilmington, Delaware 19808

    3022344149 Would love to share information also.

    question about Swingtrade strategy
    What kind of bankroll do you need to trade the swingtrade strategy effectively? My upline is doing well with it(ini sim. mode) but he has a $50,000 acct. He trades 12 long & 7 short symbols. He must use almost all of his account to trade that many symbols. I only have a 10,500 acct. Could I trade it with say 3 or 4 long and 1 or 2 short symbols? Id use up to 70 to 80% of my account (or at least half). How many symbols could I trade with (long & short), or would I need a larger bankroll to trade this at all & is there a way to calculate how much of my account I could trade with using 4, 5 or 6 symbols? If I didn’t have enough what are 3 or 4 strategies (besides the bank of amer. sim of 10,000) that I could use?
    thanks,
    Pete

    Pete,

    You could also use the DOW Long or Short for Simulating $20,000. This strategy does work well with $10K. You can also go through the strategies listed within the NEWUSER and DEMOTRADER accounts as these have several that range from the BAC to $1 to $2 strategies that you can look through.

    I hope this helps.

    Thanks for the reply Dewey. I’ll check those other strategies out. My upline acutally tried the Dow 30 long & didn’t have any luck with it but he might have used too much of his acct. to buy too many stocks & didn’t have enough to purchase more shares if they went against him. Thjats my guess anyway. He is doing well with the sma swingtrade thougth. Do you think I could try the swingtrade by using only 4-6 symbols or would I need a larger bankroll. Oh yeah, Ive also heard good things about the UCO/USO (or vice versa) for a 10,000 acct.. Have you heard anything on that? Thanks again for your input.
    regards,
    Pete

    USO / UCO is a very good strategy and I would suggest it. These strategies is located under DEMOTRADER2.

    You could use that and just reduce your symbols and even your "Trading Shares and Max Shares" to keep from using up your account.

    Ok Dewey, thanks again for your input. I’ll try to reduce both ot those. So when I trade for real, do I close all my positions & start from scratch? Do I need to do anything differently? (video to watch?) But I’ll try the USO/UCO as well.
    thanks
    Pete
    PS what straegy (strategies) do you use? Just curious. do you have more than 1 CTP software package working & which one is your favorite if you dont mind sharing & what bankroll do you have. thanks....

    Pete,

    When you go live you will need to basicly go through the steps of refreshing your strategy and then choosing the specific broker live account you are wanting to go with. Below is a simple how-to for refreshing your strategy.



    Could you please post the link for that again Dewey about refreshing your strategy? It didnt appear on here.
    thanks,
    Pete

    Here is the link.. I have a space after the //.



    Hi Dewey,
    The link sitll didnt come up on here. Could you just email it to me at pete@midlands.net thanks for your help. Hey, just another quick ? on my windows updates I have a lot to download, should I download them manually or just ignore them? I turned off my auto-downloading updates because it would trun off my computer after it downloaded them which interfered with my autotrader. thanks...

    @pete, in addition to Dewey’s helpful comments, I’d just add that CoolTrade Support does a great job in prepping a strategy to go live, from the computer technical to the strategy money management and settings tweaks to resetting data to money management.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    New User
    I am a relatively new user with the Cool Trader software. I have been trading for several years and am quite familiar with the environment. I have read the Cool Trader manual and viewed the videos and have run some simulations to become familiar with the platform. I will be trading with $100k account and will continue to run in simulation mode for a period of time to become comfortable with the platform. Can someone please provide input, based on experience, as to best strategies for this size of an account. Thanks.

    See reply to your other post.

    www.cool-trade.com/cc/Threads.asp?ID=8789

    New User
    I am a relatively new user with the Cool Trader software. I have been trading for several years and am quite familiar with the environment. I have read the Cool Trader manual and viewed the videos and have run some simulations to become familiar with the platform. I will be trading with $100k account and will continue to run in simulation mode for a period of time to become comfortable with the platform. Can someone please provide input, based on experience, as to best strategies for this size of an account. Thanks.

    Lvenezia,

    It’s great to see new users. Welcome! The strategies I would suggest looking through would be under accounts NEWUSER and DEMOTRADER. There is a DOW Long / Short for Simulating $100,000 that might be effective for you under the NEWUSER account. But most of the strategies under these accounts have been tested over time and work very well as well.

    I hope this helps!

    Thanks - I’ll give them a look

    Trading currency
    I have a customer who wants to buy the CTP software and trade currency. He wants to talk to someone who is trading currency before he buys. Is there anyone who could help me?
    Thank You Steve

    No longer adding when drops 3%
    I have been using Dow 30 addon 3% moves long and short for several months in live trading. A few weeks ago I also added UCO long, USO short to include in my watch list. I noticed that UCO and USO did not add on when the price dropped 3% and was wondering if it is because they are ETF’s rather than Stocks. I am using the setup from the strategy I copied. I also noticed some stocks now are not adding on with 3% drop. The statements in my "Add to Current Position Rules" are as follows: On the long side, the statement is:
    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater than Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price % (3) on the long side.
    On the short side, the statement is:
    Todays Current Bid Price is at least 3 Percent Greater than My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price.
    I do notice when I click on the rule, the statement in yellow add rule line changes to 3 dollars (the value button is selected instead of percent). don’t know if this does anything. I am not getting any help from tech support on this that I used to get, so don’t know why the addon does not seem to be working.

    My email is patsysw@hotmail.com

    Can you post all of your rules that you have in your Add to Current Positions Tab (4) so we can look over them?

    Patsy,

    Like Dewey said, we would probably need to take a look at all of your Add to Current Position Rules. If the rules that you have outlined are the only rules in your add to current position rules then I have a pretty good idea of what it could be.

    I noticed you have been "using Dow 30 addon 3% moves long and short for several months in live trading." There is a chance that you have run out of available funds to trade with. Depending on how many stocks you have open, how many positions you own, the size of the positions in shares, the size of your account and what the prices of the stocks are in the DOW strategy, the funds could have all been consumed and when UCO and USO bought in, it just used up the rest of the available funds that you had preventing more positions from being added to your losers.

    In the strategy wizard, when you click on an indicator, it will show up in that yellow highlighted area. What this is for is to show what the indicator will read before you add the rule. The default in the top box where you can put in numbers, always defaults to "Value" which in this case is dollars. So what you see in the highlighted area is not an active rule yet, but rather just a preview. The actual active rule will always be displayed in the lower box.

    Hope this helps and if you have any further questions or this did not solve the problem you are seeing, feel free to reply back to us!

    Happy Trading!

    What Phil said...

    Results Report Requested
    Several people I am talking with about the CTP software are asking to see results reports. I have one of my own, but it is only for 3 weeks.

    If you are willing to share one with me, please email it to JeanieMarshall at marketion.com

    Or if there is a place on the forum where members have posted them (apologies if I have missed that), can you point me there?

    Many thanks,
    Jeanie

    @JeanieMarshall, seeing actual results reports is one of the most frequent request here on the forum. I’m happy to share a six-week Dow 30 Long 3% Drops test I ran that ended in late March. A little stale and a reflection of that market, but may still provide some insight. You can email me at kirk [dot] vandenberghe @ gmail [dot] com.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    My IRA account
    I’m a new user and using the conservative long strategy. I plan on transferring 100K in my IRA into one of the brokerages accounts. It is my understanding that whatever strategy I use, I can not use margin or trade short. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good strategy when using an IRA account. Randy

    koser.randy,

    You can’t trade margin Long or Short within an IRA account.

    You can use the strategies under the NEWUSER or DEMOTRADER account. These should work good. The one thing I would do is go to File-> Trader Preferences and under the funds Allocation section un-check the box for "Use 2-1 Margin".

    I hope this helps.

    Thanks Dewey. I appreciate your getting back to me. I will check it out. Randy

    Thanks Dewey. I appreciate your getting back to me. I will check it out. Randy

    Need help with a strategy
    I am new to this and I currently have an account with Interactive Brokers with 15,000. I have been in simulate mode and would like to go over to live trading but I am unsure on what strategy to use? Does anyone have any advice? Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you.

    Welcome to CoolTrade!

    One thing that is nice about CoolTrade is you get a lot of good strategies when you first fire up the program. In your strategy wizard, you will see a couple strategies that are based off of account values that you want to start with. With a $15,000 account, it sounds like you land in the middle of two strategies; BAC for $10k and DOW Long for $20k. You could really pick any of these two strategies and come up with some nice results. The difference between these two strategies is one trades just BAC (Bank of America) and the other trades 3 DOW stock, AA (Alcoa Aluminum), BAC and HPQ (Hewlett Packard). Both of these strategies use the concept of adding to your losers meaning, if you were to have a position that is losing, at a certain position it will buy another position to help stay in the trade. Pretty ingenious and simple but it works quite well!

    The choice is yours to see what strategy you would want to go with. As always you want to simulate with a strategy for a little while and see how it does. You can go live at any time though. Just another great thing about CoolTrade.

    Again, welcome to CoolTrade and happy trading!

    @investigatorjb, one advantage of running the "new user" strategies Phil is suggesting is that you would receive the maximum support from CoolTrade Support. Personally, if I were running the Dow 30 Long strategies available, I would utilize the three-symbol option rather than just one. I translate more choices into less risk, at least as a general principle.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    same symbol long and short???
    Hi Folks

    I notice the DOW long Sim 100000 and DOW Short Sim 100000 are trading the same stocks. Is it possible to be both long and short the same stock in the same account?

    The open and add rules of the strategies must prevent a long and a short from occurring concurrently. Is this correct?

    Thanks

    Owen

    You can not be in a long and short position at the same time in the same account. If all rules apply and the stock is chosen for a long it will not be able to be selected for a short. If the stock is chosen for a short it will not be able to be available for a long until sold or bought depending on the current open position.

    @opie99, Phil is correct. If you want to hedge by running the same symbols long and short concurrently, you can purchase two CoolTrade licenses, run on two different machines, and use two different brokers. Personally, I don’t like running short, but I know Ed Barsano has experienced great results with this approach, using his strategy methodology, over time.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Manual Share Purchase
    I have my strategy set to buy 200 shares.
    If I want to override this and, for example, buy 800 shares of a particular stock, how do I do this?

    Thanks,
    Carol

    @carolanntuttle, on your CoolTrade screen right below the Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 100, and E-Mini data, you’ll see form entry boxes and boxes where you can manually go long or short. And if you right-click any of the symbols in the Positions List and Watch List, you’ll see some additional options.

    Once you take a position, you can allow your strategy to close the position(s) or manually close.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    strategy statistics tab reset
    Hello -

    On the strategy statistics (Tab # 7), how do you reset the values to zero?

    For example, I copied a user strategy over to my account, however the strategy statistics tab still shows the past user statistics. I have run the strategy in simulated mode for over 25 days and still no change.

    Q2 - I would like to reset the strategy statistics page for example at the beginning of each month, or when I make a change to a input or rule in the strategy. I have changed the number of stocks to trade and there is no change on the strategy statistics page.

    There should be a reset button somewhere ......

    Thank you

    Bill

    Watch List Issue
    I am running in simulation mode and I manually added 74 stock symbols to my watch list for a strategy I want to run. I have clicked the "Verify Symbols" and it indeed verifies all 74, but when I save the strategy it only transfers 35 to the watch list (it’s just the first 35 I listed and after that the final 39 are cut off). Anyone know why this is happening or how to fix it?

    I believe there is a character limitation in the My Portfolio field on Tab2.
    I suggest you list all of the symbols in a file and use the file option instead of listing them in that box.

    Enlightened

    @russ, this is tangential to your exact question, but may be useful for some readers. CoolTrade is necessarily very CPU-intensive. It has to do a LOT of calculations. The more symbols, the more calculations. On my Intel i7-based laptop, I’ve found my "comfortable maximum" to be 40 symbols. I’ve seen it handle nearly 100, but it was quite bogged down and executed some open and close actions slowly, and it’s always best they’re fast. So, a key factor is how much CPU horsepower a given machine possesses.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Avoid Opening Position on Gap Up
    How can you write an open new position rule to avoid buying on a large gap up? I have an intuition that you would use a negative percent in an open position rule... but I really don’t understand how negative numbers in rules work. I’ve searched for an explanation but haven’t found one.

    Would the following rule require the current price to be no more than 5% greater than yesterday’s close? That’s what I’m trying to accomplish.

    Yesterday’s Close Price > -5% Today’s Current Price

    II run into this problem frequently when trying to find rules that accomplish limiting a certain range. For instance, let’s say you want to close a position if the current price is no more than 3% higher than today’s open price.

    How do negative numbers in rules work? I appreciate anyone responding!!

    brand new to this.
    to get the feel of this,simulated 1-$2.00 stratergie e.o. d. acct value$ 50,027, funds allowcated 73170 funds available, -$63170.00 sytem allocated for use 10,000.00.My question is did I make any $$ or did I loose, how much and how.

    1. make sure all of the positions are loaded and none are in the Exceptions folder.
    2. print a closed trade report and look at the bottom line for the net p/l.
    3. subtract the Net p/l from top/middle column in your automated trader from the p/l at the end of the report for your overall net p/l.

    Hedge

    Manual Share Purchase
    Thank You, Kirk, for getting back with me.

    I did attempt to use the dashboard box you mentioned. The problem is when I put in 400 shares the program will buy 400 shares, BUT IN 2 PURCHASES! How can I get the program to buy those 400 shares IN ONE PURCHASE?

    Carol-Still-Struggling

    @carolanntuttle, interesting...it *may* have been a fill issue with the broker. Your broker may have first filled a 200-share order, then a second order for the remaining 200 shares.

    If it were me, I’d get on the phone with my broker and ask what they *received* from the CoolTrade API, a single 400-share order or two 200-share orders. If the latter, CoolTrade Support could then better address the question.

    This issue *does* matter, since you may have paid double commissions/fees at your broker that weren’t necessary.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Is intraday MACD good for ATR%(14) ?
    I am testing out a strategy that finds ATR%(14) and applies MACD Value to enter and exit the position. I am working towards having a long and short ATR%(14) and require some assistance.
    -is MACD Value the best technical analyses tool for the job?
    -if so what would be the MACD Value and Signal numbers?
    -does anyone have a strategy using ATR that is successful?

    Thanks for your time!

    @t_eschak, great to hear of people developing custom strategies. Some thoughts:

    -- In my A/B split testing using Average True Range (ATR), I found that volatility isn’t necessarily equal to profitability. When I applied technical analysis to charts with high ATR--manually used charting software to analyze the CoolTrade Watch List generated by some of the ATR-based strategies--some looked good (symbols I would want to buy) and others looked horrible. All that volatility may have ended in a price drop on a company with crummy fundamentals and/or recent negative news.

    -- "Technical analysis" is a broad term and there are many kind of indicators. The MACD is a momentum indicator that’s useful in determining a symbol’s trend. If you were wanting to buy uptrending symbols, you could use:

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,0 )

    To buy downtrending symbols, you would switch Great Than to Less Than on both rules.

    If you wanted to buy at the "MACD Crossover" you could use:

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,0 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 ) is Less Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,1 )

    For me, the MACD Crossover signal is WAY too late in an intraday uptrend and is right about the level I STOP buying, but there are *many* different buying methods.

    -- With all technical indicators it’s important to understand the timeframe at work. The above uses the MACD to make short-term decisions, thus the "Intraday", and doesn’t tell you anything about the symbol’s larger context, like the chart’s pattern relative to longer time frames (e.g. 5-day, 10-day, 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, 1-year). Every time frame tells a different aspect of the overall story. For example, with the intraday indicators above, you know nothing about where a symbol’s current price is compared to its 52-week high and low.

    -- I also recommend you include in your strategy some kind of market oscillator. Through A/B testing, the best I’ve yet found is RSI. It’s a technical momentum indicator, but instead of showing trends it’s an indication of a symbol being overbought or oversold or somewhere within that range. Through testing, my intraday RSI is set at the classic level of 70 and I do not open new positions if a symbol is at or above this level. RSI is a one element of many trading systems, a popular factor in human and algorithmic selling decisions, so I choose not to buy at or above that level.

    -- I’ve tested a few ATR-based strategies, but don’t recall the associated CoolTrade account email addresses.

    -- I don’t use Exit Rules at all, preferring to use the Profit Requirements feature instead. The position of the MACD relative to the MACD signal line, just as one example, tells me nothing useful about the profitability (or not) of a given position.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Thank you for the helpful tips! I have checked out some of the stocks that the ATR%(14) comes up with and you are right how some of the companies are just bad. I am applying RSI indicator as you suggested and seeing how it goes.

    Thx

    What would you suggest using ?
    1-Dynamic RSI (70)
    Dynamic RSI (70) is Greater Than or Equal to Dynamic RSI (70)
    2-Intraday RSI
    Intraday RSI (2.14.1) is Great That or Equal to Intraday RSI (5,14,1)

    Thank you for your time!

    @t_eschak, sorry for my sluggish reply. Missed your post.

    You could test with:

    Intraday RSI ( 5,14,0 ) is Less Than 70 Dollars

    In my A/B split testing 70 Dollars has been the winner, but its effectiveness depends on the strategy and types of symbols in the watch list. For example, for a watch list that contains symbols that tend have high momentum moves up, I increase to 75 Dollars because they can quickly enter into overbought territory.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    $3 strategy
    Anyone ever moved the $2. and below Strategy up to between $2 and $3?
    If so what sort of results did you get?

    I have done this and the results were not that much different. But one I modified it up to between $5 - $10 I was seeing a bit of a difference. I was simulating with about $10K - $15K and I was making a bit more profit but was still limited by the day-trading rules. So I increased my simulation to over $25K and the strategies became a bit more profitable.

    That is just my experience.

    I personally am running a modified BAC Long/Short strategy that I have added JPM and have done quit well.

    Thanks.
    Have you found BACS and JPW to perform better than the $2 and below?
    I ran the $2 in simulator for a long time, mostly it was $2-$3k down
    on $20,000.
    Teh it added $10k one day, I ran it for a while longer and it did OK.
    I’m running it live now with a small amount, I started with $12665 and it’s added about $700. in 16 days.
    It takes so long to run a strategy in simulator, it reall should be possible to run one live and one simulator at the sametime.

    Thanks.
    Have you found BACS and JPW to perform better than the $2 and below?
    I ran the $2 in simulator for a long time, mostly it was $2-$3k down
    on $20,000.
    Teh it added $10k one day, I ran it for a while longer and it did OK.
    I’m running it live now with a small amount, I started with $12665 and it’s added about $700. in 16 days.
    It takes so long to run a strategy in simulator, it reall should be possible to run one live and one simulator at the sametime.

    I just don’t get the concept of statically marrying one symbol or set of symbols. When swing trading, I want to go long on charts where the daily, weekly, and monthly chart patterns look bullish. Charts change. BAC, HAL, JPM, UCO, USO, FAZ, FAS...whatever...might have looked good last week or last month, but that doesn’t mean I’d want my strategy to buy any of them today. Personally, I prefer a dynamic watch list of stocks that have earned the right to be there, kind of like a professional baseball team roster--if you don’t perform, you’re cut from the team.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    cyclical stocks
    I am trying to think of a way to use CT in trading stocks within my IRA that tend to move up every year at the same time. ie, BIDU has had double digit moves for the past 6 years from 7/12 - 7/26. It is 8/8 moving up the past 8 years over that time. I can find many similar priced stocks that have 100% double digit moves over a period of time and could put them on a watchlist. Does anyone have an idea for a CT strategy that would work well with that?

    Are there specific indicators you use in that maybe you want to incorporate into CT? MACD / MA and the such. If you post these we could see what type of strategy setup we could do.

    I am open to using any indicators. I know that the strong point to CT is that you do not need to have any idea of whether the stock is moving up or down. What I am trying to do is develop one that assumes a high probability that the stock is going to be moving in one direction or the other and use open rules to take advantage of that.

    @jimmie5555, CT isn’t biased to an approach of not caring whether a symbol is moving up or down. That’s Ed Barsano’s approach, is easy to observe in his Dow 30 strategies, and is serving him and many others very well.

    Part of the brilliance of the CT design is that it will implement whatever approach the strategy instructs. Personally, I like my strategies to only buy only when established uptrends are in place. Other strategies look to buy near the bottom of a short-term pullback within a long-term uptrend. Still others are bottom feeders, looking to buy way down near the 52-week low. There are hundreds of methods. CoolTrade rocks because it can mirror a trader’s own preferences.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk,

    I have been reading your response and it appears you have a strategy that is working for you. I Do you have it posted some where that I could take a look at it? I am new to CT and want to get up and running as soon as possible. I know just enough about trading to make me dangerous! LOL Thank you in advance. Be Blessed, Jim

    strategy
    Hi,
    I have been in simulation for 2 months now and was wondering if there is anyone who would be willing to share their strategy (50k) along with a resent results report? Some of the stragegies mentioned in other posts are not in the Demo, Office or New User links available for copying. Thank you!

    mkristi930,

    What is your email and I know that other users will be happy to send you the strategies that they use.

    Hi,
    My email is mkristi930@yahoo.com


    Thank you! Kristi

    @mkristi930, I’m happy to share a six-week test I ran on the Dow 30 Long 3% Drops strategy. It’s a little stale since it ended in late March, but it accurately reflects how that strategy performed in that market. You can email me at kirk [dot] vandenberghe [at] gmail [dot] com

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    strategy
    Hi,
    I have been in simulation for 2 months now and was wondering if there is anyone who would be willing to share their strategy (50k) along with a resent results report? Some of the stragegies mentioned in other posts are not in the Demo, Office or New User links available for copying. Thank you!

    "Momentum Day Trading Strategy" ?
    I wanted to try the "Momentum Day Trading Strategy" that is used as an example on Cool Trader Pro web page but I cannot find it anywhere. Can someone from support point me in the right direction?

    @t_eschak, this is the style of custom strategy I’ve been writing and testing and will be sharing it here for anyone to check out once I declare my "version 1.0". I’m not sure whether I’ll succeed using CoolTrade as a day trader -- I may have to settle for short-term (1 - 3 day) swing trades -- but being 100% out of the market every night before the session close is my current goal. My custom strategy has to buy VERY carefully and the stop losses have to be tight. I’m currently A/B/C/D/E testing the same strategy with five CoolTrade machines (my two and generous loans from my friends Dee and Rachel). All settings but one are constant, with one setting as variable in a spectrum of five different levels.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Thanks Kirk, I would love to see your finished strategy once you are done. I’m really interested in how this type of strategy compares to the other DOW 30 strategies offered with the program.

    That’s good news! It sounds like your really making progress. I was able to chat with DEE for a bit and he filled me in on what you guys are working on.

    Working diligently this week to see if I can make my day trading strategy become more profitable. It’s a tall task to get everything right, but I’m making steady progress. And if this day trade version doesn’t pan out, everything I’ve learned will go into my swing trade strategy Open New Position Rules.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    50-Day Simple MA Intraday Comparison
    I would appreciate help in constructing an intraday Open New Position Rule that compares the 50-Day Simple MA now (0) with the 50-Day Simple MA from one minute ago (1), making sure the trend is up.

    I’m looking at the Intraday Simple MA, but am not clear how to set Mins/Bar and Interval to represent a 50-Day Simple MA.

    Thanks in advance for any assistance.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Bump.

    Any help from you strategy wizards out there?

    I studied every forum post here regarding the differences of Intraday, Dynamic, and EOD indicators, and understand we don’t have 1-minute bar Intraday access to the 50-day SMA. I get that’s a tremendous amount of data: 60 minutes per hour x 24 hours per day x 50 days = 72,000 1-minute data points. Still, it would be so useful in my custom strategy to compare the current 50-day SMA with one minute ago.

    Might anyone be able to suggest another way to be able to access the overall "slow trend" like the 50-day SMA for a symbol on my watch list so I measure if in uptrend or downtrend?

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk,

    Are you running your Cooltrade off of Simulation with the CT feed, Simulation with another broker or Live?

    @dewey, thanks for your reply. I’m simulating with the TD Ameritrade feed.

    From what I’ve been able to glean, there’s no way with CoolTrade to access long-term moving averages like 50-Day MA and 100-Day MA intraday minute-by-minute. I get that if CoolTrade had to generate these stats and store them locally it would be WAY too much processing, but I’m surprised this data isn’t available real-time from the broker’s data feed. My TD Ameritrade Trade Architect charting software certainly has immediate access to these MA’s at all times so they have the data.

    Since I originally posted this question I’ve tried many workarounds, but none have yet worked. Really, it’s a simple goal: To not buy symbols that are in a longer term downtrend, and to spot a change in trend in time to prevent opening new positions. I’m currently working with the Intraday Simple MA and Intraday Exp MA to see if their maxes of 300 minutes (5 hours) will work.

    Thanks for your reply.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    UCO Long/SCO Long Better Strategy than UCO Long/USO Short
    Re: Good Strategy UCO Long/UCO Short 10 k Acct.
    I have been trading UCO Long/USO short live for about 7 weeks and in the first five weeks I made 17%. And then UCO and USO moved out of their trading range and I did not buy any more UCO positions and purchased USO which I have been stuck in for about two weeks. When oil comes down as it has been doing the last couple days I will be able to move out of my USO positions.

    I recommend moving to UCO Long/ SCO Long which work exactly inverse of each other and you remove the risk of trading a short stock. Although SCO moves like USO with a short stock the broker like IB did with me is call up one day and say they can no longer cover the position and in sense are calling the loan and forcing you to "buyin" that is buy back the stock or close the short position. I had to do this at a loss which was not a whole lot however I’d rather take a loss on my terms instead of someone doing it for me.

    If you want to look or download the strategy UCO Long/SCO Long go to phil@cooltraderpro.com when you open your Strategy Wizard. Phil has been working with this Strategy for a few months and has finally let it out of the closet. Good work Phil. thanks Andy
    I have posted this elsewhere also.

    Stealth Mode
    I just purchased the Cool Trade and got everything set up. I ran my first simulation today and when I got home from work the market was closed. When I looked at my trades I noticed that the Cool Trader was running on Manual versus running on Stealth Mode. Does it just say Manual because the market is closed or did it run on Manual all day and if so how do I change it to run on Stealth Mode?

    Right. After the market closes all positions go to Manual mode.

    CT

    I got manual mode even during market open, and I tried to change to stealth mode but not success, how come?

    If it is happening during market hours then it usually means that you are out of day trades remaining. You can check that number in the middle of your screen to the right of the indexes and just under the Toggle Screen button.

    It could happen on the stocks that were opened on the current day so that they don’t get closed on the same day.

    Enlightened

    My day trade show 999 under toggle screen. Also my symbols still have a slot to fill. I tried to restart CT, upgraded new version but all failed.

    I would reboot so that you know everything is off.
    then after the computer comes back on, launch the Strategy Wizard and then click FILE->DOWNLOAD NEW SOFTWARE. That will upgrade everything.

    Failed software upgrades can result in missing or corrupt files.

    Enlightened

    I did all those things you mentioned but not help . Thanks for your suggestion.

    Stealth Mode
    I just purchased the Cool Trade and got everything set up. I ran my first simulation today and when I got home from work the market was closed. When I looked at my trades I noticed that the Cool Trader was running on Manual versus running on Stealth Mode. Does it just say Manual because the market is closed or did it run on Manual all day and if so how do I change it to run on Stealth Mode?

    @gradycaldwell, that’s normal behavior. Welcome to CoolTrade.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    CoolTrade will show Manual after market hours. During market hours it will show stealth.

    It showed manual mode even during market open

    You might want to make sure that your stop and stop times are setup correctly.

    Go to File-> Strategy Preferences

    Make sure that your Start/Stop times are setup for the same market stop/stop times.

    You will need to make sure that the "Stop Closing Position" is at least one min later that "Close Profitable Positions" section.

    closed position still showing
    I manually purchased a position ( 200 shrs - FAZ) held it thru the day and wanted to close it at the end of the day. I choose the " Close all positions" button. .FAZ was the only position held that day. Pressed that button and closed all shares. Trader Work Station shows it closed, however CTP does say "closed" and the position is still there on the CTP Board.
    Also - "file - positions" reads " positions at broker - 200 shares" .
    Is there a disconnect between CTP and the Trader work station ?
    Can I do anything to remove the ;sold ’ shares
    will CTP refresh at midnight when it closes down ?
    Is there a danger that I am "out of sync " with TWC ?

    Anyone experienced this before ?
    Thanks
    Peter

    if you add the symbol to the BLOCKED list (at the top of the screen), then it will zero out the position. After that, you can remove it from the BLOCKED list.

    Hedge

    Hedge,

    Excellent

    Thank you

    Phase out existing positions on current strategy
    I want to know how to close-out the current positions that are running on my CT account without manually closing them or taking a loss. Is there a way to gradually close positions so that I can choose a new strategy to run instead? Many Thanks!

    When you choose a new strategy and refresh for new strategy it will close out all positions. Here is a little how-to.

    Refresh Strategy





    After changing strategies there are a few steps in order to clear your reporting information and restart CoolTrade using the new parameters of the new strategies.


    Select New Strategy


    Within the Strategy Wizard click the check box next to the strategy you wish to change to in the BUY /LONG Strategies or SELL / SHORT Strategies fields.






    Refresh CoolTrade




    1.
    Exit out of the Strategy Wizard.




    2. Within CoolTrade click Fileà Logoff (Clear All Passwords) this will clear all saved password information and require the user to go to the login screen upon restart of CoolTrade.


    3. Click the icon to log into CoolTrade and you will get the CoolTrade Login screen. Before logging in Click Fileà Refresh For New Strategy.


    4. Log into CoolTrade.
    5. You will get a screen asking if want to clear reporting data and if you are in simulation mode you will have to enter the amount you want to simulate with.
    * You will notice that the Current Account Value, Funds Allocated, and Funds Available will have reset.
    * Your new strategy will continue trading from this point forward.


    URL:
    sites.google[dot]com/site/ctpknowledge/how-to/refresh-strategy

    Is it possible to phase out without abruptly closing positions and losing $$? Many thanks

    If you are running in simulation mode then you should can choose to close out all or not. But if you just want to close out the positions then you need to change your open new position rules so that you are not buying anymore positions. You can change your Profit tab so that your positions close out more and more.

    Can you post your rules for your strategy so we can see about helping this?

    Not sure what you wanted so please direct me if I miss it.

    Watch List Rules: yesterdays close price is less than 20 dollars

    Open New Position Rules: price 5-min ago is greater than price 10 min ago
    todays current price is greater than price 5-min ago

    Add to Current Position Rules: price 5-min ago is greater than price 10-min ago
    ABS (my same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price %
    todays current price is greater than price 5-min ago

    Exit Trade Rules: none

    Profit Requirements: profit goal: 4% of entry .50 min amt
    stop loss 0.0
    pullback after reach goal: .04 fixed amt
    trailing stop loss per share: 300
    start profit protection here: 2% of entry price .20 min amt
    re-entry pullback .20 fixed amt

    Thank you for your help with this.

    I presume you are live since you don’t want to take a loss. First, in your strategy wizard, under the Auto Trader Preferences Tab, set Maximum Symbols to Purchase to 0. That way, if it sells out of all the positions of a stock, it will not buy back in. Next, in the Add to Current Position Rules tab, delete all of the rules. That way, if a stock drops, it will not add any more. Third, in the Profit Requirement tab, set the profit requirements to the lowest number that you will accept as a profit. If you just want out, I suggest making the profit requirement high enough to cover the fees for the buy and sell of the stock. For instance, if you are charged $1 per trade, make the profit goal $2.

    safetrades,

    In a live situation, here is what I do to get out of my positions at a profit and stay out of them:

    OPEN NEW POSITION RULES:

    Todays Current Ask Price is Less Than 0 Dollars

    DECLINING PREFERENCES

    Do Not add additional shares to LOSING positions.

    And that’s it. This will prevent the trader from buying back in when you sell your last position and prevent the trader from buying additional positions on the way down.

    When all of your positions are sold, you can safely change to another strategy.

    Maybe this could work for you ?, Try changing in wizard the max symbols to 0. That will possibly stop the system from buying any more and allow your existing symbols to close out as they reach their set profit limits , if you want them to close a little faster just change the profit limit lower. Hope that works, good luck.

    question on the Bank of America (long & short) strategies
    You know, I was thinking (brainstorming) & what if you used
    this strategy (Bank of Amer. long & short) & dropped the profit from 20 to say 15 cents a share(you can change that amount) & used a long & short strategy and traded it with say
    300 shares so you’d make $45 a hit (300x15 cents= $45). Wouldn’t this be
    the way to do it effectively (getting the small base hits instead of trying for the "home run")? You would have to have over $25,000 in your
    accout to day trade this but wouldn’t it take a few $45 profits every day on the smaller 15 cent moves( or better yet lower it to 10 cent moves & buy more shares (400 or 500-you would need a big bankroll for this however so I thought 15 cent moves would be a nice middle ground.)
    or would this not work? I need to simulate it. Any input would be appreciated.
    thanks,
    Pete

    Pete, I agree that would work. however, if you want to be long and short at the same time you will need to separate ct accounts and 2 separate broker accounts.

    You still need to follow the same rules as going long only, like adding on x% drops for the long and adding on x% increases for the short so you will be in positions long and short simultaneiously, but will be taking profits on both sides nearly every day.

    I would start with just long and get it to work profitably and then add the short.

    Thanks Jerry,
    Oh you would need 2 seperate CTP software packs & 2 seperate broker accounts to have a long & short acct at the same time? I didnt know that. I thought you could run both a long & short acct. with CTP. Wow so that would cost me another $13,500 ($10000 for a seperate IB acct. & $3500 for a 2nd CTP). Thats too much for me. I’ll just do the long then.

    Is that the case with all the strategies (for long & short). Id need 2 CTP software packages & 2 seperate brokerage accounts to run both? What about running a long one on 1 day (or week) & a short the next (or vice versa). I could do that right? Would I still need 2 seperate brokerages?

    You can run a long and short strategy at the same time with 1 ct system.
    The problem with your strategy in 1 account is that when you go long BAC, you will not able to short it until you close the long. and vice versa, when you are short will not be able to go long until you close the short. Your strategy sounded like you wanted to be long and short at the same time. Now that would require 2 ct accounts and 2 brokerge accounts.

    Hedge

    Hi Hedge,
    Oh so I couldnt trade the BAC long and short at the same time with 1 CTP & 1 acct.? I just figured the robot would enter a long position when BAC went up or entered a short position when It went down. Im not saying I want it to enter a long & short position at the same time. Im ok with it waiting for a long (or short) position to close before entering another one but I couldn’t check the BAC long (& short) and trade them for real $ on IB unless I had 2 CTPs & 2 seperate accts? Is this the case for other single stocks too like haliburton or USO, UCO?

    5 Day trade breakout strategy
    I would like some help on the best rules to use to catch 5 day breakouts.
    I want to tell CT to look for stocks that have traded near the same highs and lows the previous 4 days. My intentions are to buy within a few cents of a breakout above the high of the previous 4 days (or lows for short sales).

    The rest including watch list creation and exit rules are easier to program.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    What type of break out are you looking for? Bollanger Band, a specific trend, are looking for stocks of which each days highs are higher than the last days highs?

    looking for those stocks consolidate for a while then one day the volume and price go up significantly

    That’s tough to do, but I think it would be doable. You just have to look through what parameters you want to build your watchlist and your open position rules with.

    Ed has put in a TON of indicators to really play around with, and as I read your post, I am looking at my watch list rules and open position rules indicators.

    Here is what I would look at as possible candidates for indicators:

    WATCHLIST

    Yesterdays Close Price is Greater Than Highest Price During Previous 4 Days


    OPEN POSITION RULES

    Yesterdays Close Price is Greater Than Highest Price During Previous 4 Days
    Today’s Current Ask Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price
    Today’s Volume is at least 25 Percent Greater Than 4-Day Average Volume


    These are just some rules you can put in your long side that basically do what you are asking. Just do the opposite for your short side. I will leave profit goals, price restrictions and stop losses up to you since I don’t really know what size account you are trading with, what price range of stocks you want to trade and with how many shares per position. You could also put in some trend indicators, simple things such as minute indicators which are reliable and aren’t skewed by high frequency traders like some other technical indicators out there.

    Just have fun with it, go through the entire list of indicators and just start playing around with terminology. It sounds like you have a good idea of what you want CoolTrade to do, you just need to put some indicators in and if it reads how you envision it in your head, then you are probably right on the money (heh, pun intended).

    Just remember that if the software isn’t doing exactly what you think it should be doing, it is probably something wrong with your settings, not the software.

    Happy Trading!

    Strategies for Simulating $10,000
    Can someone direct me to strategies that have been used with $10,000? I know about the BAC strategy, but that does not appeal to me. However, I would be open to starting with that as a model, and add other symbols. (Is that a viable approach?)

    Many of the strategies do not indicate the dollar amount that is in the account, so I thought some of you experts could name some that would be appropriate for that amount.

    I have tried $2 and under strategies and really liked that idea, but if I decide to use Interactive Brokers, the broker commissions jump significantly since these are usually traded 500 or 1000 shares at a time.

    I am open to suggestions.

    If you go look at the strategies under NEWUSER@COOL-TRADE.COM

    There is a strategy for the DOW Long for simulating $20,000 and just change the lot amount down by about 100 Shares.

    Yes, thanks, Dewey, I have tried that one the way you have suggested.

    Are there any others that anyone has used or heard about for $10,000?

    I know that the UCO/USO (Long / Short) strategies located under DEMOTRADER2@COOL-TRADE.COM work well with simulating $10,000.

    @ Jeannie. I started scanning the stocks on the watch list in the morning.
    If I find some symbols that are mostly likely not going to do well, I put them on the blocked list. Then I replace them with stocks that have a high momentum value.
    I add those stocks to my personal list.
    I always block symbols that are facing earning within the next 7 days.
    Then I let Cool Trade be the Robot.
    There are many ways to scan stocks. I am looking for high momentum value (high mojo) I keep the search simple by using Market Club/Trade Triangles.
    If it has a score of plus 100 and three green triangles. That works for me.

    Any way I can increase my probability I will do it. IE Stocks trading about the 200
    day moving average are higher probability than those who are not.

    Feel free to email me.

    All The Best
    Ed Wilde
    wwildeeeee@comcast.net

    stategy help
    useing cynythialamore ,Cool trader say I am holding 9 positions BUT my broker says 15 Does any know what is going on Thanks

    Did you have any positions open with this broker when you started running CoolTrade?

    I haven’t looked at the cynythialamore strategy in a long while. Does it add to positions?

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Viccacio,

    A little more information is needed to really diagnose what you are seeing.

    1. Are you running a short strategy in tandem with your long and the remaining positions are actually short not long?

    2. How are you coming to the conclusion that you have 9 open positions? The only number on the trader that will indicate how many positions you actually have open is located at the top left of the area where your open positions are being traded. It will read something like "Positions: Long (9) Short (6)". If it reads like this, then that is where the remaining positions are.

    3. How many symbols are being loaded into the strategy under "Max Trades" at the top left of the trader? What are your Max Trades set to?

    4. Are there any symbols in your blocked list? This can be found at the top of the trader by clicking "Blocked". Sometimes the trader will put symbols into your block list if it notices an odd lot, suffered a stock split or just isn’t a valid equity according to CoolTrade.

    5. Check the Exceptions folder and see if there are any symbols in there still retrieving data. If all of the data is not there, CoolTrade will not trade it. This is actually a good thing. Do you really want to sell a stock with the wrong bid/ask?

    Check these things for us and we can better have an idea of what you are looking at. Remember, there is always a reason the software is doing what it is doing, we just need to find what that reason is.

    Any one running the Lindaharkavy strategy?
    If you are running this and have had good luck, did you make changes? For me, it has made some very odd entry buys, so has not done very well.

    Thanks,

    Jim

    Jim,

    I’m not familiar with this strategy. Could you post the strategy rules and we can try to help with them?

    PROFIT PROTECTION PROBLEM
    I am running in simulation mode with a profit goal of 60cents and a profit protection at 40cents. While trading, the stock showed P (for protected) and yet the stocks sold at 7cents and 10cents. Why would this happen? Is there anything I can do to avoid that?

    Can you send the Stock that you were in, the price it bought at, and the price it sold at?

    @ribaham, first, it’s best to always set Profit Protection at one half the amount of the Profit Goal.

    What you’re probably seeing is slippage, since CoolTrade executes market orders, not limit orders. The price may have been moving quickly at the time CoolTrade executed the order. In addition, if liquidity is low orders can take time to fill and that can cause slippage.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    How to sell one stock
    I an still simulating on the Dow Long for $20,000. Doing well but I have one dud stock that is wasting space. Just a small position, but I want to close it out and move on even if it is at a small loss. Not sure how to do that for an individual stock. Any body willing to help me out???

    And will the proceeds for that sale migrate back into my Current Account Value in the simulation mode?

    Thanks in advance!

    Put your cursor on that one stock symbol. Right click and another drop down will appear. Right click sell the entire position. The proceeds should go back your account.

    Does Anyone Have a Listing and Description of the Open New Position Rules to Share?
    I am attempting to refine strategy offline and would find this and other strategy choice listings (Watch List Rules, Exit Trade Rules) helpful to view in an Excel Spreadsheet type format. Any assistance would be appreciated.

    Cash Flow Strategy
    Does anyone have a profitable strategy geared towards cash flow? I am using the Dow strategy, and while the value of my account has gone up, I have found that it is mostly in unrealized gains. For instance, 100 shares of a $25.00 stock = $2,500. The stock goes up to $26 and sells for $2,600. CTP buys back in at $25.90 = $2,590. My account value may be $2,600, but I only have an extra $10 in cash with effectively the same inventory of stocks.

    I realize that the Dow strategies will create a cash flow if it buys and sells additional shares on a decline, but that’s not really the market we have right now (yet).

    How much are you simulating with?

    $50,000

    I know that if you go through the strategies under NEWUSER/1/2 and DEMOTRADER accounts most of these can be very useful at cash flow with $50K. I personally like the BAC strategy with an amount over $50K I just tweak my lot size a bit higher. But you should simulate with more if you are wanting to a bit more aggressive.

    long strategy only
    hey guys - new user since 07-14-13... using $2 and below strategy, but changed simulated account value to $25K since i thought that’s what i would eventually do for real... in 10 days i’ve closed out 5 trades for $70, $90, $110, $80, & $90, and no losing trades. seems good to me (?) but yesterday 8 of 10 active trades went seriously south - about -$400 net P&L altogether... my questions are:

    - i know the system isn’t going to close out losing positions but instead will wait for profit. but without a corresponding short strategy, how do i benefit from a seriously DECLINING market?

    - if a stock i bought for, say, $1.65, crashes to $.65, with little hope of rebounding, what do i do (if anything)?

    i’m not understanding how this strategy alone keeps me in good stead whether the market is up or down.

    Disclaimer: I’m new to live trading this week and simulated last week. So, I’m a 2 week newby to CoolTrade.

    This week, the market has been down all week. In my long strategy (a $3 modified version of the $2 strategy), I added a rule that the DOW and NASDAQ must both be up by at least 1 or more before opening any positions. Perhaps that will help your simulation keep from opening on days when the market is really down. It works for mine. It may eliminate you from a few bright stars in an otherwise gloomy market though too.

    In the meantime, I’m running a short strategy that is really active in selling and buying on the days the market is down. Similarly, I setup and open rule in the short strategy to only open when the market is down. So far, working the short end of the market this week has yielded some nice profits.

    Just some food for thought. I’ll probably think of a dozen reasons why this is no good once I get some experience under my belt.

    -John

    @mrjohnk-ct, using the approach you mentioned can create some safety, but if you’re running a strategy that holds out available funds to open additional new positions on drops, you’ll be working counter to the strategy. For example, if you buy on a daily gap down or pullback, which are quite frequent/common, you can sell on the way back up and profit. Or if your rules are smart enough, you can buy at/near the bottom pivot point and sell on the way back up when you meet the Profit Requirements.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Thanks for the informative reply. I have been struggling a bit with the funds lately. My goal is to push all of my $50K out into the market and use margin to buy into losing positions. So far, CoolTrade has done pretty good at getting me out there, but seems to run dry on available funds to buy further into losing positions, claiming there are insufficient funds despite having plenty of buying power according to the broker. I do have the box checked for "use 2-1 margin", but it doesn’t seem to help. If I can get that solved, that would better help me find the bottom of my position (or top, depending long or short) and profit on the way back up. I guess I could limit my trades to only a few and keep some cash on hand, waiting for a possible need, but I’d prefer to have all my dollars out there working for me and not just sitting in the account for a "might need you" situation. I may have a very bad distorted view on margin, not sure.

    -John

    At the bottom of the preferences screen, just above the Account Value is a line labeled something like this "Regardess of account balance ct should not invest more than $$$"

    You can set that to a big number like 200000 so the software can then get access to the margin you want. If you have 50,000 in your account and you have the value above set to 50,000 then the software will only use the 50,000 and ignore the margin.

    Enlightened

    I have had that set to $100K (or higher) this week, but still have the same issue. Just a few minutes ago, my CoolTrade client crashed and I had to restart it. After coming up, it now shows about $85K between what is out there and what is available, so that is better, but it took a restart to show it today. It seems to fluctuation some, but nearly always lower than my actual buying power. Being tagged as a pattern day trader, I do have access to higher intraday margin, but never can get CoolTrade to really dig into it much. I believe a got up to a whopping $1.5K of margin used briefly yesterday.

    I kinda hate hijacking this good thread with another issue though. My thread where I was discussing this about margin was not read though.

    Regarding the strategy, I like your ideas though and welcome any thoughts to help us zero in on the dollars. I’ve tweaked my strategies (both long and short) every day this week in order to help avoid some issues. I started with a kernel of the $2 and under, but bumped up the volume and dollar amount to $3 along with increasing the institutional holdings to 30% or more. These are efforts to find a little more stable stocks.

    -John

    I would boost that number to 200k so you know it is not blocking funds. a higher number can’t hurt as that field is there to limit funds, not trade more than it has.

    I also read multiple times on these boards that cooltrade does 1.85 to 1 instead of a true 2-1 margin. So 50k X 1.85 = $92.5k and if you deduct the funds allocated then you should end up with the funds available. Those should add up.

    I just remembered something else. Above the account value on the preferences screen is a field called "reserve enough funds to purchase max shares in strategy". make sure that is not checked as it reserves funds that are not actually used.

    Enlightened

    Thanks for your assistance. I’ll see about boosting the maximum amount up some to see if that frees up some buying power.

    -John

    macd questions
    How would you tell CTP to use a rule that does the following:

    1) show stocks where MACD Fast Line(12,26,9)
    crossed above MACD Slow Line(12,26,9)

    2) MACD Fast Line(12,26,9) is above 0


    Also, how is the rule

    MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1) is less than MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,1) an indicator of positive momentum? It is used in several strategies along with two other MACD rules that I understand. I am not quite certain about this offset.

    Thanks a lot,

    Jimmie

    Jimmie,

    I would say it is pretty much exactly as you have written it:

    1) show stocks where MACD Fast Line(12,26,9)
    crossed above MACD Slow Line(12,26,9)

    MACD Value Line (12, 26, 9) > MACD Signal Line (12, 26, 9)
    MACD Value Line (12, 26, 9) > 0

    These are intraday rules so you must put INTRADAY on the front for clarity:

    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1) is less than Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,1)

    The number 1 at the end in the OFFSET indicates 1 bar ago.
    Usually those indicators are accompanied with an offset 0 indicator to show that the MACD value has gone from below the MACD signal 1 minute ago to Above the MACD signal.

    so add this rule with it:

    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) is greater than Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,0)

    Hedge

    @jimmie5555, just remember that if you specify any kind of time-based crossover you want to make sure you don’t have any other over-restrictive rules that will cause you to miss the opportunity. The window of opportunity comes and it goes, so you need to hit the crossover while you can or you will miss that uptrend cycle:

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,0 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 ) is Less Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,1 )

    The above uses a 10-minute bar, which has performed best in all of my split tests. 1-minute and 5-minute bars offer too many false positives, and 15-minute bars and longer seem to buy too slowly and leave potential profits on the table.

    Also remember that when you choose a MACD crossover -- or a number of other technical indicator crossovers -- the uptrend has been underway for a while, depending on the symbol’s momentum. I prefer to catch it earlier than the crossover point.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Hi Kirk and Enlightened,
    I’ve read a couple of posts about the series of MACD rules below:

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,0 )
    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,10,1 ) is Less Than Intraday MACD Signal Line ( 12,26,9,10,1 )

    If you are measuring momentum with 12, 26 and 9 day time frames, how do you reconcile an entry based on a 10 minute interval? Personally I am looking at 5 10 and 3 and staying with a trade for 3-4 days. I am looking for an entry point which doesn’t rely on a 10-minute bar, but a measure which is in sync with the time frame I am targeting. What are your thoughts on this?

    Also, I have just started simulating Intraday MACD value (10,5,3,10, 1) is Greater than Intraday MACD Value (10,5,3,10,2) along with 1 and 0 offsets to find a sustained trend. No results yet. Have you tried this and, if so, what are the results?

    Need help with (Exit trade rules)
    I am presently working on a short strategy that requires one last tweak. The rule that I need is under (Exit trade rules).
    After you buy into a position and it doesn’t go the direction you want, it pulls you out. I was looking for a (.4%) drop before it gets activated. I was playing around with the Stop Loss and the Trailing stop loss with no success. Does anyone have any tips that would help guide me?


    Thank you for your time!

    t_eschak,

    First I want to find out if you are looking for a 0.4% or a 4% drop before you pull a stop loss?

    I don’t currently like stop losses. But I’ll try to help.

    The best place to use the trailing stop loss is under the "Profit Requirement" tab within the "Stop Loss" field.

    Where you using this field and what issue where you having?

    If you are trying to pull a stop loss at 0.4% that is a very small percent and on most stocks volatility would easily move into that percent but if you are looking at a 4% drop that might be more understandable.

    Why not buy on that 4% drop and profit from it as the stock swings back up?

    Which strategy are you using?

    My strategy is tracking down ATR(14) then using bearish momentum triggers to short them and jump out. I tried simulating the buy back in on 2% and 5% but some of the position went the wrong direction and never recovered.
    My stop loss was set for .3% or $1.00 and for some reason it wouldn’t trigger. So that’s why I was trying the (Exit trade rule) tab.
    I was trying to track down a rule that pulled me at .4% so I was going to try (My open symbol net PL is at least -.4 percent less than todays current price).
    If there is a better rule about there that would solve the problem I would be happy for the info.

    Thank you for the timely response!

    I just tested that last couple of hours with this EXIT rule (My open symbol net PL is at least -.4 percent less than today’s current price) and it didn’t work. I am going to keep on trying different thing.

    @t_eschak, I’ve attempted to make work a number of CoolTrade custom strategy approaches that attempt to "pull out quickly" if a stock doesn’t head up (going long, obviously). Especially with high ATR symbols, I’ve never been able to come anything close to profitability. The exits and/or stop losses, in my testing, always kills the profits and result in a net daily loss. Would be cool if someone figured this out and shared their approach and results. For now, I’ve shelved this particular project

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    mired in losing trades?
    i posted this thread yesterday but forgot the ? symbol to alert everyone:

    --------------

    hey guys - new user since 07-24-13... using $2 and below strategy, but changed simulated account value to $25K since i thought that’s what i would eventually do for real... in 10 days i’ve closed out 5 trades for $70, $90, $110, $80, & $90, and no losing trades. seems good to me (?) but yesterday 8 of 10 active trades went seriously south - about -$400 net P&L altogether... my questions are:

    - i know the system isn’t going to close out losing positions but instead will wait for profit. but without a corresponding short strategy, how do i benefit from a seriously DECLINING market?

    - if a stock i bought for, say, $1.65, crashes to $.65, with little hope of rebounding, what do i do (if anything)?

    i’m not understanding how this strategy alone keeps me in good stead whether the market is up or down.

    ------------

    UPDATE - yesterday I had 8 trades cumulatively go down $895.00. From my uneducated perspective I will be mired in many of these trades for days or weeks. Please enlighten me! I feel I need a short strategy to accompany my long one!

    @gts1253, hi.

    Please remind if the strategy you’re running buys on drops, and whether it runs with or without stop losses. Knowing both of these will make it easy to answer your first question.

    Regarding your second question, if a stock reverses sharply down, consolidates way down at a new level and trades in that range, and you’re not running without stop losses, and it doesn’t appear to have much upside potential in the near-term, you keep your money tied up long-term with no benefit or take the loss. This is one reason traditional trading strategy recommends stop losses and tight money management.

    If you choose to run Ed Barsano’s approach of no stop losses and holding out a good portion of your account to buy on drops, you should *always* pick blue chip / high cap / strong stocks, which is one of the reasons he recommends Dow 30 symbols. If you’re "left holding the bag" when the stocks crashes and you bought new positions all the way down, at least you’re holding a bag that represents a company with a LOT of intrinsic value. As the market and/or individual symbol recovers, you’ll sell LIFO and make some good profits on the way back up. And before that, after a big drop and consolidation at lower levels, your strategy would keep trading and earning.

    This isn’t my strategy preference, but there’s a lot of smarts in it if enough funds are held in reserve to buy on drops. Ed’s approach is to manage losses, not take them. There’s always an Enron type possibility, but they’re quite rare.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk - thanks for your thoughtful reply. It confirms some of what I thought. As to your questions, I am running the $2 strategy "out of the box" as recommended when I bought the software, so I assume I am trying to buy more on drops (though my trade numbers have been maxed out, preventing that in some cases), and stop loss is set at $50 which essentially means I have none.

    isn’t it more likely to have an Enron-like scenario with these small stocks than with Dow stocks, for instance? And can you (or someone) address the issue of having a short strategy to go along with the $2 long strategy?

    Thanks!

    What you say about Enron-like behavior more likely with $2 stocks than with dow stocks. My natural inclination would be to agree. However, I’ve seen (or heard of it) only happening a few times in years.

    I think it is because they are not penny stocks, are on the amex, nasd, or nyse, and trade 250,000 shares a day on average (I think that is the default in the strategy). Also that strategy was created by an investment club for folks with smaller account balances.

    The answer to your question is yes, you can run the $2 long strategy and a Dow short strategy. I don’t think you can short a stock under $5.

    Enlightened

    Right on, Captain Kirk. stay out of low value speculative penny stocks if you are going to ride the symbol into oblivion. Oblivion is where many of these will stay. Stick with good companies, and even great companies with lots of volatility like Microsoft.
    Stocks like these will never go broke, pay a good div, and go up and down.
    cooltrader loves great companies that go up and down.

    Avoiding Buying After Gaps on Open
    Any of your strategy wizards out there care to lend a hand?

    I’m working to avoid opening new positions after a large gap on open. Since CoolTrade places market orders and demand is then high -- many placed before the open -- it usually 1 - 5 minutes to fill and the fill price is often the day’s highest high. The spike then downtrends for 30 - 45 minutes, the pullback caused by profit taking. My open new position rules are as smart as ever, but are still getting faked out by these large spikes on open. I can always sit out the first hour and not buy, but I’d prefer to sit out the first five minutes and run something like the following two rules (in normal language):

    Today’s current price is not more than X% greater than today’s open price
    The market has been open for 60 minutes or less

    I’ve looked over every Open New Position Rule available a dozen+ times and I bet there’s a simple way to write this, but my brain’s just not seeing it yet.

    Any help?

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Kirk,

    There haven’t been any responses because it sounds like you have the solution

    I like what you have already mentioned, but I don’t really think there is any other indicator that is going to do it better than what you have already come up with. Maybe a certain percentage below todays high? That might work.

    Kirt, are you indicating that you would like those 2 rules defined?
    If so, here you go:

    >>>Today’s current price is not more than X% greater than today’s open price

    Rule:
    Today’s Current Price at least -X% below Today’s Open Price

    I would also add these:
    Today’s Current Price at least -X% below Today’s Low Price
    Today’s Current Price at least -X% below Yesterday’s Close Price

    Explained:
    When you put a minus it is read like this:
    INDICATOR 1 is not more than x% above INDICATOR 2

    >>>The market has been open for 60 minutes or less

    Just set your Stop Opening Positions Time on Tab1 to 10:30am EST if you don’t want to open positions after the first hour.

    @enlightened.investor, you rock. Seems simple now that I examine the rules you’ve provided, but I was scratching my head. I really appreciate your assistance and will update this thread with my results.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Gets really simple after doing i a few times.

    EI

    In order to avoid big gaps right after the open, would this achieve the same thing?

    Todays current price is at least -1 percent greater than or equal to yesterdays close price

    Todays current price is at least 1 percent less than or equal to yesterdays close price

    I too have my CoolTrade setup to start taking new positions 5 minutes after open. Today, the market tanked pretty heavy and many of those symbols on my short watch list went gap down about 5% or more within the first minute. The short strategy went on a buying spree and naturally, most of what it bought, went up in price causing huge losses. When placed on the open position rules, would these help to avoid that?

    While it might protect from drastic swings right after market open, It will probably adversely affect taking positions throughout the day as the market has time to move off of yesterdays close, so I’m not sure that will be desirable.

    -John

    >>>Todays current price is at least -1 percent greater than or equal to yesterdays close price

    >>>Todays current price is at least 1 percent less than or equal to yesterdays close price

    I would change the above 2 rules to this:

    Todays current price is at least -1 percent LESS THAN yesterdays close price
    (that means no more than 1% above yesterdays close price)

    Todays current price is at least 1 percent less than yesterdays close price

    (I removed the "or equal to" from both rules. "or equal to" only works when doing a direct comparison as "x is less than or equal to y", but not good when saying "x is 5% greater or equal to y".

    Hedge

    Help on a rule?
    Hi, I am fine tuning one of my strategies and am trying to come up with a rule for the OPEN NEW POSITIONS tab. What I need is a rule to prevent opening a new position after it has closed for a period of TIME, lets say 10 or 15 min.. Price change does not work I need time. Does anyone have a idea? Thanks Mike

    I know the indicators have current minute and current hour and can be used in the strategies but there is no way to know (in an indicator) what time the last trade took place. I can only think of price movement indicators.

    Enlightened

    Changing strategies but keeping old stocks
    Anyone tried changing a strategy but keeping your old stocks?
    I’m wondering about turning off my connection to my brokerage acct. then
    clearing the strategy & resetting.
    Until all stocks reentered I’d add the rule to only uy if < or = to 0

    Feedback from anyone??

    Thanks much

    I don’t understand all that you said. However, regardless of the strategy, all positions at the broker will come back into your trader.

    The trader will use the new strategy goals and rules to manage all open position regardless of which strategy opened them. Sometimes that’s perfectly fine. I rarely close all of my positions when changing the strategy.

    But if it makes you more comfortable to start fresh then do these steps:

    1. put the system in manual mode.
    2. close all positions.
    3. exit the trader.
    4. launch the strategy wizard and change the default strategy.
    5. launch the automated trader.
    6. on the automated trader login screen, you can select "file->refresh for new strategy" to clear the reports database, if that is what you want to do.

    I generally only use the Automated Trader reports for simulating. After going live I only use the broker’s reports as they provide the consolidated 1099 at the end of the year.

    Enlightened

    Quick question- does the report tally up with the brokers?

    I don’t think it tally’s up the same becasue most strategies that I have seen in cooltrade close positions profitably last in first out (LIFO) while the broker matches the first in first out (FIFO). I heard someone say once that you can tell the broker to match them FIFO.

    Enlightened

    Thank you for interest here.

    I know how to change strategies in CT when you want to get rid of all your inventory.

    But what I want to do this time is save my inventory & re-enter it once I have my new strategy going.

    BTW - the broker I use can be instructed to LIFO

    Thanks

    Then I would just change the strategy and leave the positions alone. That way they keep their entry prices in the system. That is a perfectly normal thing to do especially if you don’t want to get rid of the positions.

    Just change the default in the strategy wizard and then restart your automated trader. I don’t think there are any other steps necessary.

    Enlightened

    Interactive brokers has a page for changing reporting from FIFO to LIFO. Don’t have time to explain, but google it. I would imagine the other partners in the states would have a similar feature.

    Since I hold positions until they are profitable I the highest purchased positions remain in my inventory sometimes for months when the stock price comes down, while I trade the stock multiple times at the lower prices - taking profits multiple times. The nice thing about leaving the setting at FIFO at the broker is that they take the last sell which was profitable in cooltrade and match it with the highest lot at the broker and report it as a loss. So it gives me a chance to report all of the losses that I can to the IRS instead of waiting to sell the highest priced positions.

    So until CoolTrade shows a net positive for any open position the broker will continue to report losses. I see no reason in the world that anyone would change their setting to LIFO and start reporting gains on closed lots while they are carrying lots that are still down.

    This is a pretty common question, especially in a live situation.

    It really depends on the differences between the strategy you were running compared to the strategy you are going to run. If you were trading 15 symbols and now your new strategy has 2 symbols, this could possibly work, but just remember that capitol is still tied up until the positions are sold. Here is what I do if I want to change strategies in either live or simulate:

    SIMULATE

    Pick my strategy and close the wizard, launch CoolTrade and before I log in go to File > Refresh for New Strategy. This will pull up a window where you can basically start from scratch and reset your account balance.

    LIVE

    For live it get a little tricky. Sure you could liquidate your account and most likely take a loss, but we are in this to make money, right? If I make the decision to change to a completely new strategy I will do 2 things in my current strategy before I make the switch:

    1. Add and open position indicator: "Today’s Current Ask Price is Less than 0 Dollars". Since this rule is never true, when CoolTrade sells my last position for that symbol at a profit, it will never buy back in.

    2. Disable Declining Preferences: at the top of the strategy window you will see "Declining Preferences". Click on that and then click "Do not add additional shares to my LOSING positions". This will tell CoolTrade to never buy on the way down so you don’t get stuck any further.

    Of course with this method it is all a waiting game to get out of all my positions, but they will be at a profit, not a loss.

    There is one other option you can try if you have the capitol to do it. Block all the symbols from the previous strategy, but only for the ones you own. Manage them manually via your broker by placing limit orders on when to sell (it’s like semi-auto trading).

    Hope this helps and Happy Trading!

    Thanks for good input.

    Say, Phil, wonder what you’d think of this:
    Block broker account. Reset the strategy according to new rules.
    Then add the inventory according to the list in my account at the brokerage - with # of shares & price bought so it all is the same.

    CoolTrade will look at your brokerage account every couple of minutes, so if you close the trader, "block" the broker, then start back up, it would just have the same positions you previously had. Refresh for new strategy on the position and account balance side only works in simulation (they will be grayed out).

    I think this would also result in some confusion with all of your entry prices. The trader will always check the broker to make sure the shares and symbols match, if they don’t it will add the position in the trader unless it is blocked.

    Best just to do what I posted earlier. I don’t think this method would be affective in "resetting" the trader with a new strategy. You could always just load a new strategy on top of the symbols you already owned. It won’t hurt anything. Those previous positions will just use the new parameters set in the new strategy.

    I have a question in reference to Stop Losses
    I have set the STOP LOSS at 1% and for some reason is doesn’t activate. I was wondering if I am required to set something else up besides the Profit Requirements tab or am I misinterpreting the trading screen? I was under the impression the Position Change % must be below the set percentage in your activated Stop Loss, or the stop loss would close the position. Is this correct?

    Any assistance with reference to this would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks in advance,

    - Tom

    Tom, you need need to put a small number under the STOP LOSS %
    For example on Tab6:

    Stop Loss: 1%
    Minimum: .10

    Then you need to make sure the Close Position Time range on Tab1 is set to times the market is open, like:

    Start Closing Positions: 9:30AM
    Stop Closing Position: 3:58PM

    Thank you very much! I’ll apply and see how it goes.

    - Tom

    Add to position help
    Hi. Pretty new to CTP; been trading for just over a month now. This past week hasn’t done well for me with the drop in the DOW. And my "Add to position" rules aren’t triggering. I started with a pretty standard strategy (DOW 30 Long - but one that I think was customized) and started to tweak the add rules this week; still to no avail.

    Do I have something conflicting here (or am I just trying to do too much)?

    Todays Open Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Price 4-Minutes Ago
    Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than 28 Dollars
    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price % ( 8 )
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Todays Open Price


    Thanks for your help!


    Mark

    >>>ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price % ( 8 )

    This rule is looking for an 8% drop. On Monday check each of your positions and see if any are down 8%. It shows the amount you are down for each lot.

    Also in case you are running an old version of the software (shown on the upper-left of your trader) the latest version now is 7.3.35 which can be obtained by clicking FILE->DOWNLOAD NEW SOFTWARE.

    Hedge

    HI Mark,

    Welcome to CoolTrade! I do see a couple of conflicts in the strategy that could hinder the ability to add additional shares to your losers. Here is what I see:

    Todays Open Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price

    This is a great indicator to help show that the stock you are trading is higher today than it was yesterday, one of my favorite for open positions indicators. However, you have to really look at a chart day to day and see what kind of impact this could have on your strategy. If you are looking at 8% (which is medium to high range) that is a pretty significant drop for most stocks. Chances are, this rule will not pass if you stock is down 8% since it is likely that the price today is lower than it was yesterday.

    Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than 28 Dollars [/i

    For this one, it is really stock specific. Say you are trading 7 of the lowest DOW stocks, the only stock that would not pass that rule (at least not lately) is MSFT which trades in the low $30’s. This would definitely stop the trader from adding a position for Microsoft almost always.

    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Todays Open Price

    Another semi long term uptrend indicator. If the stock is down 8%, it might not be quite to this value, but it could bounce up and pass this indicator, but then not pass the ABS indicator, so this is a direct conflict.

    With ABS, I will usually just use something short term like "Today’s Current Ask Price is Greater than Price 1-minute ago". This will basically just hold off on buying another position until the trader see’s that the stock has moved up constantly for 1 minute. I use a total of 3 minutes for my uptrend on adding positions and it works quite well.

    Hope this helps and Happy Trading!

    Thanks, guys. Appreciate the suggestions and assistance. Made some refinements; we’ll see how this week goes.

    8% drops don’t occur overnight so I don’t know what a week will tell you. I’ve been in some of my positions for months/years and it is that slow buy/sell, buy/sell, buy/sell, take, take, take, that accumulates profits over time. My goal is for it to keep taking profits for a lifetime.

    Hedge

    "intelligent buying"
    where to find "intelligent buying" strategy
    Thank you

    There are good strategies located under NEWUSER as well as DEMOTRADER accounts.

    You can go here to get some training on some of the strategies.

    cooltradeuniversity[dot]com/robotic-strategies/

    Last two weeks downturn in market
    OK, calling all strategy wizards. The last two weeks we have all seen a big swing downward. I’m simulating the Dow Long for $20-25k. My trader of course was selling and buying when the market was hot and going up. Some of my positions are stuck up there where the air is thin!

    The million $$$ strategy question, how would one make changes in the strategy to tell the trader to stop the bleeding? My concern is the positions up there with no air, will be sitting there a longggg time.

    Suggestions????

    Hope and pray buddy

    For what its worth, I’ve seen some Closed Trade reports with positions open for close to a year before it sold.

    To prevent this in the future you would have to use the dreaded Stop Loss and close out before the bleeding turns into a gushing wound.

    Good luck my friend.

    -Z

    A complete strategy consists of:

    1. What stocks to have in the watch list.
    2. when to buy.
    3. when to add to positions.
    4. when to close positions.

    CoolTrade forces you to think about and create rules for each and and every one of these things with every strategy.

    If you don’t want to buy where the air is thin, then create watch list rules and open position rules like:
    Yesterdays Close Price is at least 20 percent less than 50 Day High

    When to add to positions is where money management comes into play.
    If I am trading in 100 share lots and the stock I am trading is a $10 stock and I add on 10% drops then I know I need to have $5500 to cover that strategy in case the stock goes all the way down to $1 (not likely BAC will do that).

    Lot 1: 100 shares X $10 = $1000
    Lot 2: 100 shares X $9 = $900
    Lot 3: 100 shares X $8 = $800
    Lot 4: 100 shares X $7 = $700
    Lot 5: 100 shares X $6 = $600
    Lot 6: 100 shares X $5 = $500
    Lot 7: 100 shares X $4 = $400
    Lot 8: 100 shares X $3 = $300
    Lot 9: 100 shares X $2 = $200
    Lot 10: 100 shares X $1 = $100
    Total needed for this strategy = $5500

    That means I will never have more than $5500 at risk and I will be able to trade and take profits forever, as long as that company stays in business.

    I don’t see blood gushing no matter where the stock price goes. Downdays in the market to me are just buying opportunities as long as my strategy rules are all met.

    Enlightened

    Yeah..looks like ’ enlightened investor ’ has it all figured out...now all I have to do is seek a mentor to help me set up his/her strategy...because I’m finding it difficult to implement. .
    Thomas.

    This didn’t just happen overnight.

    I’ve been using this system for atleast 5 years and I have seen the power of constantly taking profits and see how the profits continuously add up. You’ll see it too if you stick around long enough.

    It also helps to answer other peoples questions.
    If I was your mentor I would tell you to go through the board and answers every question that you know the answer to. You’ll be surprised how quickly you will learn this system by doing that. Answering questions will help you learn the system a lot quicker than just asking questions.

    Enlightened

    By the way, that is the default strategy that comes with the system. You just select the Dow 30 strategy that has the account value closest to the funds you have to invest.

    Enlightened

    Hey Enlightened Investor,

    Your example of adding to a position on 10% drops seems to me to be an example of adding on $1.00 drops, does it not?

    10% drops and adding would be this:

    100 shares x $10 = $1000
    minus 10% = $ 900
    OK good....but 10% drop from there would $90.....

    Now you’re at = $ 810 and a 10% drop to add = $81
    - 81
    = $ 729 and a 10% drop from there = $72.90
    - 72.90
    = $ 656.10 and then 10% of that and so on....
    So, my question is: does the rule for adding on drops always use 10% of the original purchase price? or is it 10% of current price? What is the rule?
    Thanks!!!

    Hey Enlightened Investor,

    Your example of adding to a position on 10% drops seems to me to be an example of adding on $1.00 drops, does it not?

    10% drops and adding would be this:

    100 shares x $10 = $1000
    minus 10% = $ 900
    OK good....but 10% drop from there would $90.....

    Now you’re at = $ 810 and a 10% drop to add = $81
    - 81
    = $ 729 and a 10% drop from there = $72.90
    - 72.90
    = $ 656.10 and then 10% of that and so on....
    So, my question is: does the rule for adding on drops always use 10% of the original purchase price? or is it 10% of current price? What is the rule?
    Thanks!!!

    Copterman,

    If you want to add on 10% drops then you need to base the drop on the Highest Trade Price. Use these 2 rules:

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move < 0

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is greater than
    Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price %(10)

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlightened!!

    Thanks Enlightened!!

    The CoolTrade Dow 30 oriented strategies -- whatever symbol or symbols they use -- take some getting used to, especially if a person is well versed in concepts of traditional stock trading. What Ed and company have developed is pretty much counter-intuitive and the inverse of what most traders are used to. Having a long strategy hold out funds to buy on drops and run without stop losses is unique in my experience.

    I don’t run this type of strategy, but I do respect the thinking behind it. It took me a few months of reading these forum posts and taking notes to wrap my head around it. One thing for sure, a person who uses this strategy will need to be patient in markets that are running sideways -- which is the case about 70% of the time -- and when in a downtrend. In uptrending markets, especially strong uptrends, it rocks. In downtrending markets, the user needs to be...patient.

    If I ran this strategy, I’d keep a chunk of change available outside my broker account for a rainy day if the market TANKS. I would allow the new bottom to become clear and only then make more funds available to CoolTrade, letting it earn at the new support and resistance levels. If history repeats itself, the market will eventually recover as it has in the last years.

    And people running this strategy would be well-served to remember that red on the screen is "unrealized loss", not real loss. Losses only occur when positions close and this strategy doesn’t every close positions at a loss. There definitely ARE risks, like the "opportunity cost" of buying really high and then having the price drop way down and consolidate there, but this type of risk is part of trading.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    The CoolTrade Dow 30 oriented strategies -- whatever symbol or symbols they use -- take some getting used to, especially if a person is well versed in concepts of traditional stock trading. What Ed and company have developed is pretty much counter-intuitive and the inverse of what most traders are used to. Having a long strategy hold out funds to buy on drops and run without stop losses is unique in my experience.

    I don’t run this type of strategy, but I do respect the thinking behind it. It took me a few months of reading these forum posts and taking notes to wrap my head around it. One thing for sure, a person who uses this strategy will need to be patient in markets that are running sideways -- which is the case about 70% of the time -- and when in a downtrend. In uptrending markets, especially strong uptrends, it rocks. In downtrending markets, the user needs to be...patient.

    If I ran this strategy, I’d keep a chunk of change available outside my broker account for a rainy day if the market TANKS. I would allow the new bottom to become clear and only then make more funds available to CoolTrade, letting it earn at the new support and resistance levels. If history repeats itself, the market will eventually recover as it has in the last years.

    And people running this strategy would be well-served to remember that red on the screen is "unrealized loss", not real loss. Losses only occur when positions close and this strategy doesn’t every close positions at a loss. There definitely ARE risks, like the "opportunity cost" of buying really high and then having the price drop way down and consolidate there, but this type of risk is part of trading.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Enlightened Investor,
    What does the rule below mean? I have not seen this in any of the out of box strategies for adding to positions.

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move < 0

    It looks like you are looking to add positions when the same symbol price is negative for the day??

    My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move < 0

    Just means that the price of the last lot of stock that I purchased is down from my entry price.

    Enlightened

    simulator
    Hello I have been trading on the simulator for 3 weeks now, and I would like to know how to change the limit pricing on short market. Example POT short entry price is 29.53, and there is a $5.00 spread on the limit price ( 24.53). All my shorts have a 5.00+- spread between buy and limit. Help please, I have read all the material, but still confused.
    Thanks

    simulator
    Hello I have been trading on the simulator for 3 weeks now, and I would like to know how to change the limit pricing on short market. Example POT short entry price is 29.53, and there is a $5.00 spread on the limit price ( 24.53). All my shorts have a 5.00+- spread between buy and limit. Help please, I have read all the material, but still confused.
    Thanks

    Hello...I’ve been wondering the same thing...have you had any response to your request ?

    The BID/ASK spread is dictated by the stock market. You can’t change that.

    The max ask-bid spread that your strategy will accept is set on Tab1 of the strategy wizard. It is by default set to something like .02. so it will not purchase a stock that has that large of a spread between the bid and ask price.

    Enlightened

    Refresh Help
    Has anyone experienced this:

    I refreshed my CoolTrader platform to run a new strategy. Ever since that point my new strategy does not initiate buys or sells at all. It appears to be working as it is interrogating buy rules against the watch list.

    Have I missed something in the refresh process?

    Any help would be appreciated.

    What specific strategy are you using now?

    Are you trading live or simulated?

    How much funds does your account show?

    Thanks for your response. Having been down for several days while trying to work through issue with support, I decided to reload software and rebuild rule set. Not sure what was wrong but couldn’t wait longer.

    Day trading w/ real small profit goals
    Has anyone used CTP for daytrading...?

    As in setting the profit goal to something real small (like a nickel) and buying 1000 share lots. So potentially it could buy and sell the same stock 3-4 times a day. Making $50 each time.

    I know you need at least $25k in your account to do day trading... which I’m considering doing but wondering if anyone has tried something like this and how it did ?

    Does the trade execute fast enough to capture that small increase in price (nickel) ?

    Appreciate any advice.

    Thanks!

    -Z

    I’ve done a little of this and it does work. I’ve traded down to just a couple of penny movement to make a profit. Generally speaking, the program is fast enough to do this. One of the biggest challenges that will affect you is how quickly the price is changing on the stock in question. If it fluctuates rapidly, it is highly likely that CoolTrade will request a buy at a certain price, but the purchase will take place at another price due to the time delay between sending the order to the broker and broker filling the order. Of course, this can happen when exiting a position as well, so there is some risk. You can manually adjust the price you are into the security for, but that means that you sit with the computer all day manually adjusting it a little on a frequent basis. I’d say that about 30% of my trades need minor adjustments to properly reflect my position.

    -John

    Small profit goals work fine.

    I would set the small profit goal like .05 but set the pullback after reaching goal to 0. That way you take your profit as soon as it is hit instead of waiting the price to reverse which could eat away the nickle quicky.

    I also would not use profit protection as that was not created for those small amounts.

    In Canada with Interactive Brokers, I notice worse than other brokers I’ve used, Cool sends a market order to open and close positions. IB gives you the absolutely worse price on buy and sell with a market order. Sometimes the bid ask is not even on the depth chart. I have had misses at over .20 cents, so small profit goals are hard to take. Do some market buys and sells on your own trade platform and see what kind of fills you get on the broker you use.

    I seem to be the opposite. My fills seem to be getting a better price from when the order goes out. It may have to do with the strategy. I don’t have a pullback after reaching my profit goal. That way as the price is going up and I hit my target momentum is going in the right direction when my order goes out. If you wait for a pullback then you have the advantage of being able to ride the price higher but when you send the close order on the pullback the price is going in the direction.
    Therefore I don’t know if it would be different regardless of which broker you are using.

    Interactive says the market orders are routed to take best price. Sometimes looks like getting worse price, but as you said, it’s sending market orders on pullback, so bid ask moving against, and if moving fast, might look like crappy price.

    Trade multiple stocks or just one stock ?
    What is your opinion on trading multiple stocks vs. just trading ONE stock. I could see how you would have more control applying the strategy to only that one stock - but seems like you would limit yourself to the potential gains when trading multiple stocks...

    Thoughts?

    Master 1 stock before adding more.

    Odd Rule: AskPrice<ScalpRange
    Hey guys. I have been running a pretty aggressive 3x ETF strategy in simulation mode for a few weeks and am looking to go live. I was making some final tweaks and noticed that some of the scheduled rebuys on 8% prices drops weren’t happening and when I right-clicked the symbol, the Rule Preventing the Next Long Buy/Long Execution reads:

    AskPrice < ScalpRange

    Does anyone know what this means and how to fix it? With this strategy and the volatility of these symbols it is imperative that it rebuys on drops or else this strategy is sunk.

    Any insight would be very much appreciated! Thanks.

    AskPrice < ScalpRange

    That means that the stock price has not move as much as is required by the ADVANCING OR DECLINING PROFERENCES specified at the top of the Strategy Wizard.

    You may have put 8% drops on the ADD TO POSITION RULES but you still have to set the ADVANCING OR DECLINING PROFERENCES to something like a fixed .25

    I have the same problem. My rule preventing the next trade is also AskPrice<ScalpRange (33.49). I own 5 positions of this stock with the last position purchased at 32.80. The current ask price is 26.82. My declining preferences for adding to position on a losing position is set at .25 to Add additional shares if today’s current ask price is less than the lowest purchased price.

    Unless I am confused, and that is a good possibility, this rule has been met because 32.80-.25=32.55. 26.82<32.55.

    I would love to know where I am going wrong and how to get this rule preventing me from adding to a losing position to go away.

    Maybe this rule is just preventing me from losing more money.....

    Switching Strategies while live
    I’m curious how you would switch strategies once you are trading live. Lets say you go live with the $2 under strat... then down the road you decide to trade BAC (or other blue chip companies) ... Would you close everything out and start new ?

    A different strategy would treat the previous positions inaccurately ... so what would be the best way to transition ?

    Thanks.

    -Z

    Help with writing rules
    Help with writing rules
    Hi

    Can any one help me write the following rules:-

    1. Yesterdays close 10 day sma is higher than 10 day sma 5 close days ago.

    2. Todays trade price is higher than yesterdays 5 day sma close.

    I am from the UK and have recently brought CTP, I would be grateful for any help with the above.

    Thanks.

    Gary

    geaton2982,

    I looked through the rules and I am not finding one specifically for the 10 day SMA 5 day close. I am only seeing just your normal x-day SMA rules.

    For your second rule you can use the below rule.

    Todays Current Price is Greater than 5-Day SMA.

    JoeBob

    Thanks for your reply.

    Rule for 2nd question works well.

    Can you see any way of achieving that the entry is when the price is on an upward movement??

    Thanks.

    Gary

    You could try adding these two rules.

    Todays Current Price is Greater than 5-Day SMA
    Todays Current Price is Greater than 10-Day SMA

    Thanks JoeBob

    I will try this out.

    Gary

    I am having problems with huge pullbacks after my profit protection is achieved. I did have my goal at $.54 with profit protection at $.27. Pullback was set at $.03. I am using the IRA ETF strategy so I have about 5 ETFs going at any one time. I had one case with FAS where it reached $.56 and did not actually sell until it had gone down to zero. FAS seemed to have pretty decent volume at the time so I cannot really understand that. I have since changed my pullback to $.04 and profit protect to $.36.

    Also, I tried some manual sells on TNA that just did not seem to transmit to IB. Does anyone have this problem. I have seen where the link to IB can go down, as it is right now. If this happens when you are away from the computer I guess you just are stuck with what you have until you notice it.

    If you want to lock in profits with just a small pullback then set your Profit Goal to the amount you want and put a small pullback after reaching goal (like .03 or .04), and do not use Profit Protection.

    The Profit Protection feature only projects .05 per share to start when the Profit Protection is first reached. Then as the price goes higher it rapidly locks in more of the profits. You are experiencing a situation where your stock only reached the Profit Protection amount and then immediately reversed. Therefore you only protected .05 or smaller.

    Hedge

    strategy advise
    Hello all,
    I am searching for a stategy that will provide a monthly income which I would take out of the account as cash at the end of every month. I have a $50,000 balance and need a strategy that will generate approx $2,000 or more per month. I’m ready to go live with IB. No margin or shorts to be used.

    Thank you in advance for sharing!

    Also interested to see if someone can provide a good strategy.

    mkristi930,

    I am not sure anyone can guarantee a specific amount per month but if you look under accounts NEWUSER and DEMOTRADER there are many strategies that have done very well.

    Hi mkristi930

    $2000 monthly on $50000 is around a 50% return annualized. I don’t know of a strategy like that. I suggest you try a Dow Long simulating $50000 strategy as a good starting point. See how it goes and as you gain profitablity you should see where to adjust your strategy from there.

    Owen

    strategy advise
    Hello all,
    I am searching for a stategy that will provide a monthly income which I would take out of the account as cash at the end of every month. I have a $50,000 balance and need a strategy that will generate approx $2,000 or more per month. I’m ready to go live with IB. No margin or shorts to be used.

    Thank you in advance for sharing!

    mkristi930,

    I don’t think there is any strategy that will guarantee $2000 a month. I would suggest looking over the strategies under NEWUSER and DEMOTRADER accounts and simulating with the strategies you see their first before going live.

    4% a month is not terribly difficult to do, but it is right at the edge of average potential profit. Based on what stocks are doing in the strategy, you could have 10% months, and you could have 0.5% months. If you can average 3% per month over a year, you are doing well, at least that is my goal. All market related.

    I would mimic what has already been said and check out the strategies in the newuser@cool-trade.com. These are the default strategies that mostly trade the DOW.

    Picking solid penny stocks
    Curious if there is a way in the Strat Wizard to select length of time in business.

    My concern is the program picks a $2(under) stock and it’s a semi-new and not yet solid company.

    Any advice on picking solid dependable cheap stocks?

    Thanks.

    -Z

    zac,

    One of the ways I am comfortable with a lower priced stock is making sure that the below rules are setup:

    Current Assets is Greater than Current Liabilities
    Institutional Ownership is Greater than 10
    Yesterdays Average Volume is Greater than 250000 Shares
    30-Day Average Volume is Greater than 250000 Shares

    Thanks for the feedback... currently all those rules apply... except the volume is only 200,000 ... I was tempted to boost it up to 500,000 and also add the rule: 200 average is equal or greater to 500,000 ... so I know it’s a well traded stock.

    Any ideas on how to filter out stocks that used to be high and are now low?
    Example: one of the stocks i’m trading is ANAD ... in 2001 it peaked around $80!!!
    Now it just slugs along around $1.80

    My concern is either no one cares to trade it much so it doesn’t move very well or worse they go Bankrupt : (

    Thoughts ?

    Zac,

    I would try using the below:

    Price Change Since x Days Ago is Less Than Yesterdays Close Price
    Percent Change Since x Days Ago is Less Than Yesterdays Close Price.

    You could do a chain of them from like 50 days to 1 to see a trend.

    Dow 30 Long & Short w/100K - Report $0 ?
    I’m curious if anyone else experienced this on Wednesday, 08/28/13.
    I ran a simulation on the stock Dow 30 Long & Short Strategies with $100k and at market close P/L showed up as $0

    I thought that Cool Trader made money on both swing highs and lows.

    Any explanations would help this newbie.

    Steven

    Steven ...I’m new to this Cool Trade software as well ....I’ve been running the Dow30 long Strategy simulated with $ 100,000 since Aug 12 guess what...no profits with the exception of Aug 16 when Microsoft MSFT shot up to $ 34.67 from $ 31.86...because the CEO of Microsoft ( Steve Ballmer ) announced his coming retirement...I guess no one liked him...LOL ...as far as I can determine...the spreads on my current positions too wide for current market conditions....and yes I am open to suggestions as well...... Certain Cooltrade people have told me to be patient....????

    Thomas

    The secret is patience. Lack of patience sends many packing because they are discouraged because the stocks are not moving around enough. I’ve been running these traders for years and regardless of whether the market is moving fast or slow my traders just keep taking profits. I don’t expect to take more than the market is willing to give. Taking a little profit when the market goes up (as it has been) means nothing. The real money will come when the market takes a 20%-30% drop and your traders add to losers at all different prices and then start closing those profitably. Then you will see that you have a money machine.

    Enlightened

    making profit
    Hi all,
    Please respond if you are currently LIVE and making money with your strategy.
    I have been in simulation since May and have done testing on many strategies. I am ready to start telling all of my friends and family about the system, but need to see some positive personal results. So, if you are Live and making a profit, can you please email me if you are willing to share?

    Thank you,


    Kristi
    mkristi930@yahoo.com

    Buy % less than previously sold for?
    Is there a rule to buy the same stock again only if the price is ?% less than the last price I sold it for??...and I don’t mean in the same day.

    I don’t think so since sometimes you will have multiple open positions under the same stock and you may not sell all the positions.

    Same thing I just suggested to someone else:

    CurrentAskPrice at least 5% less than Highest Price During Previous 10 Days.

    Usually you open a position and if you listen to Ed’s presentation, you want the stock to go down. That is where the game begins. you keep buying and selling at the lower prices BELOW your original entry price. If that is done right you are not buying at higher prices.

    New High or LOw
    Is there a rule for: "current price is NEW 50 day high or low?"

    Since the 50 Day High and 50 Day Low are EOD indicators which are created at night, they don’t change during the day. Therefore you can use:

    Current Ask Price > 50 Day High
    and
    Current Bid Price < 50 Day Low

    Enlightened

    Thanks. Where did you see the new high rule?
    I.have a version that I think might work:
    "todays current ask price is higher than highest price within last 50 days"
    Sounds about right doesn’t it?

    Help with strategy rules
    Hi

    I want to write a rule that limits the purchase of shares to within 5 cents of the high price 2 days ago.

    I want the rule to say something like

    " Todays last trade price not be more than 0.05 dollars above highest price 2 days ago"

    I can find "TLTP is at least 0.05 dollars greater than Highest price 2 days ago" but this is the polar opposite of what I am trying to achieve. Do I put -0.05 dollars in the rule instead??

    Gary

    Help with strategy rules
    Hi

    I want to write a rule that limits the purchase of shares to within 5 cents of the high price 2 days ago.

    I want the rule to say something like

    " Todays last trade price not be more than 0.05 dollars above highest price 2 days ago"

    I can find "TLTP is at least 0.05 dollars greater than Highest price 2 days ago" but this is the polar opposite of what I am trying to achieve. Do I put -0.05 dollars in the rule instead??

    Gary

    Yes. You need the negative.

    Todays Last Trade Price at least -.05 below Highest Price 2 days ago.

    That means Todays Last Trade Price is no more than .05 above Highest Price 2 days ago.

    Enlightened

    Hi Enlightened

    Thanks for your prompt reply.

    I am trying to stop the trader buying on big gap ups and when the price has moved to far above a reasonable entry price.

    Again thank you very much.

    Gary (UK based)

    Hi Enlightened

    The closest I can get is as follows:-

    "Todays last trade price is at least -0.05 dollars greater than highest price 2 days ago"

    Is this correct??

    Regards.

    Gary

    Close but no cigar.

    If you put GREATER then you are saying:
    Value1 is .05 below Value2 or higher.

    "Todays last trade price is at least -0.05 dollars greater than highest price 2 days ago

    If you put LESS then you are saying:
    Value1 is no more than .05 above Value2.

    "Todays last trade price is at least -0.05 dollars LESS than highest price 2 days ago

    Enlightened

    Hi Enlightened

    Great help, that was the section I was struggling with.

    Is there a manual anywhere explaining how to use the rules??

    Might need a bit more help during the week, but your assistance to date has been very helpful.

    Regards.

    Gary

    I’ve not seen a manual, but the CoolTrade University videos and Saturday webinars go into strategy development.

    Using the minus sign for "no more than" is the most compicated thing in strategy development and that too gets real easy once you’ve done it a few times.

    Hedge

    M Avg Move Day10 is > M Avg Move Day 18
    Hi

    Can any one explain this rule??

    Gary

    Gary,

    The specific rule means for the Moving Average Move Day x is:
    Calculates the amount that the "x" -Day moving average has moved since since the previous trading day.

    The rule you have here is saying that the 10 Day Moving Average is greater than the 18 Day moving average.

    Hi JoeBob

    This is just the same as "10 SMA is greater than 18 Day SMA"??

    Gary

    Gary,

    I believe that the SMA assigns a different weight to calculating. I believe an equal weight where a Moving Average assigns a higher weight to recent prices. So I think you would get a different outcome with that rule.

    ATR %(14) (-1 day)
    Can someone explain what the -1 day part means for this indicator?? Does it mean it will calculate the ATR for the previous 14 days minus 1 day? (so 13 day ATR)

    No. It is the value that the ATR(14) was 1 day ago.

    ATR(14) is the value at the close of market on the last market day.
    ATR(14)(-1) is the value at the close of market on the previous day.

    Enlightened

    Figuring your $ gain each month
    Just curious how other people calculate this...

    If you have a $10,000 account... and over the course of a month you gain $500 .... however you still have about -$1000 in open positions - what would you say the percentage gain is?

    The account value reads $9500

    So am I flat or making 5% in a month ?

    Thanks

    -Z

    Zac, I think some people would base their gain on the increase in the account value. However, I think the open positions and large moves in the stock market can skew those numbers, as the overall account may be down 10% but if I took 5% profit during the month I may think the strategy is not good, but in fact 5% X 12 months is 60% a year. Just because the market has the overall account down "shortterm" I don’t want to throw away an awesome strategy.

    I measure a success strategy by looking at the bottom of a one month report to see how much I’ve taken in profits for the month and calc the return with that number and my starting monthly account balance. That tells me the percent I am taking in profits per month. If it’s over 5% I’m happy because I know it’s just a matter of time before those profits will exceed anything the shortterm moves in the market will do to the account.

    Hedge

    Rule for adding on $1.00 price drops
    Hi,

    Can anyone confirm for me that this is the correct rule for adding to a position on $1.00 price drops?:

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is at least $1.00 Dollar greater than My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price Move.

    The wording of these rules confuses me and I welcome any input or correction!!

    Thank you!
    Copterman

    Cpterman,

    I don’t think that strategy will buy on the $1 dips. Might I suggest the following.

    Todays Current Price is at least 1 Dollar Less than Todays Open Price.

    Or I believe you can click on the "Declining Preferences" menu and in the field for "Add additional shares if today’s current ask price is:" $1.00 ...

    I hope this helps.

    Copterman,

    If you just want to add on $1 drops then the rule is:

    Current Bid Price at least 1.00 < My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price

    Enlightened

    Thank you JoeBob and Enlightened!!

    You could always remove the Add to Current Position rules and just use the declining preferences at the top of the strategy window. Just set the value for a fixed amount of 1.00.

    That indicator can be confusing, and it is not properly used. Here is the breakdown:

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move)

    This is the value of how much your lowest trade price has moved, i.e. if it was purchased at $20, and now it is $19, that lowest trade price move value is -1.00. As you can probably tell, this would not give us a good reference on when to add a position.

    My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price Move

    This is much like the indicator above. All you are looking for is the value of the trade price move of the highest symbol, as it is reading. Almost exactly like the prefix of this indicator.

    If you want to use this type of indicator, instead of declining preferences, I would use something like this:

    LONG
    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Less Than -1.00

    SHORT
    ABS(My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than 1.00

    I usually don’t like value amounts for adding positions in indicators, since the declining preferences takes care of this with greater ease. My personal favorite adding indicator is this:

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than The Value of my Same Symbols Highest Trade Price (5)%

    This indicator just takes 5% of your highest trade value, so your initial entry, and stores it. If the value of your lowest trade price move exceeds that 5% value of your highest trade price, the rule passes and adds a position. This creates uniformity with all of your positions and ensures you will always add on 5% drops based on your initial entry price.

    Hope this helps! Happy Trading!

    the Five Strats - LONG
    Trying to be clear on the integrity of stated data; Looking at the five (5) Long Strategies on the website; Strategy #1 has been listed as 41 days running(at the very least) since i joined in the late Spring of 2013. So for close to six months and perhaps longer, it has not budged on how long its been running. Yet new strategies are swapping into the 5 Long. Exactly how are the top 5 strategies populated and who manages the integrity of the data, especially when the one in the first slot seems frozen in time of days running.

    It’s possible the trader is not running. If the strategy had any manual trades or changes to the strategy it is supposed to get knocked off the list. But there’s probably no rule to remove it if the trader has stopped.

    Look at the first slot on the short. 369 days seems pretty significant. Not bad in a bull market.

    Enlightened

    Perhaps. I know one must show due diligence, but imagine a trader joining this weekend. First day of trading is Monday September 16, 2013; he/she sees the first strategy has been running 41 days and the numbers look great. He/she activates that strategy they believe to be fresh, active and accurate. Seems that its better to clear all the strats unless they are known to be current; If its a bug unknown to the webmasters, then perhaps it should be reported.

    @davisp, I completely ignore that data since it must explicitly be opted into under Preferences and many (most?) users don’t turn it on.

    BTW, I think it would be interesting to see the watch list symbol(s) used in the default/live CYNTHIALARMORE3@AOL.COM strategy. The strategy itself is ultra simple.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Is anyone earning money??
    When I signed up with Cool Trade in July, I was told that people were making 5-10% per month. Even 17% was claimed.

    Since I’ve started I’ve lost 4% running the Dow 30 long & short on $20k.

    Is anyone making money & if so, what strategy are you using?

    Your help & insight is greatly appreciated.

    @apete333, "unrealized losses", correct?

    Whomever told you the 5-10% (17%) per month results level shouldn’t have without documented proof.

    You’ll find few people share actual results data, but hopefully that trend will shift one day.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    I started the Dow 30 Long with $5000 in simulation in July trading 2 for 1 and lost when the market took a drop right after that. You are in the same boat waiting for it to come back up. Being impatient and in simulation, I started over about ten days ago with the Dow 30 Long and the Conservative Short, Trading 5 long lines and 2 short lines. Nine trades in the last ten days with good numbers.

    I have been live for a month, couple of things i learned about bettering your chances at profit - make full use of the CT features:

    1. Match your single trade size and max shares per symbol with your cash - personally i dont dwell on single-level losing trades because i know i have 2 other levels to trade (max i take 3 shots per symbol in my rules)

    2. Minimize your brokerage/ size of trade ratios so you dont work too hard for your broker

    3. Diversify your watchlist/ max your allowed trades by matching symbol prices and your cash (make small single trades but increase your chances of realising your profits on more symbols, get your cashflow back and trade again)

    4. Automation allows you effortless high frequency trades - take small profits for every trade and do not be greedy

    5. Relatively more aggressive on longs compared to your shorts

    6. Patience, sit back and keep your emotions in check because the reason why you even bought the software is to remove emotions from your trades - allow the CT to do what it is supposed to do

    7. Believe in the fact that machines squeeze out humans ability to make profit in short term trades - an ex-Goldman trader admitted that his horizon has increased to 3 months given the rise of machines in recent years

    8. Advice from someone i know who is very seasoned in trading and pretty much a cold, hard fella when it comes to profits - "market will always be there, problem is with your own finite view of win/lose"

    i hope this is helpful

    Thank you for your posts and insights.

    Help
    Hello CTP Family, I recently got my trader. Any suggestions on Stock Strategy for someone who has 10-20k to start?

    And suggestions on Etrde or TD AmeriTrade?

    Thanks in Advance for your help and Ideas

    Nelson Yecora

    I would go with MB Trading becasue they have $4.95 flat rate trades and all trading and logging in is done within the ct software.

    If you just started then your default strategies are dow 30 and each one is based on your dollar value of your account. so if you have $20,000 then select the dow 30 for 20,000 funds.

    and only go long as you don’t have enough funds to go short too.

    and start running in SIMULATOR mode only. Going Live before you know how the strategy will run or know anything about the trader is not a good idea.

    Enlightened

    If you’re going to be trading Dow 30 you’re mostly likely be trading 100-200 share lots.

    Go with Interactive Brokers! They only charge $1.00 per trade! Well technically it’s only half a penny per share traded but a $1.00 minimum.

    So if you’re trading 100 or 200 lots then it’s a buck per trade. If you were trading 500 shares it would be $5 per trade.

    Good luck!

    Slight correction. If you were trading 500 shares that would cost $2.50
    1000 shares would cost $5.00

    Exceptions
    Hi

    I have a share STEC in the exceptions folder and its price is not moving at all, how do I delete/sell this stock. I am running in simulation.

    Gary

    Gary,

    Do you have the stock showing up as stock you have purchased? Normally if a stock is in the Exceptions list it will keep it from buying the stock.

    Hi JoeBob

    It is showing as brought in my reports but does not show in my active list.

    Thanks.

    Gary

    Gary,

    I would remove the stock from the exceptions list. Click the top left yellow field to stop trading s the trader doesn’t buy back in. Then I would close all positions for STEC and then add the stock back to the exceptions list. And then clicking the field now red field to enable trading again.

    Gary,

    If you are simulating then all you need to do is add the symbol to the BLOCKED list and it will get removed from your trader.

    Hedge

    Hi All

    Thanks. That has fixed my problem.

    Gary

    Moving Ave Move day 5 is Greater than 5 day SMA
    Hi

    Does this rule mean that at the trade price intra day the 5 day SMA price will be higher than the previous day 5 day SMA close price ie price has upward momentum.

    Thanks.

    Gary

    I believe this would mean that the amount of 5-day moving average has moved since the previous trading day is greater than the 5 day SMA. This would show an upward trend.

    @geaton2982, the easiest way to find out for sure is create the rule. Once in live simulation, select the symbol and click the Rules tab. By looking at the actual numbers, you’ll find out what’s going on (a good start, anyway).

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Can you use INTRADay MACD when Simulating ?
    Was simulating with a Long and Short strategies I had copied and both had INTRADay MACD entries.

    Will the simulation work if you don’t have a Broker tied in yet and you’re simulating with out a Broker ?

    Thanks.
    Joe

    The intraday indicators need historical minute bars that are provided by IB, MB, or TD.

    If there are not enough minute bars to make a calculation it will return -1
    You can see the indicator values by clicking on the RULES button in the automated trader.

    Hedge

    Thank you @Hedge2. I found out that it takes up to 60 minutes to generate minute data to enable the MACD when Simulating with out a Broker connection. So I removed those from my simulation until I get my IB account set up.

    Thank you so much for your help.

    I’m also using the MACD intraday rule. Simulating with IB its working well.

    You can start simulating with IB without funding your account. They’re kinda picky about it but give you 45 days to fund your account with a minimum of $10k
    You can either start over with a new account with them or fund.

    Zac,
    Thanks for your feedback. That is very helpful. I will check into that.

    IB will also let you setup a paper trading account that is viewed by CoolTrade as live. The results seem more accurate and populate the Trader Workstation. Good way to get used to IB TWS before going live.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Flat lining Shares
    Hi

    I have recently brought (simulation) 2 flat-lining shares where they have jumped up over 50% in one day and then just flat lined for 24 and 61 days respectively.

    Any rules that would keep these shares of the watch list would be helpful.

    Thanks.

    Gary

    The easiest way would be to block them. From your trader window open the sub file on top named Blocked and type in the symbols. Done deal, and if you want to trade them in the future just remove them from the Blocked list. Good luck!

    Gary, are you saying the shares went up 50%, your strategy then bought them, and now they haven’t met your Profit Requirements?

    If so, are both underwater? If so, you can always close them out manually if you’re willing to take the loss. If live funds, these entries would represent "opportunity cost" because they’re not earning you anything.

    Re: your strategy, yes you could write rules to prevent adding a stock to the watch list if had gain X$ or X% within X time frame. As you probably know, there’s often a large profit taking pullback after a large gap up. If the symbols gapped way up and then consolidated sideways, it still may have some potential. I suspect trade volume is quite low. Sounds like penny stock behavior to me.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Help on Relative Strength Indicators (RSI)
    After watching the RSI Video in CoolTrade University and looking for examples of someone using RSI -- someone had it set using 30 Dollars -- which made no sense to me ref. the Video. I thought it would be between 1 - 100 with 30 being low and 70 being high.

    Is the RSI in the Video and the Relative Strength Indicator in the Strategy Wizard one in the same ?

    Can someone point me to strategy using the RSI and help me understand on the Relative Strength Indicator (2) VS the Relative Strength Indicator (14) ?

    Thanks

    @jestes05, great you’re working with RSI. It’s a market oscillator, is tried and true, has a ton of authoritative info on the web, and I’ve found it a useful addition to my custom CoolTrade strategies.

    My favorite use is to make sure I’m not entering a position when a symbol is already overbought:

    Intraday RSI ( 5,14,0) is Less Than 70 Dollars

    I use this rule on most long swing trade strategies. Now, for my strategies that focus on symbols already in high upward momentum, I omit this rule because good symbol choices are often overbought since they’re cranking in a major uptrend.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    Winners
    I have been manually trading 2 stocks BA & YGE up almost 10K with 60K committed. Not bad. Need to automate these 2 Any Ideas?

    @jon, trading manually outside of CoolTrade? If so, you could develop your own custom strategy to mirror your trading strategy.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe

    What is your strategy specifically?

    ReEntry Pullback Amount
    If I am using a strategy that does not have a ReEntry Pullback Amount and then I add a ReEntry Pullback amount of say: $.25 and change nothing else. What does that do to the Open Position Rules and Add To Position Rules?

    Which one ( ReEntry Pullback amount or Position Rules) has the most affect on when to add a new position after a stock has been sold?

    The ReEntry pullback only stays in affect on the day that the position/lot was closed.

    On that day only, the open position and add to position rules will not get looked at for that symbol until the stock price reverses by the amount specified in the ReEntry Pullback.

    Hedge

    Help with Rules
    Hi

    Could you help me with the following{-

    Based on the 5 day moving average I would like to open a trade when the following is correct.

    Watch List
    1. Close price is below 5 day SMA.
    2. 5Day SMA close price is higher than previous day 5Day SMA.

    Open Trade
    1. If intra-day 5Day SMA is higher than previous 5Day SMA.

    In other words the price has closed below 5Day SMA but for the previous day and the intra-day (open trade day) the 5Day SMA is continuing to rise.

    Gary Eaton

    Gary Eaton <geaton2982@gmail.com>

    Here is what I am coming up with.

    Watchlist:

    * Yesterdays Close Price is Less than 5-Day SMA

    * (Unfortunately I am not seeing any SMA (x-day) indicators, might sugest using the Moving Average indicators as they go back more than one day.)

    Open Trade:

    * Intraday Simple MA (1,5,1) is Greater Than 5-Day SMA.


    I hope these help.

    Hi JoeBob

    If I want to us the MA indicator how would the rule be written.

    Thanks.

    Gary

    Hi JoeBob

    If I want to us the MA indicator how would the rule be written.

    Thanks.

    Gary

    Possibly this:
    5-Day SMA is Greater Than Moving Avg Move Day5 (-1 Day)

    Hi

    Thanks JoeBob I will try these out.

    Gary

    Help with Rules
    Hi

    Could you help me with the following{-

    Based on the 5 day moving average I would like to open a trade when the following is correct.

    Watch List
    1. Close price is below 5 day SMA.
    2. 5Day SMA close price is higher than previous day 5Day SMA.

    Open Trade
    1. If intra-day 5Day SMA is higher than previous 5Day SMA.

    In other words the price has closed below 5Day SMA but for the previous day and the intra-day (open trade day) the 5Day SMA is continuing to rise.

    Gary Eaton

    Gary Eaton <geaton2982@gmail.com>

    Issue with ADD to Position
    I have the following rules in my add to position tab but cool-trader is not adding to existing position that are down more than 5%. Any thing wrong with the rules.

    I watched over a month now but cool-trader never added a existing position although it met both the rules.


    ADD TO POSITION RULES
    Todays Current Ask Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price
    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price % ( 5 )

    Any help resolving this issue is appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Rajesh Y

    Are you running a specific strategy? I had a similar issue and adjusted the advancing / declining preferences. If we knew which strategy you are using maybe we could figure out the reason.

    Also I would check the Rules menu within CoolTrade and it should tell you if the rules are true or not.

    Day trade rules help pls
    My preferences have the SEC rules for day trades checked - which is what I want. My trader dashboard shows "day trades remaining: 999" and closed four round trips today! (good thing I’m in simulation mode!) - Where do I go to fix the day trade allowance, I did not see it in the Wizard.

    GypsyJackie,

    How much are you simulating with? If you are simulating with anything over $25,000 you will have an unlimited amount of day trades. If you have anything less you will only be able to do 3 round trip trades in one day.

    Good thought - however, I have checked the box to apply day trade restrictions regardless of account balance, restarted my trader and still have unlimited day trades available.

    How much are you simulating with?

    30K is what I’m using, but I checked the box to apply the day trade limits regardless of account balance . . .

    MacD question...
    Can someone explain in layman terms what this rule means:

    MACD Value (12,26,9,1,1) is less than Intraday MACD Signal line

    This is preventing from purchasing one of my stocks in my watch list.

    I get that it’s supposed to mean an ’up trend’ but not sure why exactly?

    Thanks.

    Zac,

    I might be looking at your rule wrong but if I am correct if you are trying to indicate an uptrend you would need the Value line greater than the Signal line. That could be your issue.

    @Enlightened.Investor
    Enlightened,

    In your Conservative Long Strategy (NoStopLoss) that you are currently using, what $$$ amount are you trading with? i.e. 25K, 50K, 100K ??? I know that has alot to do with each strategy.

    Would it simulate with any of the values, just adjust the trade shares and the max shares accordingly?

    Still learning ;-)

    DOW 30 Long and Short
    Has anyone had any luck in using the DOW 30 Long and Short version with the Intraday MACD indicators:
    For DOW 30 LONG:
    Intraday MACD value (12,26,9,10,1) is less than Intraday MACD signal line (12,26,9,10,1)
    Intraday MACD value (12,26,9,10,0) is greater than Intraday MACD signal line (12,26,9,10,0)
    Intraday MACD value (12,26,9,10,0) is greater than Intraday MACD vaue (12,26,9,10,1)

    Opposite for DOW 30 Short...

    I’ve been using this version with no action on either end and am considering going to simpler indicators looking at current price instead.

    How much are you simulating with?

    I am simulating with $30k for each account.

    Limit the number of days trade is open
    Hi,

    I am looking for some help in writing a rule with the following parameters.

    I would like to close out a trade if it has been held for 10 trading days regardless of its profit position. It does not matter in my strategy if it is profitable yet or not.

    Can someone help?

    Thanks,
    Saleem

    I looked for awhile and the only one I could find that might do what you want it to is:

    My Same Symbol Highest Trade Days is Greater Than X

    Settlement Pariod with MB Trading
    I have been trading live with MB Trading for about three weeks now in a traditional IRA account. My Cool Trade software is version 7.5.44 and I’m using a strategy that does a maximum of 3 simultaneous long trades with stocks of $3.95 and below. This has realized a return of approximately 5% with 1000-share lots on a $10,000 account balance. A question has come up that I would really appreciate some help with.

    MB requires a three-day settlement period (as do all trading services) on all traditional IRA account sales. They do not allow a Traditional IRA account to have any kind of margin. What would be the best way to make use of, or at least minimize the downside of, having sales proceeds frozen for 3 days.

    I tried setting the maximum allocation amount to only half the account balance, but that put such a crimp in the trading operation that I decided to go back to the full amount.

    I have also tried checking the "2-1 Margin" box on the software, but I really don’t know what, if any, affect that is having.

    There are a few orders that Cool Trade has put in that have been refused by MB due to insufficient funds because of the settlement period. I have settled on leaving it that way and taking what I can get.

    TD Ameritrade allows margins for Traditional IRA accounts, but only to get the sales proceeds into circulation right away. Maybe the best solution is to bite the bullet & go with the higher trading fees of Ameritrade.

    The best approach might be to take the respectable return I’ve been getting so far and keep my mouth shut.

    I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

    Thanks much,
    Bill602

    Settlement Period with MB Trading
    I posted this a couple days ago, but the "?" icon did not show up, so I’m reposting it

    I have been trading live with MB Trading for about three weeks now in a traditional IRA account. My Cool Trade software is version 7.5.44 and I’m using a strategy that does a maximum of 3 simultaneous long trades with stocks of $3.95 and below. This has realized a return of approximately 5% with 1000-share lots on a $10,000 account balance. A question has come up that I would really appreciate some help with.

    MB requires a three-day settlement period (as do all trading services) on all traditional IRA account sales. They do not allow a Traditional IRA account to have any kind of margin. What would be the best way to make use of, or at least minimize the downside of, having sales proceeds frozen for 3 days.

    I tried setting the maximum allocation amount to only half the account balance, but that put such a crimp in the trading operation that I decided to go back to the full amount.

    I have also tried checking the "2-1 Margin" box on the software, but I really don’t know what, if any, affect that is having.

    There are a few orders that Cool Trade has put in that have been refused by MB due to insufficient funds because of the settlement period. I have settled on leaving it that way and taking what I can get.

    TD Ameritrade allows margins for Traditional IRA accounts, but only to get the sales proceeds into circulation right away. Maybe the best solution is to bite the bullet & go with the higher trading fees of Ameritrade.

    The best approach might be to take the respectable return I’ve been getting so far and keep my mouth shut.

    I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

    Thanks much,
    Bill602

    Hi Bill

    Try IB. No waiting period required. Funds are immediately available upon closing a trade.

    $1.00 commission per 200 shares.

    Owen

    I think that is only on account balances over $25.000.

    Is Interactive Brokers still accessible thru Cool Trader? I heard it is not.

    Bill602

    Yes. It absolutely still works with IB. I don’t know why they they have slowed down on promoting IB but for sure you can open an IB account and use it with the CoolTrade software.

    Enlightened

    Someone else mentioned this issue of the 3 day freeze and I believe she handled it by making sure that the margin 1-1 was checked. It seems there also needed to be an acknowledgement of the margin 1-1 on the broker’s side too. I’m not experienced at this first hand. Ask your broker about it.

    The issue being experienced is due to the brokers decision to hold your funds. Much like a check works with a bank, the broker will hold the funds that you had allocated between 3-5 days. If you are using an IRA account with any broker other than TD and IB, you are going to have a tough time making the multiple trades everyone desires. If you do have TD or IB, and you are using an IRA, they will allow something called a "Reg T Margin" which could apply additional buying power, but does not need to be utilized. That choice is yours. This will simply allow the funds to be released immediately rather than waiting for the 3-5 day settlement.

    So who do you go with? TD or IB?

    TD is flawless with CoolTrade. Great API, great customer support, investment advisers, and tools needed for first time traders. The downside, $10 trades.. ouch.

    IB has $1 trades, but lacks customer service, has a terrible API notorious for difficult auto starts, and offers none of the additional services that TD provides, unless you want to pay for it.

    I guess the saying "you get what you pay for" is very true here.

    When using a strategy, you need to consider how fast, and how often the trades will execute. If you have a tight profit goal, the trades will execute quickly, causing your funds to be held up by the broker, and in turn rejecting the order, and eventually shutting CoolTrade down to protect you from a possible account freeze. I have seen many people make this mistake by having the day trader mentality. Day traders have hundreds of thousands usually, or at least $30k. This allows them to make quick and often trades, without the fear of violating these rules, but again, this only applies to a margined account, no matter the account value.

    The 2-1 margin in CoolTrade means very little if you do not have a 2-1 margin, it will only get you into trouble. Brokers do not send your buying power to CoolTrade, therefore it is up to you to manage your money.

    Open New Possitions
    I was wondering what most traders are using to open positions. I know there are many opinions and preferences but was hoping to hear on whats working out there for you and any advice. I know Ed isn’t a fan of technical indicators and prefers to keep it simple with rules like: current price > than price 1 min ago.

    I would like to know what is the best way to use intraday bollinger and MACD indicators to enter into long positions when the price is trending up.

    I have experimented with MANY technical indicators to show an "up trend". I can tell you honestly, they don’t work.

    Ed doesn’t like technical indicators for good reason. If you wait for that technical indicator to align with the planets and wait for a solar eclipse, your stock has already made it’s move. By that time, all the profit is gone and now you’re entering at a less volatile stock, or a time when the stock is about to reverse.

    All of that missed potential is wasted in trying to guess where the stock is going, and trust me, it’s all a guess.

    Get into the trade and see where it goes. That’s my mentality.

    I have been experimenting with daily trend indicators in reference to close and open prices in my open position rules, but this can have little meaning and only gives a 50/50 chance of getting in on a winning trade.

    If you spend enough time with indicators one thing you’ll discover is that the results are widely dependent on the individual using them, both based on personal preference for them and personal skill in using them. Misapplication of indicators or combinations of them are the norm. What Jack Scwhager says about the markets is true. There are many ways to profit from the market and they’re all hard to find. What will help you most is finding a method that best fits you and that means taking the time to find that out:

    youtube.com/watch?v=y3nrbtzYFGw

    You may find the video by Dan Fitzpatrick on Bollinger Bands and other short videos you can find on YouTube helpful in deciding if you want to use them in auto trading:

    youtube.com/watch?v=PWqxNtsFx1M


    And if you want to dig deeper into Bollinger Bands you can also pick up the book written by John Bollinger entitled "Bollinger on Bollinger Bands". I have seen auto trading systems that do make use of them but they are just one input used in triggering a trade. It’s the combination of triggers used that matters and the combinations take time to find - however you go about doing that.

    You may also find the following videos by Linda Bradford Raschke useful in seeing how a top trader approaches the market. She was one of a handful of elite traders profiled in Jack Schwager’s Market Wizards books. The videos will show you that technical analysis can effectively be applied to the markets but not all technical analysis is the same:

    youtube.com/watch?v=yHJDIWSIKvE

    youtube.com/watch?v=zf6zPlqVVr0

    Thanks guys. Definetely lots to consider and learn when it comes to technical indicators. I am too of the opinion to just get into the trade and am putting more emphasis on watchlist rules than open position technical indicators.

    How to create a strategy for 1 stock?
    Hi,
    I have a stock I’m interested in trading that is at about $110 right now and can have volatility at times of up to $2-$4 a day or more, though not all the time. Could anyone help me with how I would create a strategy for this? Would it be correct to buy on dollar dips or something else? I’ve not simulated any of the 1 stock strategies (ie; HAL, BAC, FB etc) and am wondering if I can just use some/most of the rules for 1 stock strategies with some modifications (and what would those be?)?
    I’ve tweaked some strategies before, but have never created one from the ground up. Any help would be appreciated!
    Thank you!

    P.S. Also, how do I program the strategy to take into account a possible stock split? And, if I wanted to do a small basket of hand selected stocks instead of just one stock, would the stocks need to be in a similar price range? I also understood something about if I began with 100 shares per trade and later wanted to increase it to 200 shares per trade that this would cause a problem with the trader not working correctly. I’m looking into the best way to do this if I wanted to start small and later add to positions. Any advice on any of the above would be very helpful!
    Thanks!

    Linda,

    This is a pretty loaded question. Single stock trading can be just as lucrative as multiple stock trading. I would consider what parameters you want first. Do you want to go with the DOW mentality? Strength indicators? Stop losses?

    I would also consider the stocks history. Is it at a 1, 5, 10 year high? Is it continuing this trend? How do you know?

    The best way to learn CoolTrade is to use it. Start throwing in some indicators based on chart analysis. Find out the correlations between all the settings by researching and making mistakes.

    You could always use the BAC strategy for a reference, and just make minor adjustments and add your own symbols into the portfolio.

    Stock splits can be a pain. When a stock split happens, and depending on the stock split direction, you will lose shares. This causes an odd lot, and since CoolTrade trades in 100 share lots, the position will no longer display. I will enable the feature to block the stock when this happens. You can find that in File > Trader Preferences.

    Multiple stocks can be in the same range, that is your choice. If you do decide to go that route, just make sure you are using percentages instead of fixed values for indicators and goals.

    Thanks, Phil...
    Say, do you know of anyone that’s been trading or simulating just FB or HAL by themselves for awhile (3-6 months) and what the average rate of return has been on these? It sure would be helpful to be able to learn from what someone else has done so as not have to spend a lot of time re-simulating some of these basic stocks. Thanks!

    testing strategies -- live VS. simulation
    I’m in simulation mode and still trying to figure out a strategy. I’m concerned that once I go live I’ll not be able to test strategies out in simulation mode. Does one have to stop LIVE and go back to simulation to test again?

    Clarity on this issue would be appreciated.

    S Q

    Hi SQ

    Yes, with one trader you would have to stop live to do simulation. A second trader would allow you to simulate on one and be live on the other.

    Owen

    A better and cheaper solution would be to support back testing to dramatically speed up the strategy development process and also allow one strategy to be run live mode while allowing another to be run in simulation mode.

    SQ,

    You can always go back to a simulation at any time, but remember, those stocks you own are still there. You could simulate for 6 months with amazing results, then go live and not make a dime for the next 6 months. All based on the stocks and market conditions, with a little bit of strategy involved.

    Satruss,

    Back testing was something considered and implemented at one point, but the results did not reflect future markets. Like I stated in my previous post, you can have amazing results 1 month, then have terrible ones the next. The only way you can really test a strategy is to know the future, and if you do, I will give you my info. You could do all the backtesting in the world, it doesn’t mean you have a successful strategy. I did great for 4 months taking in about 6% average per month, then that caught up and my results went down to 0.5% per month. See how a backtest can reflect one thing, and reality can reflect another? As long as I am patient and stick with what I have, I know my results will be great at the end of the year.

    Simulations are for testing certain indicators and parameters, at least this is how I see it. I can tell you if you pick one of the default strategies as it relates to your account value, you will be just fine. Of course if one of those stocks goes bankrupt, there isn’t much anyone can do about that, even CoolTrade.

    So what was the amount of historical data peviously available to use with CTP for back testing? If it was less than even 5 years you can’t put too much weight into the results since the time period doesn’t even cover a market cycle. The short periods of time that others refer to in back testing or forward testing of a few months or even a year are statistically irrelevant and will often lead to over optimization and false conclusions. One of the best pieces of advice I got from a professional trader regarding trading strategy creation was how to back test and the mistakes that people make when doing so. This is from someone who has successfully designed and used automated trading systems longer than CTP has been in existence. One of the important steps is to completely eliminate the most recent 3 months of historical results when back testing any strategy. This significantly reduces the chances of strategy over-optimization and poor long term results.

    Since markets are mean reverting, you need to test them with enough historical market data to hit both bullish and bearish extremes and also revert. The more data you can use the greater your trading sample size will be and the more reliable the results that you get. If you don’t do this you’re unlikely to get the long term results you’re looking for. There’s another alternative and that’s to switch between different strategies, or change the weight of capital used in multiple strategies based on the market condition. But this is a more advanced method since you need a much better understanding of how to read the markets - not a beginner’s starting point but it can be learned.

    What people are currently experiencing as good results are likely heavily dependent on the current market condition which has been extremely bullish for the last year - about a 23% gain or 1.2%/month on the S&P500 alone. This is historically much higher than normal and you would expect bullish strategies to work well in this market environment over the past year. A better gauge of whether you have a robust strategy is to run tests against the prevailing market condition - in other words run a bullish strategy in bearish market conditions or a bearish strategy in bullish market conditions. If you can create profitable strategies counter to the current trend you know your strategy isn’t heavily dependent on having the market wind at your back, so to speak, and you may have a strategy that’s robust. That’s not to say you can’t take advantage of market conditions when using strategies. Just be aware that the market conditions may have a large influence on your results.

    I’ll end with a short clip entitled "Jack Schwagers Most Important Trading Lessons" from Jack Scwager who’s interviewed some of the best traders in the world over the past couple of decades:

    youtube.com/watch?v=y3nrbtzYFGw

    The lessons he discusses apply to both discretionary and auto trading.

    Stratuss,

    First, I really like your thinking, and you bring up a some really good points.

    I think the biggest problem, as you mentioned is market dependency. Generally, new traders and even advanced trader will take a short term approach instead of thinking of future results and implementing them into their strategies.

    I don’t want to discredit back testing as a whole, but I think something like this needs to be in the hands of more advanced traders than say, the CoolTrade customer base. CoolTrade wasn’t really designed for the advanced trader, although it can be used by one. CoolTrade was designed for the individuals that either want to learn trading, or want to get away from directed retirement accounts.

    I can almost guarantee the computers that handle all of CoolTrade’s data have some form of back testing still implemented. Whether this is for internal use, or for assisting with watchlist population, I can’t say for certain. What I do know is if you give the wrong person a powerful tool, they will likely abuse it, or not understand it to the point of blaming the creator, not themselves. I would say the latter is why CoolTrade does not have a back test available to customers. Maybe in the future though.

    Do you recall when TD tried to do the automated trading thing? How long that lasted? Customer satisfaction and a certain degree of ignorance is always a concern. This was ultimately the reason for TD’s auto trading demise.

    I personally think the simulation option is fine, since you aren’t looking at what you can make, per say, but rather what the strategy will do in certain situations. I have created hundreds of strategies, and what you described about not including the most recent 3 months of data is something I never considered or heard of, but I can understand the logic completely.

    Good post all in all. Keep it up Satruss!

    Excellent conversation and I appreciate the contributions.

    My two cents:

    -- Putting backtesting back in CoolTrade would be extremely useful.

    -- It would need to access at least 10 years of back data.

    -- Users would need to know that past performance does not guarantee future results.

    The custom Fly Right CoolTrade strategies I’ve been developing since March of 2013 -- both the day trading version and swing trading version -- rely on exit rules to exit positions, along with an "emergency bailout" stop loss. I heavily rely on moving averages, including moving average crossovers.

    For example, the long day trading version of Fly Right currently exits positions when the three 1-minute bar SMA crosses below the thirty-four 1-minute bar SMA. (And of course, the opposite rule is included for opening new positions). My short version does the opposite. It would save me countless hours to be able to plugin different values to test my 3/34 approach. I’ve rigorously tested dozens of combinations to date -- finding the Fibonacci sequence numbers to be most effective -- but as it stands it’s one day at a time, A/B/C/D/E/F split testing on six CoolTrade machines. And here I am seven months later still in simulation with over 900 hours invested and no profits earned. I could provide a dozen more examples of settings that I would love to backtest, from bid/ask spread, to the Fibonacci sequence SMA’s I use to enter trades, to the overall market context indicators I use for "higher timeframe confirmation", to various profit requirement combinations. Backtesting would help with all of these settings decisions.

    ~~ Kirk VandenBerghe
    kirk [dot] vandenberghe [at] gmail [dot] com

    Open position rules
    These open position rules are in alot of the strategies in the Wizard. Would somebody please explain what these mean (not too technical) and how and why these are used to open new positions?

    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1) is Less Than Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,1)

    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,0)

    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1)

    Thanks!

    All Three of these mean that the stock just crossed over from negative to positive.

    THIS ONE MEANS 1 BAR AGO (OFFSET=1) THE STOCK WAS DOWN
    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1) is Less Than Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,1)

    THIS MEANS THE CURRENT BAR (OFFSET=1) THE STOCK IS UP
    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,10,0)

    THIS MEANS THE CURRENT BAR (OFFSET=0) IS ABOVE WHAT IT WAS 1 BAR AGO (OFFSET=1)
    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,0) is Greater Than Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,10,1)

    Hedge

    Current Price
    What is the difference between the current ask or bid price and current price rule? When writing a rule should I be using "current price" or "current ask or bid price"??

    Current Price likely means last traded price which could be different than both the current bid and ask.

    I use Current Ask in all my indicators since that is what we enter the trade at. Not really sure what the Current Price is referencing.

    Intraday Crossover Issue
    does anyone know how to write the rules for the following - this would be for an intraday strategy with 10 minute periods:

    current price is greater than a 20 period EMA and previous period close is less than 20 period EMA.

    In effect I’m looking for the intraday current price crossover point of a 20 period EMA. I’m using offset 0 for current price and offset 1 for previous price (I would assume this means close of previous 10 minute period) and checking current price is greater than 20 period EMA and checking previous price is less than 20 period EMA.

    Unfortunately, this is not delivering the results that I would expect. Seems simple enough but perhaps I’m missing something.

    Thanks,

    MACD Intraday & Signal line question
    Can someone explain what this rule means:

    MACD Value (12,26,9,1,1) is less than Intraday MACD Signal line

    I get that it’s supposed to mean an ’up trend’ but not sure why exactly?

    Thx

    -Z

    zac,

    The Signal Line is created by taking a 9 period moving average of the the intra day MACD. With the Signal line increasing in momentum and is greater or above the Value line, it a sign of Bullish Momentum, One key thing to note though is the Intra day indicators use current Minute bars and the regular MACD indicators use EOD (Closing data). So you have two different calculations.

    Actually the definition of a bullish crossover using MACD has the MACD value starting below the MACD Signal line and then crossing above the MACD Signal line. The signal is stronger if both the MACD value and Signal line have a positive slope (i.e. current bar for both MACD and Signal line is greater than previous bar). You’ll get a clear picture of how to use MACD at stockcharts.com or this link:

    stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators:moving_average_conve

    $20 k Dow long & Short strategies
    I am currently playing the Dow Long & Short strategies for $20k.

    I’m wanting to max out the stocks I am trading instead of only trading the 3 that
    are originally part of the strategy.

    Does anyone have any suggestions on stocks to add for these strategies?

    Currently I am playing AA, BAC, HPQ, INTC & MSFT.

    Any help is appreciated!

    Thanks!

    Are you simulating with $20,000 or more?

    I am trading live with $10k.

    Sorry, I don’t have suggest for you, but curious how that strategy is working for you.And how long have you been using the strategy.
    I’m a new purchaser.

    apete333,

    You can do this. After opening the Strategy Wizard for the DOW Strategy go to Tab 2 (Watch list Rules) and you will see inside the rules field a grayed out rule for "Yesterdays Close Price is Less than $20." In order to activate this field you need to un-check the boxes at the bottom labeled "Add My Portfolio to the Watch list" , "Use my Portfolio or Symbol Files Only". At this point you can select which sectors your want. I personally like the SP100 and technology. But that is up to you on your choices.

    I hope this gives you more of a variety that you are looking for.

    I have been running this live for about 3 months. The average monthly return has been about 2%. Going from 3 to 5 stocks really added to the monthly profits. Of course, I’m holding stocks that are negative by hundreds of dollars but I don’t have a stop loss and am waiting for them to come back. I am long on those trades. The 2% are trades that have closed.

    THANK YOU apete333 for your reply.
    I’VE been simulating with different strategy and getting anxious to go live.
    Been reading post to see how others are doing. I think monthly 2% is very good.

    I personally wouldn’t add additional stocks to the strategy, since the settings are configured for $20k and you are live trading with $10k.

    Money management is where you have to put your thoughts into creating a strategy, especially if you are using this DOW "mentality".

    Just think about when those 3 stocks buy 100 shares each. Lets say these are the prices:

    AA - $8.50
    BAC - $14.50
    HPQ - $23

    Now multiply those numbers by 100 = $4600.

    Half your money is gone on the first initial purchase. What happens when one of those stocks drops 5%? It adds another 100 shares. If that stock happens to be HPQ, that’s another $2300 added to your allocated funds. You can see how your funds can become unavailable very quick.

    My general rule is to go for 5 positions, per symbol, on 5% drops. If you just traded HPQ alone, that would be 4 positions you can buy maximum, still not staying in the trade all the way.

    This is all my own opinion, but rather than thinking about what stocks to add, I would be thinking about which ones to remove.

    You do always have the option to use the parameters that are there and just remove all of the stocks from the portfolio, then add your own stocks, but I wouldn’t go over $15, and if that’s the case, no more than 2 stocks at that price, which is pushing it.

    Live trading can be dangerous when changing out stocks though, so that is another thing to consider. Just because the strategy changes, doesn’t mean your previous positions no longer exist.

    Good luck and Happy Trading!

    Adding on drops
    I noticed today that my open position did not add on (8%) drops per the rule on tab 4 rules. Below are my Tab 4 rules:

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price %(8)

    Todays Current Ask Price is Less Than Intraday Bollinger Lower (2,1,20,0)

    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,1,0) is Less than Intraday MACD Signal Line (12,26,9,1,0)

    One of my position’s is down -12% and no added position’s. Will the program recognize and apply this rule even though this position is past the set -8% drop and into the -12% territory??

    Thanks

    It sounds like the other rules are preventing them from adding. a 2, 1, 20, 0 bollinger could be the reason, and maybe there is not enough data to make a proper calculation. It could be that this stock is also down 12%, but has not fallen quick enough to hit that lower bollinger.

    Just because that one indicator is in there, doesn’t mean it will add a position if the other indicators are stopping it, unless you have the setting adjusted for any rule to be true.

    Check your declining preferences too. That can be found at the top of the strategy window as a menu item. Is it enabled? What is the value? Is it using a predefined table?

    You can click on the position during the trading day and see what the rule preventing an add is also. You can click the position and then go to "Rules" at the top of the trader to check the values. If the values read 0 or -1, there is not enough data. If they read a valid number, chances are they did not pass.

    CoolTrade only does as it’s told. If something doesn’t seem to do what you expect it to, chances are your rules are wrong, trust me, I had to learn this the hard way. In the end, it was my mistakes that led to the trader not doing what I "expected" it to do.

    Thanks Phil,

    What takes precedence: the declining position menu or Add to current position on tab 4?
    Should I be checking the "do not additional shares to loosing positions" box in the top menu tab so the Tab 4 rules apply?
    Currently it is checked to Add additional shares to Losing positions at the top menu tab.

    Declining preferences controls the adding of positions. If you disable the feature, the add to current position indicators become null and void, no matter how many of them you have in there.

    In order for the rules to be utilized, the parameters in declining preferences needs to pass. If you are using the predefined table, that will take precedence over everything, even the add to current position rules which will be ignored.

    In theory you can set the declining preferences to 0.01 which would almost always be reached, then the add to current positions come into effect. Either way, declining preferences has to be enabled in order for any positions to add.

    Thanks Phil,
    So the program will first make sure the declining preferences pass before looking to Tab 4 rules.

    Thanks again.

    Would someone please explain how this works
    How does this work in Open Position Rules?

    Todays average true range is greater than or equal to 1 dollars

    Thanks!

    If CTP defines today’s ATR to mean the 1 day ATR and CTP is using the standard Wilder ATR definition, then the current ATR can have one of 3 possible values. The largest value of the following 3 definitions would be used:

    Current High - Current Low
    Current High - Previous Close (absolute value)
    Current Low - Previous Close (absolute value)

    There’s a more in-depth explanation of ATR here:

    stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators:average_true_range_a

    Assuming CTP is using the above definition for today’s ATR, if the value is greater than 1 dollar then the open position rule has been met. Since there’s no CTP documentation for ATR, one way to try to figure out how today’s ATR value is calculated is to temporarily insert your rule into a single stock strategy and then check the value in the rules tab. It may equal one of the 3 values stated above. I tested 2 stocks and didn’t get any rules values to match (within a penny or 2) the definitions above so CTP support needs to provide the exact formula used in the ATR calculation.

    Perforrmance of single stock strategies?
    Hi,
    I was wondering if anyone out there can share what kind of returns they’ve been getting from running just one stock that they like. Ie; Facebook, Halliburton, Microsoft, Amgen, MPEL, etc. I also wondered if anyone has had success trading a few of these stocks (or other chosen stocks) together and does this seem to increase profits? thanks!

    That’s a mixed bag. Like any strategy, it just depends on where the stock was going. I’m sure the ones that held on to FB and got out just before the huge jump are kicking themselves right now, actually I know they are.

    It’s all about patience. My strategy made 0.5% per month for the last 4 months. No big deal, I’m up to 8% this month, so there is the catch-up. Imagine if I just decided to get out of the strategy.

    30% a year is all I care about. Monthly returns don’t mean much when I know the stock will just come back eventually. Patience patience patience.

    Explanation of Intraday Interval
    If I am looking for the most current intraday price, would the rule be written as:

    Intraday Price (1,5,0) or would it be written Intraday Price (0,5,0)

    I know that the min/bar is 5 and that the offset is 0 but I’m not quite sure what the interval represents.

    Thanks

    1, 5, 0 = the most recent 1 five minute bar.

    1, 5, 1 = the previous five minute bar

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlightened - much appreciated

    back testing
    Any backtesting available from any vendors?

    Best
    Ed W

    Here are just a handful: Ninja Trader, Trade Station, eSignal, MultiCharts, Sierra Chart. These companies provide backtesting.

    Ed,

    I referenced this in another post responding to Satruss. The title of the post is testing strategies -- live VS. simulation in this same forum. Just back out of here and scroll down.

    So I see posts can be filtered and changed. The links i provided in the previous post that showing back testing features in other apps [edited] were deleted and a new sentence was put in its place that I never wrote.

    If you give me an e-mail address Ed W I can send you the links that were deleted.

    Strategy for $30,000 Aggressive Long
    Looking for a suggestion for an aggressive Long Strategy to copy on $30,000 Total account balance.Been simulating for about 8 weeks with different strategies and would like to find one that has been working well for members.

    wiljenkins,

    My suggestion would be looking over the strategies under NEWUSER / DEMOTRADER accounts,

    Reports on Profit and Loss
    Hi, can someone please send me some reports on the profit and loss for the CTP trading at Tq1club@gmaildotcom?
    Thank you. Marcus.

    Sent you email with report attached. Check it out. Strategy is live trading for a month.

    @yarajes

    Would you please send your report to me too?! spokanebroker@gmaildotcom

    Thanks, yarajes

    @yarajes
    Would you mind sharing your strategy with me also?

    I’ve been simulating with $2.00 and under for pass week. Using IB feed.
    Too short of time to judge results.
    I want to go live and thinking of using Dow 30 Long for $25.00.
    I would be interested in strartegy you have been using and results.
    jmelbourne@bellsouth.net

    I am new to CoolTrade as of today. As I look into the Forum I was expecting to see a community of with profitable trade results. What I have concluded is that I purchased a trade engine that needs tuning and maybe not providing the results I was expecting (5% to 20% monthly returns). In test I am using the Dow Stategy.

    I am wondering if I have been scammed?


    jimdye1@gmail.com

    Jim, you haven’t been scammed. I and many others been using this system for years and the default strategies that you have BY DEFAULT have done very well, and continue to do well. If someone told you you were going to get 5% to 20% a day then they did mislead you. But the board is full of people reporting great monthly returns if you have patience.

    What Strategy is the CoolTrader Webpage using
    Hello Community!
    I wanted to ask, what stock strategy in the CoolTrader website using?
    The UI in which you input a stock symbol and it tells you a 3 year history what the stock would have done if you bought and hold versus if cooltrader traded the symbol.

    Thanks!

    Anyone in the Orange County Region?
    Hello Folks!
    I was wondering if anyone in the Southern California region who is a cooltrader use would like to get together once a month or create a skype/voip meeting/gathering to discuss our experience with cooltrader.

    Thanks
    Tony

    hello tony- i will be in newportbeach in june for 3 mo. would love to share notes i have been simulating since mid march- $25,00 dow long made about $2000 which i think is good- i just want to pick $50 plus dollars adaY-but i am having a hard time with the rules want it simple but not too simple -want to buy when long stocks are trending up and the same on the shorts going the other way- so it is taking lots of homework and the chat room doesn;t give me enough info. university not really helpful either- any other suggestions thanks bertie

    Hey Tony,

    I’m a brand new Cool-Trade user and would love to talk with other people in the area about their experiences. Are you still interested in getting people together?

    Jim

    TONY OR JIM HYATT - I’M IN ORANGE CO. NEWPORTBEACH AREA -WOULD LOVE TO SHARE IDEAS- PLEASE AN EMAIL TO TRY AND GET TOGETHER- BERTIELUV40@AOL.COM

    2 longs in one CT account
    Hello everyone,.
    I read that you can only one long position trading per CT account. Meaning you cannot have two long strategies in play. Only one long and one short.

    So does this mean that UCO Long/SCO Long from phil@cooltraderpro.com would need two CT accounts in order for it to run?

    Thanks

    You can have multiple Long positions open under the same Long strategy. But you can only be running one Long and Short Strategy at the same time.

    PSAR Values
    I have a question about the values being generated by the Parabolic SAR indicator. I believe that the PSAR calculated values should be either above or below the price value. As an example, if price is 45, PSAR should be a number in the vicinity of the price value of 45, either higher or lower. However, I’m finding that the value that returns from PSAR is something like 1.586. Can someone please explain how this might be happening.

    Thanks

    anyone have a good long strategy for 10,000?
    We have been simulating since April and have not found a good strategy yet. We want to invest $10,000 in a long strategy and would like to just copy someone’s as the rules are very confusing and hard to know what works. Any help out there?

    You would want to look go to NEWUSER account and try the some of the strategies there.

    $10,000 is what I consider the breaking point with trading. You are right on the edge where strategies become more available, but not quite enough to use some of the strategies that have supposed "great returns".

    Any strategy you try from newuser@cool-trade.com is going to be similar percentage return wise. Just need to make sure you aren’t picking a strategy intended for $50,000 and you only have $10,000 in your account.

    52 Week high calculated?
    Hi, does someone know how the 52 week high is calculated for CT? I noted that the 52 week high indicated in CoolTrader is different than say Yahoo finance indicates.
    From what i understand the 52 week high is the highest price a particular stock has traded during the previous rolling 52 weeks...which for example GE would be 26.49 according to Yahoo finance but Cooltrader has it at $24.25 when I look at the rules in the trader. Maybe I’m missing something?

    We are looking into it but so far it looks like that is what the indicator data provider is feeding us.

    Any update on the 52 week high indicator? Is anyone else finding this?
    This is important rule for my and I’m sure many other strategies, and needs to be clear on how it’s calculated.

    zeroing out old acct. balance
    I’m working towards going live with CT. I just switched to a new strategy in simulation mode. I manually sold off shares in old strategy, but can’t find way of starting with fresh opening balance. And I’m changing account starting balances with each new strategy tested.
    My concern is that when I go live, I want my dollar account balance to be correct. How do I handle this 1) while changing strategy in simulation mode and 2) when I go active with IB.

    Maybe this will help:

    REFRESH FOR NEW STRATEGY
    If you are simulating, changing strategies is very easy.

    1. Open your strategy wizard and select the strategies that you want to simulate with.
    2. Once the strategy is selected close the strategy wizard.
    3. If the trader is open, close it.
    4. Open the trader and before you log in, click File > Refresh for new strategy.
    5. Log in.
    6. There will be a new window that pops up to refresh for a new strategy. Select the options you want and hit save.
    7. You are now simulating with a new strategy and starting fresh.

    If you are live, you have 2 options:

    1. Liquidate the account by closing all positions. (not recommended)
    2. Put in a new indicator in the Open Positions rules such as "Todays Ask Price is Less Than 0 Dollars" this will cause the trader to never open another position once the symbol completely sells out at a profit. Also, disable declining preferences which can be found at the top of the strategy.

    If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at any time.

    Dow 30 Long Strategies
    I am going to try a new strategy as the last one I tried did produce profits but used up my cash, not leaving enough to utilize during a big correction.

    I will be simulating with 50k and have downloaded two Dow Long strategies, one from Office8 and one from Newuser2.

    I am looking for a simulation that will produce consistent profits and not go on a wild buying frenzy at this lofty level we find ourselves at this time.

    I have two reasons for nailing this. One is to generate positive reports for marketing purposes and also help in zeroing in on a good long term strategy when going live.

    Thanks in advance for any help from any of you that have been using this software for a while.

    Chris--

    windman88,

    I have had great results from the DOW strategies under the "NEWUSER" account. So if you are simulating with $50 K I would suggest using the DOW Long Simulating for $50,000.

    If you want to turn your strategy more conservative then maybe modifying the strategy so that your Max Shares from 1,000 to a lower amount or even reducing the Maximum Symbol to purchase.

    I hope this helps.

    JoeBob,

    How long have you been using the Dow Long Strategy and what kind of returns has the robot been producing for you?

    Thanks,
    Chris--

    Blue Chip Screener
    Looking to build a strategy that looks at Blue chip, high cap dividend paying stocks similar in quality to DOW30 stocks. What type of watch-list rules should I be using? So far I have come up with:

    Average true range%(14) is greater than 1.5%
    yesterdays vol is greater than 1m shares
    30 day average vol in greater than 1m shares
    current assets greater than current liabilities
    current year EPS in greater than 0.5 dollars (??? not sure if the value is too low??)
    dividend yield % in greater than 2
    institutional ownership greater than 80%

    Im looking for stocks between $5-$25.

    Your help or advice is appreciated.

    eayala604,

    A most of those rules do not sound bad. Here are some rules for one strategy I use to use for strong DOW stocks that might help as well.

    5-Day SMA is Greater Than 18-Day SMA
    3-Day SMA is Greater Than 18-Day SMA
    20-Day Average Volume is Greater Than 1000000 Shares
    Average True Range%(14) is Greater Than 3
    Institutional Ownership is Greater than 10
    Yesterdays Close Price is at Lest 12 % less than Highest Price during Previous 50-Days.
    Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than 30 Dollars
    Yesterdays Close Price is Greater Than 10 Dollars

    Thanks JoeBob,
    I appreciate your response. I’m looking to screen the entire market and all sectors with a set of rules that return DOW30 quality types where holding stocks for a long period of time will at least return a decent dividend %. Im looking to simulate and then trade with $50k but want more diversity and stocks between the $5 to $25 range than the DOW30 offers.

    You can choose "all sectors" check box in the "watchlist" tab and just change the below rules.


    Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than or Equal to 25 Dollars
    Yesterdays Close Price is Greater Than or Equal to 5 Dollars.

    test
    test

    reply to test

    did test work

    test
    test

    Intraday Offsets
    Just need clarification on use of Intraday Offsets:

    If I use offset of 0, I know I get current value of the indicator.

    If I want yesterday’s value of the indicator, do I use -1 offset or 1 offset?

    Thanks

    I believe it would be 1. But which indicator are you using?

    Thanks for your reply.

    I am using several of the Intraday indicators and noticed that the dropdowns for the offsets contain numbers ranging from negative values to positive values. I have since received an email answer from Cooltrader technical support supporting your answer of 1as proper offset for yesterday’s values. I’m not sure what the negative values in the dropdowns might be for.

    Thanks again

    The negative numbers are for closing positions.
    Offset = -1 means the bar used to open the position
    Offset = -2 means the bar before the bar used to open the position
    etc.

    Enlightened

    Thanks for the answer.

    I’m not quite sure what you mean by the bar used to close the position? Can you provide an example of how it may be used.

    Thanks

    I don’t use it, but if I want to base my close on the value of the bar at the time the position was opened, I would use -1 for the offset in my close rule:

    Example:

    if I want the current macd value to be greater than what it was when the position was opened, I would use this:

    Intraday MACD Value (12, 26, 9, 1, 0) > Intraday MACD Value (12, 26, 9, 1, -1)

    Explanation Of Price Change
    I am looking for a way to limit exposure to buying into big price gap ups on the long side and, conversely, limit exposure to buying big price gap downs on the short side. I’m thinking of using the following rule:

    "Today’s price change is less than 1 dollars."

    The question I have - is this value calculated by using yesterday’s closing price as the low point and current high as the high point with the difference being compared to 1 dollar?


    Thanks

    I would not use that indicator. I think it is an EOD indicator.

    I would use for an open position rule:

    Current Ask Price at least -1.00 below Yesterdays Close Price

    The minus sign means that the current ask price is no more than $1.00 above yesterdays close price.

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlightened.Investor - much appreciated.

    I notice that you use "today’s current ask price..." in your rule. Why not "today’s current price..."?

    Also, I want to use this with Intraday rule sets. So, I would imagine it works the same by comparing Intraday current price (1,10,0) at least -1.00 below yesterday’s close price.

    Thanks again

    You could use Today’s Current Price but since the buy and sell price are based on the bid and ask prices I figured it best to be more precise.

    Yes, you can use the Intraday indicators too, with the minus sign to determine "not more than".

    Thanks again Enlightened.

    I would imagine that on the short side, the rule would be:

    Intraday price(1,10,0) is at least -1.00 dollars greater than yesterday’s close price.

    Thanks

    >>> Intraday price(1,10,0) is at least -1.00 dollars greater than yesterday’s close price.

    Right. That means the Intraday price(1,10,0) is no more than 1.00 below yesterday’s close price.

    trading strategies
    New to CTP,

    Years of trading experience, using charts, tech., fundamentals, none of which seem to work much anymore. Since QE, we seem to be embarking on a new age of trading, investing. At least as long as the Fed. is manipulating markets. Ok so enough of my ranting. All of the above is what has brought me here with the hope that these robotic traders can take over and allow me to have a life again. I don’t expect miracles, low single digit profit gains per month would make me happy. With that said, I am having a difficult time finding and downloading the strategies, can someone please help. Also looking for individuals in the Los Angeles area to form an investment club/team to work on strategy formulation and trading techniques using CTP. Let me know if interested.


    Glen

    Glen,

    The first place I would start would be cooltradeuniversity[dot]com. For Training and Strategies. Personally I believe that the strategies under NEWUSER are the best to start out with. With a breakdown of strategies for different budgets.

    I hope this helps.

    Poor Fills And Slippage
    I’m running my Cooltrader platform with the Interactive Brokers platform. I’m running an Intraday strategy so fills and slippage are the difference in profit margins. I’ve noticed that with IB on the order open the fill price always seems near the high of the bar and on the order close the fill price always seems near the low of the bar. I’ve also noticed that, recently, when a sell rule is triggered the close price can be several bars from the trigger bar. Is anyone else experiencing this same issue. I realize that some market maker is probably making something on the spread but wondering if another reason.

    Thanks

    Hi

    It sounds like you might be trading illiquid stocks with wide spreads and lots of slippage.

    Owen.

    anybody in vegas? willing to pay for help. or paypal somebody to remote assist,,,
    I just purchased the software a few days ago. I thought of myself as technical savvy before this purchase but after seeing all the different option, buttons, features, I’m slightly discouraged. If somebody on here is knowledgeable and lives in las vegas I would gladly pay them roughly $100 (or more depending on how much time it would take) to give me a basic rundown. I’ve already figured out lots of things/how stuff works, but another problem is I’ve never even touched or looked at stocks in my life before. id like somebody to just upload a few of their recommended strategies, show me how to make minor adjustments, and what to watch for on the screen. If nobody is local maybe somebody could connect to my computer via remote assistance and help set my program up. with the messing around ive done over the last 3days everyday ended in profit losses (obviously im only in simulator)

    THANK YOU!!

    Hi,
    My name is Steve Clark. I would like to give you a hand with the software. Give me a call at 702 769 9887 or send me an email at steven.g.clark@cox.net.

    I’m in Houston, Texas. But I have team viewer set up and we can talk over the phone while I show you how to set things up. I’ll be glad to help a fellow trader. You can call me at 281-529-5680 and set up a time that is mutually convenient for both of us.
    Doug

    RULE /
    Hi, Does anyone know how to write the rule: " Current price is not greater than 1 % of Yesterdays closing price ? THANKS

    ===============================================
    How to write a ’No More Than x above ’ rule:
    ===============================================

    Current Price is at least -1% BELOW Yesterday’s Close Price

    ===============================================
    How to write a ’No More Than x below’ rule:
    ===============================================

    Current Price is at least -1% ABOVE Yesterday’s Close Price

    30 day Wash sale rule
    How does Cooltrader handle a loss sale? Does it eliminate that stock from being purcahsed for 30 days to avoid a wash sales?

    No. As I understand it the wash sale rules are there to prevent long term traders from selling their losing positions at the end of the year to take the tax losses and then buying them back and continuing to hold them long term. Even so, the loss is just added to the newly open positions to change the cost basis so you still take the loss later when you eventually close the position. This is not handled by the software.

    Day traders are in and out of positions all of the time. 4 roundtrip trades in a 5 day period classifies you as a pattern day trader and wash sale rules are different. You should talk to your broker about this if you have questions because I’m not a broker, but I have been day trading for almost 20 years.

    I copied the following from a google search for "wash sale rules for pattern day traders":

    Day Trading
    The IRS defines day traders to be those who have all of the following three
    characteristics: 1) Traders maintain substantial trading activity. (10-20 daily trades should be sufficient.) 2) The trader’s trading activity is sustained on a regular and continued basis and 3) The trader seeks to profit from short-term stock price fluctuations rather than dividends, capital appreciation and interest.
    Be certain to complete a year in advance IRS Form 3115 Application for a Change of Accounting Method.1 This is crucial to avoid difficulties with the wash sale rule. The purpose is to seek permission to use the mark-to-market accounting technique. In addition, this designation will strengthen the trader’s argument that she is a for-profit day trader, allowing for better expense deduction possibilities, such as departing from the 2% miscellaneous threshold and the
    at-risk rules.

    NASD defines the day trader somewhat differently. Anyone who executes buy and sell transactions on the same margin account on the same day is said to be day trading. A pattern day trader executes four or more of these round trip transactions within five business days. Pattern day traders are required to maintain only 25% margin requirements rather than the 50% maintained by other non-institutional traders.

    I think most people using automated trading fall under the pattern day trader status.

    30 day Wash sale rule
    How does Cooltrader handle a loss sale? Does it eliminate that stock from being purcahsed for 30 days to avoid a wash sales?

    77% STRATEGY
    Ok did I get your attention.

    I was going thru the members section for strategies and came across:

    REG5@REGX.COM

    He or She have a strategy:

    AA BAC NUGT Long 130111

    The strategy statistics Accuracy says: 77.26%

    It has run for 90 days.

    Does anyone know anything about this strategy.

    Has anyone run it in demo or LIVE yet.

    I’ve tried to email REG5@REGX.COM and it is an invalid email address. My email gets bounced back to me.

    If anyone has any experience with this strategy would you please email me.

    If the originator REG5@REGX.COM of this strategy reads this would you please email me as well.

    It would be very helpful if anyone is running a strategy live and getting decent results to start a thread PROFITABLE LIVE STRATEGIES.

    i assume we are all here to help each other.

    I know absolutely nothing about this strategy but the Statistics report certainly got my attention.

    I’m Russell Yates at RYates6690@aol.com

    I remember Regina. She runs multiple automated traders, hence the number in the email address. Blaine is another one who runs multiple traders. These guys used to show as the top traders on the STRATEGIES section on the website and used to communicate a lot on these boards. Their names still reappear on the top strategies list from time to time so we know they are still running their traders. I’m not familiar with the strategy that you mention but as long as it has one of their names on it, that is encouraging.

    Jerry

    Sorry folks I have to make a correction to my original post.

    That Strategy is found under MIKE,JANAVOLIO@GMAIL.COM

    AA.BAC NUGT Long 130111

    That was 77% for 90 days

    Under REG5@REGX.COM

    They have a Strategy that was run for only one day that did 122%

    It is La>10% ,3/10%.1<ycsgnl 5% 3/30 4/23

    If anyone downloads either one of these please get back to me with your test results.

    Maybe we can get a group of people running test on these for a period of time and we can compare notes.

    Russ

    RYates6690@aol.com

    Nothing special about the rules. Remember most impressive bull market in history so don’t get caught up in stats.

    Day Trade Strategy
    Hi Guys,

    I am new to the software and looking for some strategies for day trading (long and short) based on momentum / macd? Which are the best indicators and their values to use? Are there any strategies which I can download for day trading?

    Can someone please advise?

    Thanks

    Momentum Day Trading Strategy
    Can someone advise from where I can download momentum day trading strategy which is shown in strategy videos?

    Thanks

    Date format error
    When I try to open the program on January 1st I get an error message that states "Date Format Incorrect. Please Go To Windows Control Panel ->Regional/Language and set to ’English(United States)’
    I have checked the settings and they all look OK. Has anyone else had this error message?

    yes. look in the CoolTrade Installation thread for the solution.

    Basically, you need to launch NSWIZARD.EXE directly instead of the StartNSWizard.exe or StartCoolTrade.exe and then click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION. That will fix it.

    I also just talked to cooltrade support and they will be sending email to everyone with a single link to click in the email that will fix it.

    Enlightened

    i have recieved the info from cooltrade and attempted to fix the problem but it didnt work . I have contacted cooltrade since but have not had a reply yet .

    Another simple solution is the change the desktop shortcut to run NSWizard.exe instead of StartNSWizard.exe

    Then you can launch the program and click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION.

    That should work.

    CT

    I’m getting this message still. When running either application: StartCoolTrade or StartNSWizard.

    I did manage to get the NSWizard to start once, and selected the "download developer version", but the app soon failed and I can’t find where it might have downloaded the new version to run.

    So please help. I’m getting the DATE FORMAT INCORRECT error.

    I’m running Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center.

    Is there a way to download the developer version form the web or an FTP site?

    The easiest solution is to change your computer date to 12/31/2013.
    Then launch the strategy wizard and click FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION.
    Then after it is done change your date back to the current date.

    MACD rule
    How do I make an open new rule strategy for the MACD(12,26,9) Histogram has to be above 0.0?

    MACD rule
    How do I make an open new rule strategy for the MACD(12,26,9) Histogram has to be above 0.0?

    Understanding Rule
    I notice that many standard strategies use the following rule or something similar:

    ABS(My same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price %(5)

    What exactly is this rule filtering for?

    Thanks

    That calculated the VALUE resulting from 5% of the highest price paid.
    Then that value is used everytime the stock drops by that amount.
    It ensure that adding shares occures at FIXED intervals.

    If you were to just add everytime the stock dropped 5% from the lowest entry price, you would end up added to shares on smaller and smaller drops. The above ensure that you add every time the stock drops 5% (where the 5% value is based on the highest position/lot that you own).

    Enlightened

    thanks

    Inverse ETF
    Can someone please enlighten me on how the short strategy works for an inverse ETF?

    EX. TNA...bought long.... price would move with the market up.

    TZA...it’s inverse bought long would move up in price when the market moves down.

    1. So in theory both of these bought long would offset each other thus, TNA would profit in an up market and TZA price would profit in a down market. If I wanted to accomplish this would I trade both of these symbols on the long side in the trader, and would MACD value and signal lines work properly to accomplish the desired effect?

    2. Now if I were to trade TNA long side and TZA short side in the trader, the trader would short TZA which would reverse it’s action to the long side, which defeats its purpose of profit (price move up) in a down trending market. Do I have this correct?


    Glen

    Everything you have written sounds correct and MACD would work.
    I can see the value of trading both TNA and TZA long. Since they are different symbols, you can be in both simultaneously. I don’t like the idea of shorting as many times the broker will say that short shares are not available and mess up the strategy.

    Try it in simulator for a while. These type of strategies have not done well lately because the market has gone up unrealistically over the last year and the short etfs have gotten killed. But I am still hanging on and adding on 10% moves and consistently taking profits. The longs have done great.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened thank you. I would be interested in speaking to you further offline, is there an email I can contact you at.

    Sincerely,

    Glen

    Adding To Winning Stocks
    If I want to set my own rules as to when I want to add to winning stocks, how would I do that beyond setting my own rules. I have tried looking at the strategy preferences for adding to winning or losing stocks but can’t see where to indicate that I want to use my own rules. Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    You need to check the ADD TO PROFITABLE POSITIONS.
    But then you need to add your own rules to the Add To Position Rules Tab3.

    Tab2: Watchlist Rules
    Tab3: Open Position Rules
    Tab4: Add to Position Rules <============

    is that in the advancing preferences tab? when I check that box, another box gets checked indicating how much higher the stock must go before adding additional shares. Does that get over-ridden by the rules that I enter?

    We are developing Short Strategies - anyone already in play? Please contact us.
    This is Lily, Dan and Forouzan from Vancouver Canada. We are specialized in indicators, options and futures. Now we mastering the strategies for robotics trading.

    In balance with the long strategies,we are developing shorting strategies. We love danger and love to dance with any giant animals.

    At this point, our shorting strategies have not put into real money but just about to put into simulation in 2 robotics.

    So we invite you, if you have had this shorting simulation or real money trading, please contact us. Let’s go over some of the rules and share each other’s expertise to refine the strategies.

    The benefit of being a valued contributor, we will give you pass code to our other powerful trading tips that took us over 20 years of trading and learning courses.
    Our contact person is Lily.
    Her tel in Canada: 604 800 8316 in USA: 602 507 9681
    email: Lharvey888@aol.com

    New Trader.Basic Question
    I am interested in user input. I am new to trading and would like to know if you suggest more stocks and less shares or less shares and more stocks??

    New Trader.Basic Question
    I am interested in user input. I am new to trading and would like to know if you suggest more stocks and less shares or less shares and more stocks??

    cynthialarmore2, funds-Strategy
    Is anyone using this strategy? I am unable to simulate using funds of more than 50,000 and my results have stagnated. The first two weeks I was up 3000.00, after today, after another three weeks of trading i am only up 1500.00? So I have lost in the last three weeks.
    I’m wondering if the amount is affecting my results.

    It traded great oct. through Dec. It is in the tank now. It was a consistently rising market.
    It has done poorly in January. It might not be the right program for these big up and down markets.

    I simulated this strategy last July ’13 during a rising stock market and it posted a return of over 25% in about 30 days. I was only working with $25k, lower the stock price parameters to less than $50/share and allowing it to purchase up to six issues. I was pretty excited by this performance only to have it lose half of that return in the first week of August when the market turned to the downside. As I have found, this strategy, like most of the strategies available, are bull market strategies. This cynthia strategy has about 5 or 6 wide open loose buy rules so the user has no idea what stocks it will buy. It is kind of a bottom fishing strategy and tends to buy stocks that have experienced a big price drop. BUYER BEWARE! Some of these stocks could drop to zero! There’s no guarantee that some of these companies won’t go out of business or experience more deep declines in price with little hope of EVER bouncing back. Tread carefully.

    Tune Strategy To Open Position After Price Turn-Up
    I would greatly appreciate some help with my current strategy. I’m using Cool Trade 7.5.50 to buy long positions of stocks between $1.00 and $3.95 in lots of 1000. I have been noticing over the past few months that most of the new positions opened have a lower price just a few minutes after purchase than the entry price. That makes me think the purchase is occurring on a falling price trend which continues to fall after purchase.

    Could someone give me some pointers on fine tuning my strategy to open positions just after the price reaches a low point and turns back up, similar to the way the softwarre follows the price up and sells after a pullback?

    Checking the strategy rules for opening new positions, I notice the following rules which must be satisfied: "Today’s current price is greater than price 5 min. ago." and, "Price 5 min. ago is greater than price. 10 min. ago." Would that not make it more probable that the price should be rising when the position is opened?

    I’m considering adding one or both of the following new rules: "Price 1 min. ago is greater than price 2 min. ago." and/or "Today’s current price is greater than price 1 min. ago." And I’m wondering if one or both of these new rules should be added to the rules mentioned above or if they should replace them.


    Thanks very much, Bill Chase

    I agree with the additional rules. I would add them and keep the other one’s too.

    I have used those rules too-- the shorter duration ones like ’’price 1 minute ago is greater than price 2 minutes ago" and a little longer. They work but it’s kind of a crap shoot sometimes.....meaning, it has helped the trader to not buy a stock the price drops immediately upon market open as they sometimes do in the first 20 or 30 minutes of the trading day. These rules will allow the stock to be bought after it bottoms out-- typically--- and has begun an uptrend. So for me, it has helped me to miss buying the stock right at the open until and uptrend has begun resulting in a lower purchase price. However the same rules have prevented buying a stock at a lower price when the stocks action has been choppy with an upward drift. I sat there one day watching FB drift up from about $51.25 to $51.55 over the course of about 30 minutes and CT did not buy the stock because of the volitilty. My profit goals were pretty tight and I was not participating in this rise in price--bummed me out. Maybe I need to adjust the time frame? Either way, depending on your profit targets these rules mentioned above can work for you or against you.

    There probably other rules/indicators that work more efficiently but I don’t know what they are.

    Chris

    Brand new user looking for validation
    Hi all,

    I just started simulated trading the Dow 30 long $20,000. I stared my simulated account with $30K to eliminate the day trading rules. Will anyone share with me their reports for trading this strategy, either simulated or live.

    Much appreciated!

    Rob
    ram13520@gmail.com

    Verification
    Just need verification on the following:

    In writing a rule for a 3 period Intraday Simple Moving average that will be for 10 minute bars, would the following be correct:

    Intraday Simple Moving Average(3,10,0)

    The reason I ask is because several of the intraday indicators use same tag labels for different fields. For example, the intraday MACD uses the tag "interval" for minutes/bar and the intraday SMA uses both "interval" and "min/bar" as tag labels - do they both use the "interval" tag for minutes/bar?. It can become confusing as to which tag label to use for what.

    Thanks

    Minutes/Bar is first. So it would be:

    Intraday Simple Moving Average (10, 3, 0)

    Thanks Enlightened.

    In looking at the Intraday Simple Moving Average indicator, when you click on it, the default parameter fields are filled with values. The first position is filled with a 1 and the second position is filled with a 5. I’m pretty sure that this is not meant to be a default of a 5 period SMA - that’s why I thought first position was the period and second position was the minutes/bar.

    Thanks Enlightened.

    In looking at the Intraday Simple Moving Average indicator, when you click on it, the default parameter fields are filled with values. The first position is filled with a 1 and the second position is filled with a 5. I’m pretty sure that this is not meant to be a default of a 5 period SMA - that’s why I thought first position was the period and second position was the minutes/bar.

    Thanks Enlightened.

    In looking at the Intraday Simple Moving Average indicator, when you click on it, the default parameter fields are filled with values. The first position is filled with a 1 and the second position is filled with a 5. I’m pretty sure that this is not meant to be a default of a 5 period SMA - that’s why I thought first position was the period and second position was the minutes/bar.

    Price declines after opening a position
    Shortly after my trader opens a position with my current rules, sometimes the stock will continue to drop further. Sometimes smaller drops, sometimes wider drops from opening price. Any suggestions on how to add a rule to help prevent that from happening? Below, are my open new position rules:

    5-Day SMA is Greater Than 18-Day SMA

    Price 1-Minute Ago is Greater Than Price 2-Minutes Ago

    Todays Current Ask Price is Greater Than Price 1-Minute Ago

    Todays Current Ask Price is at Least 14 Percent Less Than Highest Price During Previous 30 Days

    Thanks for the help :)

    HI Spokane broker:

    i don’t know if you will get this message as it is now several months later, but i was surprised that even with those rules you are still getting a drop in your stock price after opening the position. In the past 6 months or so, have you been able to get it resolved?

    I ask b/c i too have consistently had that issue and not sure what to do about it.

    thank you
    Becky S.
    rschaer@comf5.com

    I don’t think anyone can predict what a stock will do after the position is opened.
    I have found that just entering a simple MACD cross over to the upside works well:

    Intraday Macd Value (12,26,9,1,1) is less than Intraday Macd Signal (12,26,9,1,1)
    Intraday Macd Value (12,26,9,1,0) is greater than Intraday Macd Value (12,26,9,1,1)
    Intraday Macd Value (12,26,9,1,0) is greater than Intraday Macd Signal (12,26,9,1,0)

    Enlightened

    Tech 7 Strategy?
    I went live, using the Tech 7 $1-$5 Channel for $50,000, and today it bought/sold 1000 share lots, just minutes apart (several times- 12-14 times) at a $10-$20 loss each time? Has anyone else experienced this with this strategy...? I sent an email to Support, just waiting to hear back...wondering if the Forum can help before tomorrow’s trading, so I don’t have to quit live trading until I figure out what happened!

    At $5 in and $5 out it’s adding up quickly (especially when it buys and then sells at a loss, minutes later...several times)

    Help is Appreciated!

    I have a few suggestions for trading $1-$5 stocks.

    1. Set the max bid/ask spread on tab1 to .01.

    2. Set the profit goal to about .18. It’s not likely bid/ask spread will be bigger than that. Low volume stocks have a better change of big gaps in the spreads.

    3. When I close a position I don’t like to go in again at a higher price so set the ReEntry pullback to something. Even .03

    4. Add a WatchList rule that says YESTERDAYS VOLUME > 1000000 shares.

    5. Reboot your computer - Trashed memory can cause weird behavior with any application.

    Jerry

    Thanks Jerry! I’ll give that a try. I also forgot to ask about the exit strategy. The strategy didn’t have one, so I added to exit the strategy if ownership was less than 5%...If I didn’t have an ownership watch on the "watch" and "open" positions strategies, would that effect a quick sale (if that company had less than the 5%?

    Thanks Again for your input!

    Yes, that could cause the quick selling regardless of profits.

    If you have an exit rule like INSTITUTIONAL OWNERSHIP < 5%

    Then you need INSTITIONAL OWNERSHIP > 5% in both the open position rules and also in the add to position rules so that you don’t open a position just to have the exit rule kick you out right away.

    I highly recommend running any new strategy in simulator mode for a while to be sure it is executing as planned.

    Jerry

    FXJerry,

    Thanks for all your Help! I’ll see what happens tomorrow...

    How does this rule work
    Would someone please explain how this rule works? Hopefully with an example.

    Average True Range (14) is Greater Than 1.5 Dollars

    Thanks

    It is a simple rule.

    Average True Range (14) means the average price range between the high and Low price over the last 14 days.

    The only thing you have to be careful about that indicator is the expensive stocks like AAPL and GOOG will move that much, but it may be a smaller percentage move than a lower priced stock.

    I would also throw in a rule like this to get stocks that move at least 3% a day.

    Average True Range%(14) > 3

    And put a price range like:

    Yesterdays Close Price > 3.00
    Yesterdays Close Price < 30.00

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge! Always a check and balanace with rules.

    Another rule question:

    If we want the MACD, or, Slow Stochastic to be rising / increasing, how could we put the rule in? Would there be something more than something like:

    MACD ( -2 day) < MACD

    Thanks,

    Bob

    My Symbol File
    Under the Watch List Rules in the Strategy Wizard there is an option to enter symbols to the Watch List from My Symbols Files which may be accessed through the Set Symbol Files in the Menu Bar. Does anyone know the format and file type to be used with the actual symbols file. If a sample copy is available that would be very helpful.
    Thanks.
    Will

    You put the symbols that you want to add to your watch list into a file. Simple .txt format.

    Example:

    msft
    qcom
    aapl

    Just use notepad to create a file on your hard drive and then select that file in SET SYMBOL FILES in the menu bar.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge.
    I had attempted the same with an Excel file and that did not work. Worked fine with notepad.
    Will

    Rule from Preventing Trade
    I have a rule preventing me from executing on my trades. It says:

    14: Out of open trade time range (09:30:00AM)

    Obviously it has something to do with the time and the rules, but I have double checked and it looks like all my times are set correctly.

    What does this mean? Can someone please help?

    robotic sofeware
    what learn more about robotic sofeware

    Error in Office7 DOW30 Long
    In Tab 3 the following error was made.

    Todays Current Ask Price is at least 100 Dollars Greater Than Yesterdays Closing Price

    Obviously you will never see a $100 increase in a $35 stock in one day.

    Does anyone know what this should be?
    Can anyone recommend a better version of a DOW long strategy?

    Thanks,
    John

    I suggest you overwrite that strategy with one of the other default dow strategies that already has the add-to-position rules that add on 5% drops.

    Enlightened

    New Cool Trader
    Hi im new to trading and first time using ctp can someone tell me witch would be the best staigey for me to try?

    Thanks Mikeandlinda

    I’ m new to cool trade, haven’t even downloaded the software. How is it going for you? There seem to be a lot of confusing questions.

    In my opinion the best place to start is in simulator mode with one of the default Dow strateties (based on the funds you will be using when you starting trading live). The purpose of running the software in simulation mode to start is so you learn how to use the software before going live. If you watch the default strategy run in simulator mode for 30 days then you will be at ease when you start trading live with the same strategy. Since simulation mode (with the broker’s feed) uses real-time data, live and simulator mode is going to act pretty much the same.

    Enlightened

    Thank you for the help i was thinking of using jim cramer AAP Alerts what do you think about using him?

    I am a CT member and I am also an Independent (LLC) authorized direct seller of CT working at the home office in Scottsdale. I can help you at NO cost.

    accuratetradingtoday@gmail.com

    Bruce

    I have been using CT now for over a year - just use the Dow30 long strategy (MSFT, HPQ, BAC,GE, CSCO, AA, INTC, added MU late in year) for $50,000.

    Made very few changes after copying strategy - increased number of shares per position from 100 to 200. Played around with profit margins. Am an unprofessional trader and ended year with return of $12,600 before trading costs versus Dow 11.3%. I’m sure if had taken some training could of returned more.

    Biggest challenge was not touching anything when you were in a down market. Biggest reward letting it work for you. There was one day at six months I was breaking even and ready to look at new strategy, but stayed the course.

    Biggest regret - used TD Ameritrade at $10/trade for year. Just transferred to Interactive Broker.

    New Cool Trader
    Hi im new to trading and first time using ctp can someone tell me witch would be the best staigey for me to try?

    Thanks Mikeandlinda

    thats a very general question, it depends on how much money you have to trade etc, try downloading a user strategy from the front page.

    Cool Trader/Broker Latency
    As a test, I developed a set of rules that would sell a stock once it reached a gain of $.15 or $15 for 100 shares - no pull backs and no protections. On several occasions over the last several days, I had stocks that achieved the profit goal of $.15 and the Cool Trader platform, according to my rules, issued sell commands and closed the transaction. On the Cool Trader screen it indicated that $15 had been realized in profit. However, when I reviewed the Cool Trader reports and Interactive Broker reports, I see that I only made $1 in profit in several of the tests and in some had actually lost money. Some of the tests did show a $15 profit gain. Given this, I can only surmise that in the time that Cool Trader actioned its rules and passed off to the Broker to sell the stock, the price of the stock changed before the Broker issued the necessary sell commands. This resulted in selling the stock at a reduced price from where the Cool Trader rule closed the stock. Some of this is due to the volatility of the current market and some is due to the communications latency between Cool Trader and the Broker. Anybody else experiencing similar issue and any thoughts on how to reduce latency between Cool Trader and Broker. Are there better Brokers than Interactive Brokers that are providing better latency?

    Hi,
    Are you using the delayed feeds or the active feeds? Are you doing this live?
    When you sign up to IB, if will ask you if you want to pay for the live feed, it is waived if you do a certain amount of trading. This will give you the non delayed live feed.

    Kim

    Kim -

    Thanks for your quick response. I am doing this live but will need to check if I signed up for the real time feeds since it has been a while ago. Thanks for the thought - it just might be my issue.

    Lou

    Just curious what you found out? Also are your trading stocks with a lot of volume? If you are trading with low volume stocks, you will get some slippage. To eliminate this or improve this assuming you are getting the real time feeds, some people will put a volume rule for their watch list and add to position rules. I hope this helps.

    Kim

    Hi Lou,
    One more thought. Do you have all your setting checked correctly in IB TWS API?

    Here is something I read and you might want to check:

    Download Open Orders on Connection" should NOT be checked.
    If the positions come from the broker BEFORE the software has had a chance to retrieve them from the database, it will use the CurrentPrice as the entry price. Therefore, we need to retrieve the data from our databases FIRST so we can set the actual entry price, and then the software will request the open positions from the broker.

    Please uncheck that box.

    FYI I would double check the API setup and make sure you have the correctly checked boxes.

    Kim

    Hi Lou,
    I have experienced the same problem as you and just want to find out if you were able to resolve the issue or find a better broker to work with? I find some of my trades are at .30-.40 difference which means a lot of my profitable trades were actually losses. Funny how it always is at the advantage of the broker too never in my favor.

    Pei

    sorry for delayed reply - been away. I found out that I was not using real time data feed as you suggested. Once I addressed that, everything is working fine now. Thanks again.

    Rules Translation
    Could I get a literal translation of the following rules:

    My same symbol lowest trade price move is less than -1.00 dollars

    ABS(My same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price%(3).



    I believe that the second rule is looking at the absolute value difference between the most current lowest trade price of the session and the most current highest trade price of the session and when the difference is greater than 3%, additional shares will be added.

    What is first rule establishing?

    >>> My same symbol lowest trade price move is less than -1.00 dollars

    Meaning:
    if you own multiple lots the bottom lot (most recent purchased) is down by more than 1.00 since you opened that lot.

    >>> ABS(My same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than
    value of my same symbol highest trade price%(3).

    Meaning:
    Calculates 3% of the very top lot owned for that symbol.
    Then it says that the very bottom lot must be down by that amount.

    What does this exit rule do?
    HI,
    I have been looking at the various long strategies that people have been using. For some exit rules I see a rule like this:

    Timed Price 1 is at least 0.03 dollars greater than or equal to my highest trade price

    What does this rule do as a function for the exit rules?

    Thanks
    Kim

    What does this add to position rule do?
    HI,
    I have been looking through the strategies and I see this rule for Add to Position. What does it do>?

    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest trade Price Move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price %(10)

    Let me know and thanks,
    Kim

    Watch List Size
    Is there a way to load a specific number of stocks onto the watch list? I have set up watch list rules that in an evenly distributed market will yield about 30 entries. However, when there are several up days(down days work same) the list can grow to 50-70 entries. In doing some research, I noticed that the CoolTrader-supplied "Conservative Strategy" which has some very tough filtering rules for the watch list, there are over 90 entries for tomorrow’s list. I realize one can change price and other parameters to reduce number of entries but it would be helpful if there was a way to specify a consistently specific number of watch list initial load entries.

    What's up with the following mystery...?
    On Friday March 7 I placed a buy order through the cooltrade system which was immediately fulfilled.......on Monday March 10 the cooltrade system showed I purchased this same order for a higher price then the fulfillment price on the previous friday....I logged into my ’ long open positions’ through my brokers ’account management ’ page...sure enough the buy price was 0.77 less than shown on the cooltrade site....what’s up with that...?
    same day March 10 I manually placed a sell order on the cooltrade site...it was not fulfilled....I waited with patience for over 30 minutes based on cooltrade advise that it sometimes takes longer than normal for the broker to fulfill..45 minutes later still no fulfilment.....I then manually placed the same sell order through my brokers platform Trader Workstation ( IB ) ...same order was immediately fulfilled....what’s up with that......?

    I’ve never seen it take 30 minutes to register a trade in IB.
    That sounds like a bad internet connect or a poor software installation.
    I suggest you click on FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOPER VERSION.
    That will update the software (probably same version you already have), but it will also reregister the broker controls/links with the CoolTrade software.

    You should also click on the open positions that have incorrect entry prices and click EDIT ENTRY PRICE and correct those prices.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge 2....boy oh boy do I ever need a contact/mentor like you...are you willing to advise me from time to time...? I’m in Canada ski resort........ whistle007@telus.net T J

    What's up with the following mystery...?
    On Friday March 7 I placed a buy order through the cooltrade system which was immediately fulfilled.......on Monday March 10 the cooltrade system showed I purchased this same order for a higher price then the fulfillment price on the previous friday....I logged into my ’ long open positions’ through my brokers ’account management ’ page...sure enough the buy price was 0.77 less than shown on the cooltrade site....what’s up with that...?
    same day March 10 I manually placed a sell order on the cooltrade site...it was not fulfilled....I waited with patience for over 30 minutes based on cooltrade advise that it sometimes takes longer than normal for the broker to fulfill..45 minutes later still no fulfilment.....I then manually placed the same sell order through my brokers platform Trader Workstation ( IB ) ...same order was immediately fulfilled....what’s up with that......?

    Adding to a current position with out using LIFO
    I currently hold a position that has gone down significantly. Am not using LIFO, but want to purchase the same stock manually through CTP at the lower price. My question is:
    Will this show up as a new position with the same symbol as the first, ( basicly holding two different positions with the same symbol) or will it just add to my current position. If it does add to my current position, will it be in two different amounts like a LIFO? Or will it just be combined together for a lump sum and averaged out? Will the system recognize the difference since it was not entered as a LIFO?

    What’s the best way to do this?

    Thanks!

    it will be 2 lots under the same symbol and each lot will have its own entry price.
    each lot will be sold LIFO.

    Hedge

    JIM Cramer Alerts
    Hi i just sined up with AAP and i want to start with 10.000 but i see it has 20 sym in the strategy and when it sent the alert to gool trade it would only give 1 trade and then said not enough money in account can someone tell me about how much you would need? i would appreciate the help

    Thanks Mike

    IMO $10,000 is not enough to run a Jim Cramer strategy.
    The minimum lot size is 100 shares and Jim holds positions a long time.
    I think a better strategy is the default strategy for $10,000 accounts that comes with the system. That strategy is optimized to run with a $10,000 account.

    Hedge

    thank you for your help i will try that

    Conservative Long Strategy ?
    I am a new CoolTrade member and the first thing I picked to run a simulation was the Conservative Long Strategy provided. The Watchlist criteria are such that the stocks that were selected appear to be anything but Conservative. In fact, most all of them look like momentum stocks that have run up recently and appear to be peaking. As soon as they start dropping they cut through through their 18 day SMA and get closed out for a loss, since this is a sell criteria. Anybody else notice this? Fortunately I have no money at stake yet.

    Seems like a momentum strategy is actually the key for these types of stocks, but the watchlist criteria need to identify them early in the runup. I have seen a video that talks about a momentum strategy and how well it did but with no details on how it is set up. Anyone out there seen or used a true momentum strategy? There are good sources that identify momentum stocks, such as the Investors Business Daily to which I have a subscription. While the IBD does not recommend chasing a stock 5% beyond a breakout where they consider it to be extended, many of them just keep running up and that is the time a momentum strategy would be ideal. You could plug the stocks that have just broken out into the watch list and ride them, scalping daily profits until they peak. If anyone out there has such a strategy, I would love to test it out and share the results for the benefit of all.

    I believe the original Conservative strategy had no stop loss and no trailing stop loss. It also only got out of positions if the 5 Day SMA went below the 18 Day SMA.

    I any others have simply taken out that exit rule from tab5 and change the add to position rules to add to decliners on 10% drops.

    Of course that has been an excellent strategy over the last few years as the market has gone straight up. The only adding on 10% drops is designed to be able to survive and take profits when the stocks start to slide down (if that ever happens). Some people have lowered the adding to 3-5% drops. IMO that is a bit risky because when/if the market reverses they will be adding too quickly. Again though, it works great in this up market.

    Hedge

    Is there a better way to write these rules?
    Working on rules to define when a stock reaches a new low and starts to come back up.
    Below, is what I’m using with some success. Looking for better rules, ideas, suggestions. Thanks forum friends!

    Todays current ask price it greater than price 1-minute ago
    Price 1-minute ago is greater than price 2-minutes ago
    Price 2-minutes ago is greater than price 3-minutes ago
    Price 3-minutes ago is greater than price 4-minutes ago

    That will definitely work, however I would remove the Price 3-minutes ago is greater than price 4-minutes ago because I think you are asking for too many minutes straight up.

    You can also just use MACD to get in if it is trending up and not just going up 3 minutes in a row.

    Intraday MACD Value () is greater than Intraday MACD Signal ()

    Enlightened

    Thanks enlightened, I was questioning the 3 to 4 minute rule.
    In your suggestion below, are those zeros? Or does there need to be a value in there? If so where would one start for values, and how would I determine the values?

    Intraday MACD Value () is greater than Intraday MACD Signal ()

    Spokanebroker

    The INTRADAY MACD has parameters, but I would leave the default parameters as they are.

    EI

    Enlightened, thanks for the quick response, one more quewstion for better understanding, please. Would I use the rules below along with your suggestion of the MACD rules or the MACD rules by them selfs?

    Todays current ask price it greater than price 1-minute ago
    Price 1-minute ago is greater than price 2-minutes ago
    Price 2-minutes ago is greater than price 3-minutes ago

    SB

    You can definitely use them separately or use them together.

    The MACD rule is saying the stock is trending up.
    While the ones comparing prices minute by minute are looking for consecutive minutes up.

    EI

    Intraday Interval Parameter Confusion
    I could use some clarification on this cause I’m confused on this...

    I’ve seen numerous threads about Intraday parameters and stating the sequence they are to be in. For instance, ( 1,5,1) for the Intraday SMA. The Strategy Wizard defines it as ( Interval, Mins/Bar, Offset ) . So the above would be 1 5min bar.
    But yet I see other posts saying it is : Minutes/Bar is first. So it would be:

    Intraday Simple Moving Average (10, 3, 0) for 3 10min bars.

    Please help me out . Thanks.

    Joe

    The labels were corrected last year. So ( Interval, Mins/Bar, Offset ) is correct.
    So Interval is the number of bars to look at, and Mins/Bar is the size of the bar.

    Enlightened

    Thank you Enlightened. So to make sure I’ve got it right if I wanted a to look at a Intraday SMA to track with a 10day SMA could I say 2 5min bars that would be Intraday SMA (2, 5, 1) . Is that right ? Or could I still used the Intraday SMA (1,5,1)

    Thanks.
    Joe

    Joe,

    The most recent completed result for Two 5 minute bars would be:

    Intraday SMA (2, 5, 0)

    The 0 on the end is the offset and it means the most recent closed bar.
    If you put 1 in the offset it would be for the previous closed bar.

    The most recent completed result for one 5 minute bar would be:

    Intraday SMA (1, 5, 0)

    EI

    Thank you Enlightened this definitely helps ! I appreciate you taking the time and responding.

    Are you sharing your Strategies in the Wizard ?

    Thanks,
    Joe

    Joe, I have gone full circle over the years, starting with having many rules and trying to predict when stocks would move. What I have learned is that no matter when you open a position you will have to deal with the handling of positions that go the wrong way. Since 2009/2010 I have moved to the default dow strategies that are provided to everyone as those strategies (dow strategies optimized for specific account sizes) have everything I need prebuilt into them. They add to the losing positions and close positions last in - first out. The profits just keep rolling in. I see no need to fix what is not broken. The default strategies work great.

    EI

    I know what you mean EI. I simplified also. However, what I found is it was opening a new position on the higher side many times rather than looking for a dip. The adding to position worked fine. I know there is no magic bullet to predicting things.
    So that is why I started looking at the 5 and 10 day SMA to Open on the way down rather than toward the top.

    So which is your Default right now the Conservative Long with the Dow30 ? I only see a couple other on your profile. Which of the other Defaults are you using ?

    Thanks,
    Joe

    Hi Enlightened Investor,

    I have been testing with the Intraday Price Intervals and it doesn’t seem to match up with what I’m seeing on the charts from IB as that is the Broker I’m working with. Let me know if it is best to start a new Thread on this or continue on ?

    What I’m trying to look for is the ’ dip ’ and when the Close for each 5 min bar goes from going Down to 3 Up. I was trying to look at the Close for (1,5,2) (1,5,1) and (1,5,0) When I did testing and looked at the results it appeared it was looking at bars with in the same 5 min Bar not 3 different ones.

    I event tested with the following and it identified the Intraday High for (1, 5, 1) and the Close correctly but not the close for the ( 1,5,0) 5 min bar.

    Intraday Close (1,5,0) > Intraday High (1,5,1)
    Intraday Close (1, 5,1) < Intraday Close (1,5,0)

    If I’m wanting it to look over 2 5min bars should I be using (2,5,1) and (2,5,0) ?

    It may take some graphics or a video to explain this ...

    Thanks !

    First be aware that IB consolidates numbers and does not send every tick to the traders. The data they are sending could easily be missing high and low prices. Also since the software is just receiving the data and building the intraday bars on your computer, it is breaking up the data based on your pc clock.

    If I’m wanting it to look over 2 5min bars should I be using (2,5,1) and (2,5,0) ?
    YES. I believe that is true.

    These are the same. Because if the close of the most recent bar (offset=0) is greater than the high of the previous bar (offset=1), then it would stand to reason that the it would also be higher than the close of the previous bar. Therefore the 2nd rule is not needed:

    Intraday Close (1, 5,0) > Intraday High (1, 5,1)
    Intraday Close (1, 5,1) < Intraday Close (1,5,0) <=== not needed

    Another test you can do to make sure the parameter values you are entering are not backward, I suggest putting all of these in with the first 2 parameters reversed and and see what the values are returned:

    Intraday Close (1, 5,0) > Intraday High (1, 5,1)
    Intraday Close (1, 5,1) < Intraday Close (1,5,0)

    Intraday Close (5, 1, 0) > Intraday High (5, 1, 1)
    Intraday Close (5, 1, 1) < Intraday Close (5,1, 0)

    Thanks FxJerry. I’ll try some mroe tests.

    If I’m looking for the Close Price of the last two 5min Periods individually ... would you suggest the ’0’ offset or the ’1’ ?

    For example: Intraday Close (3,5,1) or (3,5,0) ?

    Thanks FxJerry. I’ll try some mroe tests.

    If I’m looking for the Close Price of the last two 5min Periods individually ... would you suggest the ’0’ offset or the ’1’ ?

    For example: Intraday Close (3,5,1) or (3,5,0) ?

    Day trade momemtum strateguy
    I’m a new user and wondering where I would find a day trade strategy for momentum stocks that I can download. Using a $30,000 account

    No Symbols in watch list
    Hi, I’m trying out a new strategy downloaded from a CoolTrade user, and when the system loads, there are 0 stock symbols in my watch list.
    I even checked in the strategy wizard to make sure there were stocks in that watch list and there were about 15, also I dont have any of the boxes checked off saying "use my symbols only"
    and there are NO stocks in the exceptions window
    ?

    The symbols cannot load until the stock market is open and there is streaming intraday data. That will not happen until the market opens Monday morning.

    Enlightened

    E I
    Yes and no
    I know the stocks wont be loaded at the bottom of the screen till the markets up and running
    but at the top left of the main cool trade screen, there’s a little box that says
    Max Trades
    Symbols
    now next to the symbols it always says 0, when it should have the number of stocks in my watch list, this is true anytime day or night, yet my screen always says 0

    the funny thing is, I recopied the same strategy to the top position in my strategy wizard (it was previously at the bottom position), and now it shows..."Symbols 15" ?

    Intraday Price vs Intraday Close ?
    Is the INTRADAY PRICE and Average of the period or is it the same as the INTRADAY CLOSE ? assume they both have the 1,5,0 variables.

    Thanks

    Yes. Intraday Price and Intraday Close are exactly the same.
    They just provided both indicator names to accomodate different people who are used to seeing it with one name or the other.

    EI

    Yes. Intraday Price and Intraday Close are exactly the same.
    They just provided both indicator names to accomodate different people who are used to seeing it with one name or the other.

    EI

    Thanks EI. I appreciate you help.

    Can someone tell me which is more accurate?

    Intraday Price (1,1,0) is greater than intraday price (1,1,1)

    or

    Todays current price is greater than price 1 min ago?

    Both mean the same so I’m just curious which one is better to use in my strategy given one uses EOD data and the other doesnt?

    THIS ONE COMPARES THE CLOSING PRICE OF THE LAST 1 MINUTE BAR AND COMPARES IT TO THE CLOSING PRICE OF THE PREVIOUS 1 MINUTE BAR:

    Intraday Price (1,1,0) is greater than intraday price (1,1,1)

    THIS ONE COMPARES THE MOST RECENT PRICE WITH THE PRICE 60 SECONDS AGO:

    Todays current price is greater than price 1 min ago?

    SINCE THE INTRADAY INDICATORS SMOOTH THE DATA A LITTLE BY LOOKING ONLY AT THE CLOSING PRICE EACH MINUTE, WHILE TODAY CURRENT PRICE LOOKS AT EVERY PRICE. MY GUESS IS THAT THE ONE USING TODAYS CURRENT PRICE WOULD BE MORE NOISY AND TRIGGER MORE OFTEN.

    EI

    Help my Bank of Amer dollar amounts arent changing
    Hi Im currently trading the BAC long strategy & after a couple hours I noticed the amounts weren’t changing at all & the all other #s weren’t changing at all (the price to go,position change,volume & the net p/l & todays p/l are stuck at -70$). it says its trading in stealth mode & the session p/l is changing so Im going by that for now. Could someone please tell me why its not changing on the positions bar? Thanks

    its working now. thanks.

    If you are trading live the TD then most of the prices should come from TD.
    The session P/L is calculated by the software. If the broker connection breaks the software is supposed to wait for it to come back. You could restart and see if that changes anything.

    Enlightened

    realistic returns?
    What are realistic returns I can expect over the long-haul with one of the default strategies (example: dow simulating $20 strategy)?

    Thanks you!

    HELLO - I’M NEW ALSO BEEN SIMULATING $25000 IN A LONG AND SHORT STRATEGY- TRADING 20 LONG POSITIONS 8 SHORT STARTED - USING SIMPLE RULES TO MAKE SURE A MARKET IS GOING LONG BEFORE STOCKS ARE BOUGHT AND THE SAME ON THE SHORT SIDE AND AS OF 6/11 HAVE MADE $3778- STARTED 3/21= I THINK THAT’S ABOUT 5% A MONTH’ -I WAS HOPING TO AVE. $80 OR SO A DAY AS I LEFT THE HOUSE TO PLAY TENNIS- IT IS WORKING OUT OK .AN EXTRA $345 A WEEK- PAYS FOR MY TENNIS BALLS .LUNCH AND GAS PLUS A LITTLE- I WILL START WITH I. B. SOON GOOD LUCK!!!!

    Hi Mark
    I have been trading live since May, testing since Nov 13. 5% is a good number. The key I have found is to pour your time into finding the best strategy for you and stick with it. The quantity of funds you are trading with has a big impact on the strategy.
    It has not been easy for me to find performance results. Search on Youtube for a trader named Eric who has been running for a couple years and shares performance data.

    Hi,

    I am very new here. Do you have the link for this Eric? All I could locate was a recruitment video.

    Thanks

    Ben

    I am a CT member and I am also an Independent (LLC) authorized direct seller of CT working out of the home office in Scottsdale. I can help you at NO cost.

    accuratetradingtoday@gmail.com

    Bruce

    Shorting Stocks behavior
    I have same stock symbols in both long and short strategy but if a long position is already open then cool-trader wouldn’t short same symbol.

    If I add a stock symbol that is not part of open position then it works.
    Do you happen to know if this a designed behavior or my strategy is not correct?

    Any help appreciated.

    Thanks,
    yarajes

    That is exactly the way it is supposed to work.
    You cannot be long and short the same symbol in the account.

    Hedge

    Thanks for clarifying Hedge2.

    What is best way to long and Short at the same time?

    Thanks for clarifying Hedge2.

    What is best way to long and Short at the same time?

    The only way to be long and short the same symbol at the same time is to go long in one account and short in a different account. That means you would need two automated trader licenses.

    Hedge

    Intraday Bollinger
    Hi, I am experimenting with a new rule in my long strategy and noticed that today it opened up many trades that I think ignored the rule. I say this because I checked the charts on Yahoo Finance and the entries werent even close to meeting the rules.

    Intraday Price (1,1,0) is greater than Intraday Bollinger Lower (2,1,1,0)
    IIntraday Price (1,1,1) is less than Intraday Bollinger Lower (2,1,1,1)

    Does this rule make sense? I noticed that most chart data doesnt show the bollinger bands to begin the trading day and are usually delayed by 1hr? I wonder if this has something to do with it or is there something wrong with my rules?

    So if you want the previous price bar to be under the Lower BB and the current price bar to be above the Lower BB and there are no typos in the rules that you wrote, then what you’ve written won’t give you anything useful for BB values. That’s because you’re using a single bar for the BB calculation. But the bands need at least 2 bars to calculate an average and the associated standard deviation values for the upper/lower bands. With one bar being used you probably don’t have a lower band value lower than the price of the bar you’re comparing it to when you check the rules tab for the calculated BB values versus the current price. But even a few bars is questionable for a useful BB calculation due to a lot of potential price noise with 1 minute bars. Something like 5 bars or more [ Intraday Bollinger Lower (2,5,1,0) ] is probably needed with 20 bars being the standard number for a BB calculation.

    I don’t know why you wouldn’t see any price data for Bollinger Bands at the beginning of the trading day though if you’re using more than 1 bar. There definitely shouldn’t be a 1 hour delay. You can go look at a chart with Bollinger Bands within IB to see if there are bands visible on a 1 minute time frame at the beginning of the trading day. The bands may be very wide when compared to the current price on the first bar of the day if there’s a large price move between yesterday’s close and today’s open but there should still be a value that’s visible for the bands.

    Thanks Satruss,

    You are right...that’s is all I want is for the most recent 1 min bar to be greater that bb and the bar 1 min ago to be less than the bb. I am just looking for the default most recent bb upper and lower values shown on Yahoo Finance and IB charts. I tried selecting the standard bb from the strategy wizard and the values were way off from the Yahoo or IB bb values.

    I will try your recommendation of 2,5,1,0.

    My new rule:

    Intraday price (1,1,1) is less than intraday bb lower (2,5,1,0)
    Intraday price (1,1,0) is greater than intraday bb lower (2,5,1,0)

    So I will have the current and the previous 1 min bar looking back at the most recent five 1min bar bb calculation values. Makes sense?

    Yes your rules should work once you’ve set the 2nd field for the Lower BB indicator to something greater than 1. It’s now a matter of what number of bars you want to use for the BB calculation.

    RSI Intraday parameter question
    OK so I’ve been testing and trying to get the Intraday RSI to match up with the ’Wilder’s RSI 14 ’. The default recommendation is Intraday RSI (5,14,1) and I’ve tried (5,14,0) and (14,5,1) and it is still off by several points.

    Would appreciate help or Enlightened.... :-)

    Thanks.

    The default CTP intraday RSI setting doesn’t match the standard setting for Wilder’s RSI 14. Since the number 14 just refers to the number of bars used in the RSI calculation, to set up CTP intraday RSI with standard RSI settings you should use something like Intraday RSI (14,5,0). Note this example is using a 5 min/bar time period so any comparison to RSI values from another real time data source needs to also be using the same bar period.

    Thanks Satruss. I will try this parameter set up. I’m doing testing of several settings to see which one comes close to the setting in the FreeStockCharts.com

    Thanks,
    Joe

    I tried the parameters you suggested. The results were not tracking. Here is what I saw :
    Today @ 1244 RSI 53.94 for CHKP

    Intraday RSI ( 5,14,1 ) <= to 47 Dollars
    MinuteRSI (5 , 14 , 1) : 58.3500
    Intraday RSI ( 14,5,1 ) <= to 47 Dollars
    MinuteRSI (14 , 5 , 1) : 63.5106
    Intraday RSI ( 14,5,0 ) <= to 47 Dollars
    MinuteRSI (14 , 5 , 0) : 64.9643
    Intraday RSI ( 14,14,1 ) <= to 47 Dollars
    MinuteRSI (14 , 14 , 1) : 59.7945

    It appears the 1st and the last are the closest but still several points off. Any suggestions ?

    Thanks,
    Joe

    RSI (14,5,0) or RSI (14,5,1) are the right settings for the standard RSI using 5 minute bars. Are you doing a real-time comparison between CTP and FreeStockCharts? If so, is the FSC data delayed or real-time? You could also check the last RSI 5 min bar of the day in CTP against the last RSI 5 min bar in FSC. That should be a good time to do a comparison as long as you account for any data delay with FSC if there is one. I would also check with a 3rd party data source to see which is closest to these. If you have an IB account, you should be able to create a chart on their platform which can plot RSI on an intraday time frame. Many other brokerages have built-in charts that you can set up with various indicators.

    It appears FreeStockCharts is real time. Seems to follow closely with IB. Yes I have and IB account. Will try set the same RSI as in FSC to compare.

    So far the 5,14,1 is the closest but still off by close to 2 points. I’ve not tried he 5,14,0 I don’t think.

    I checked the 14 period RSI values on IB’s own intraday charts with bar settings of 1 minute and 5 minutes. The RSI values bar by bar are very close to the RS! values on the ThinkOrSwim platform (usually less than 1 point of difference) so I have confidence in the calculated RSI values for both these platforms. Aside from the CTP rules values that you can monitor and compare to the IB chart values, there’s also a chart tab you can open up in CTP and set up an RSI indicator to monitor in real time. Just be aware that you need to make sure the period is set to 14 in IB’s chart (not the default) and also be aware that the CTP chart can be set to monitor open, close, high. etc. If you’re using IB as your data feed for CTP, I would expect the CTP RSI values from the rules and their chart to be close to the IB chart values for the same bar period. If they’re not, I would contact CTP support to try to resolve the discrepancy.

    Thank you very much for your help Satruss. I really appreciate the feedback.

    I will keep testing to make sure I tweak it for close as possible.

    Cheers !

    Hey Satruss -- I tried both your recommendation and the one I was using against IB with RSI set for 5min intervals and 14 Intervals.
    It turns out the parameter in CTP set for RSI (5,14,0) is closer than (14,5,0). Strange! See the results below from today.

    IB RSI(14) Results = 39.206

    Intraday RSI ( 14,5,0 ) <= to 47 Dollars
    MinuteRSI (14 , 5 , 0) : 29.3502

    Intraday RSI ( 5,14,0 ) <= to 47 Dollars
    MinuteRSI (5 , 14 , 0) : 35.7607

    Still Scratching My Head !

    If you use the charting feature in IB for a 14 period RSI with 5 min. bars and compare it to the chart in CTP also using a 14 period RSI (use the close on the CTP chart) and 5 min. bars you’ll be doing a direct comparison. Looking at the the chart only, you should see bar by bar peaks and troughs at the same places in time on both charts. If the calculation is being done properly in CTP, the RSI values should also be close to the IB chart values. As I already mentioned, IB and ThinkOrSwim chart values for RSI 14 with 1 min. and 5 min. bars are very close (usually much less than 1 point difference).

    You should be able to hover your mouse over various points on the CTP chart to get the RSI bar values. I would look also look at the IB and CTP charts in real-time to see how well they track each other as well as looking at the real-time RSI value in the CTP rules tab. As far as the CTP RSI rule settings go, Intraday RSI (14,5,0) is correct for a 14 period RSI with 5 min. bars. If those values aren’t close to the IB RSI 14 values, then I would contact tech support to try to resolve the discrepancy. CTP RSI values should be close to the IB chart RSI values for the same settings if CTP is using the IB data feed.

    Intraday Close on 3 5 min Intervals ?
    I’m trying to find the best approach to look for Dip with 3 or 4 5min Intervals.
    So the last two Closes were Up and the Interval 3 intervals ago was Down. So using the Intraday indicator what is the best way to do this ? Intervals are 1 2 and 3 with 1 being the closest closed 5min Interval.

    Intraday Clos (1,5,1) > Intraday Close (1,5,2) or (2,5,1) ?

    as a starting point then working backward in time.

    If I want to know the Close Price of the 5min Interval 2 periods ago from now ... which would be correct for the Offset

    Intraday Close (3,5,1) or (3,5,0) ?

    Thanks.

    Offset 0 = the most recently closed bar.
    Offset 1 = one bar back [I guess that is one period ago]
    Offset 2 = two periods ago.

    anybody in vegas? willing to pay for help. or paypal somebody to remote assist,,,
    ive had my software for months and still dont really know how to use it...

    can help you on the weekends.
    yarajes

    I could help you

    You can also contact RoboticAdvisors dot com for a free consultation. They specialize in automated trader strategies and give all ct clients something like a free hour.

    Enlightened

    Suggestions for setting profit amounts?
    Hi,
    I’m about to simulate a few stocks and I’m wondering if anyone out there has any experience with what would be effective profit amounts for each of these stocks? I’m not sure if I’ll do a dollar amount ( or cents) or a percentage. the stocks are;
    HAL and INVN.

    Thanks!

    I know someone who is doing well with the Dow 30 long & he has the profit amounts set at 1 percent & the profit protection set at .05 percent if that helps you out & he has the declining perferences setting at 5 percent.. Ive seen the default strategies as high as 8 percen(on the profit amounts)t which would talke forever to take profits.

    One way is to use a percentage of the Average True Range. You can use the full day average move as a target or a portion.

    One way is to use a percentage of the Average True Range. You can use the full day average move as a target or a portion.

    Help my BAC long strategy isnt buying on drops & Im losing a lot of $
    Im, trading the Bank of America long strategy that is supposed to add on .30 drops according to the declining positions setting but it isn’t doing that. Can someone tell me why? Im down almost $700 (almost $2) since it purchased it (400 shares) & it hasn’t bought anything since.I have plenty of $ to purchase more shares. Please advise. Thanks.

    If you click on the stock symbol it will tell you the rule preventing the next trade. What does that read?

    Also, what are your settings/rules for adding to position in your strategy wizard?

    Refresh for New Strategy with Existing Positions
    I have been modifying an existing strategy but unfortunately I am starting to have problems with the Rule Preventing the next trade on one of my stocks. I am unable to add to position because AskPrice < ScalpRange (33.49) is stuck as the rule preventing me from adding to position.

    I have already checked the declining preferences to make sure that was not causing the rule to never change. I have restarted the trader numerous times and loaded the latest developer version.

    I have seen where I might need to refresh for new strategy in order to fix this issue. However, I am concerned about my existing positions and what ramifications refreshing for new strategy will have on them, if any.

    Are there any precautions to take when refreshing for new strategy when you have existing positions?

    Questioin - Price X above Lowest Price Prev 5 Days
    Been trying to create a rule that will focus on a price target say $ X amount above the Lowest Price During Previous 5 Days. I can set to Equal Lowest Price but the other options do not seem to be quite right.

    Here is my objective :
    Todays Current Ask Price is Equal to or Less Than $ X amount above the Lowest Price During Previous 5 Days.

    The variations I’ve come up with keep having the " is at least " doesn’t seem to be quite right.

    Any suggestions ?

    If you want to limit the current ask price to be no more than $0.50 above the lowest price of the last 5 days then you can try this:

    Todays Current Ask Price is at least -0.50 Dollars Less Than Lowest Price During Previous 5 Days

    How is Tech 7 Performing?
    I have been running Tech 7 30K for over a month and steadily losing money. Currently have lost 4%.
    I have tried a few minor tweaks that did not seem to help. Perhaps the market is finally shifting downwards and another strategy would perform better. Any suggestions? I am curious to see what performance other users in the community are seeing w/tech 7.

    changing strategies
    can anyone tell me how you can change strategies without selling off my present positions at a loss. I changed strategies many times in simulation mode and the trader closed position that did not follow the new rules but I cant have that happen with real money. thanks S

    If you’re using the CTP watch list feature, you can add the symbols that are currently open to the Blocked Symbols list. That will prevent new positions in those symbols from being opened. Then when you switch to a new strategy, the open positions will now be closed with your new strategy rules for closing positions.

    If you use a custom watch list of symbols to open new positions, then just omit the symbols of your current open positions in your custom watch list. Now your new strategy will only open new positions for whatever symbols remain in your watch list but still close your previously open positions with your new strategy rules. If you know in advance what symbols you want to trade, using a custom watch list is more flexible than using the CTP watch list feature because it allows you to add or omit symbols at any time. That gives you additional control at what prices you will allow a given stock to be bought at and how much of it you acquire. Also using a custom watch list presumably cuts down on processing activities within the CTP software because it’s trading from a short list of known symbols instead of continuously scanning the markets to check which symbols are being met by the CTP watch list rules.

    ETF's and IRA
    Is anyone running a particular ETF in an IRA account to create in effect a short scenario - what kind of results are you getting?

    The TZA (3xs bear) DIDN.T seem to be recognized. Ed mentioned the DOG (1times bear?) in a video. See if that works.

    I would like to add ot my positions. Can someone tell me how to put the settings in?
    Hi Im trading Bank of America long & would like to be fairly aggressive with this sttragegy & add on drops either 2% or .30 cents. How exactly do I do that on the adding to losing positions setting & do I need to change the setting or remove it thats already on there & do I need to do anything to the declining preferences setting too? The default setting on my Bank of America setting that I copied on the declining preferences settings is "ABS my same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price % (and its set to 5% from the percentage on the right). Now does this mean the default setting is set at 5% drops? If I want to change it to 2% drops or .30 do I erase this setting or just move the default down to %2 & what should I do on the declining preferences setting? (just change it to .30 cents?) I will simulate 1st of course to make sure its working. Please advise,’
    Much appreciated,
    Pete

    hi Pete,
    did you get an answer to your question? I am not sure that i have an answer for you. But, i can certainly see if i get an email from some people who have been, i can ask this question for you.

    becky
    rschaer@comf5.com

    Hi Becky,
    Well I haven’t got an answer but I sent you an email. Thanks for your reply.

    Inverse 3x GOLD ETF Strategy
    Hello CoolTrader Guru’s,

    I am working on a new Inverse 3x ETF strategy. One of my entry points are based on RSI indicator. How do I convert following formula to cooltrade rules.

    [ RSI(Close,3) + RSI(Streak,2) + PercentRank(100) ] / 3

    Thank you in advance for your help.

    In order to create the Connors RSI indicator that you want in CTP, the platform would have to support the following additional functionality:


    1. To produce the second term [RSI(Streak,2)] for Connors RSI, you need to be able to apply a 2 period RSI to the streak duration values (number of consecutive closes greater than or less than the prior close). This requires some type of cumulative function or an IF THEN ELSE logical funtion.

    2. To produce the 3rd term [PercentRank(100)] for Connors RSI, you need to be able to compare the current price change to the prior 100 price changes to get its ranking. This requires some kind of looping functionality or recursive function (like the fold function in the TOS platform). You would of course also need access to 100 bars of historical pricing data so if the bar period is daily, 60 min., 30 min. etc. you wouldn’t be able to currently do the calculation within CTP because of the limitation of access to only a couple of days of prior historical data (this definitely needs to be improved).

    3. And finally you need to be able to use basic arithmetic functions of adding and then dividing the series of 3 calculated terms within brackets (nested term capability).

    So by asking to have this one indicator created for you in CTP, what you really need to do is to is ask for this additional functionality to be added to CTP in the Automated Trader Request section.

    And because Connors RSI is a proprietary indicator (although the exact formula is well known by many traders and can be built from scratch in other auto trading platforms) and it isn’t within the FM Labs indicator list, I wouldn’t hold your breadth in having it added as a new built-in CTP indicator any time soon.

    my etf inverse UCO and SCO is stalemated. What can I do to get away without losing a lot of money? UCO is in the red with 300 shares and SCO is positive with 100 shares.

    Mike

    my etf inverse UCO and SCO is stalemated. What can I do to get away without losing a lot of money? UCO is in the red with 300 shares and SCO is positive with 100 shares.

    Mike

    Seeking Clarity
    Based on experience, is there a "best" setting for the parameters:

    - max range to spread trades across
    - minimum purchase intervals

    I’ve seen many differing settings and am not sure if it even makes a difference.

    Thanks,

    Collaborate with other CT User on strategy testing and sharing results
    We are running several strategies- long and short; and would love to share our experience and results with you.

    Are you simulating or Live trading CT strategy(ies)? Would you like to join us in collaborating and sharing results and experiences?

    email : coolstrategies@gmail.com

    New and experienced users are invited and welcome.

    5 Minute Bar Trading
    Has anyone been trading 5 minute bars?

    If so, do your indicators calculate correctly? Specifically, I’m trying to use the intraday MACD indicator trading 5 minute bars. Any feedback would be helpful.

    Also, has anyone tried running a long strategy trading 10 minute bars and a short strategy trading 5 minute bars - any issues with this?

    Thanks.

    Best Day Trading 3x ETF Strategy.
    Does any one have a suggestion in which is best day trading stategy. I am looking for open a postion when stock in uptrand ( MACD, RSI etc) and sell when stock trend downwards.
    Close all the postions by end of the day.

    Thanks in advance.
    yarajes

    I don’t mind trading the 3x ETFs but I hold them forever and add to losers as with the default dow strategies for your specified account value.

    However, I am not in favor of closing positions at the end of day (at a loss) just for the sake of closing them.

    Enlightened

    Whats the difference between the pullback setting & the profit protection setting?
    Hi could someone please tell me the difference between the 2 settings (pullback & start profit protection) on the profit requirements (6) tab & could you please give an example of both to clarify the difference? The both protect your profits right? The reason why Im asking is I was told (by a cooltrade tech support member) that the profit protection setting just causes confusion for the broker & doesn’t always work & that the pullback setting was good enough for protecting profits. Does anyone trading live use both settings & have you had any problems with exiting positions & taking profits or do you just use the pullback setting & that’s good enough? Any feedback would be appreciated. thanks...

    The Profit Protection feature doesn’t have anything to do with the broker.

    The important thing to know is that Profit Protection always starts profit protecting .05.
    Therefore, if you set profit protection to .20 then when your position is up .20, the software will immediatly put a hidden trailing stop loss for .15 (which is .20 - .05).
    Then, as the price of the stock goes up, the trailing stop loss will keep shrinking so that it protects more and more of the profit.

    Note that the feature was designed and is optimized for:

    a. one half of the Profit Goal amount. So if your profit goal is .50 per share, then the optimum profit protection setting should be .25

    b. should be set to at least .10. So that the trailing stop loss it generates would be .10 - .05 = .05. If you try to set the profit protection to something like .07 then that would result in a .02 trailing stop loss which would be rediculous.

    I actually talked to support this morning and they said that the profit protection features is going to be changed to ON | OFF because too many people use it improperly. It’s easy for the system to automatically just set it to 1/2 of the Profit Goal without requiring you to put values in there.

    Enlightened

    Thanks Enlightened for the reply. so the difference between the pull back setting &The profit protection is the pp setting starts at every .05 move the stock makes(what about percentages as that’s how Id like to set everything rather than dollars & cents) but the pullback only kicks in after your profit goal is reached & it pulls back a little, right? So the profit protection protects you immediately when the stock starts taking a profit (at .05) & the pullback only protects when a stock reaches the profit goal then pulls back, correct? So you would recommend using profit protection at 1/2 of the profit goal then (Im simulating the dow 30 long for 20,000 btw) or would you recommend a different setting? thanks...

    Your explaination was not right.
    The PROFIT PROTECTION starts by protecting .05 AFTER it has reached the amount you put in the PROFIT PROTECTION FIELD.

    Example:

    Profit Protection set to .20
    So, after the stock price goes up .20, the software puts a hidden trailing stop
    loss of .15 (to protect .05).
    Then, as the stock price goes high, the hidden trailing stop loss gets smaller
    and smaller to protect more and more of the profits.

    Even if you use a percentage in the Profit Protection field, it will still start by protecting only .05 at the instant Profit Protection kicks in. Then as the stock price goes higher, more and more of the profits are protected.

    Then if the price goes high enough for your PROFIT GOAL to kick in, then the "P" changes to a "Y" on the main screen, and it then starts looking for the Profit PULLBACK amount that you have specified for after the profit goal is reached.

    To answer your question; YES. I would set the PROFIT PROTECTION starting amount to 1/2 of the amount specified in the Profit Goal.
    So, if you have .40 for a profit goal, then use .20 in the Profit Protection.
    If you have a 5% profit goal, then you 2.5% in the Profit Protection.

    However, i would never use a value in the Profit Protection of less than .10

    Enlightened

    ok Enlightened, I think I understand the difference. The profit protection protects your profits at whatever setting you set it at (either cents(10 cent minimum) amount or percent) minus .05 after it (the profit pro. setting) kicks in & the pullback setting protects your profits after the higher profit goal is achieved, correct? That leads to my next ?.

    I’d like to trade(or simulate for now) the dow 30 long but put in a few of my own "blue chip" stocks as well. Id like to take profits sooner so Id like to set the profit goal to a lower amount. I was thinking around 2% or just below that. Btw, this guys strategy that I copied it from had it set to 1% profits but I think that’s too low for BAC or AA for example because he had the profit protection setting at 1/2 of 1% which would make it only 6 or 7 cents so if you took 5cents from that if the position started against you after the PP kicked in you wouldn’t make anything. You would if it was Microsoft because its trading at over $40 a share but not for those 2 stocks (at under $15/share) so I was thinking 2% and add a few blue chip stocks around $20-30 range. Anyway I would like to take profits from anywhere from $20-$40 if not everyday every other or 3rd day so Id set my pullback at .05? (or should I have it higher?) & my profit protection at 1% (& Id add on 4% drops?-or is that too low of a % in your opinion?) . Oh btw, would you recommend the reentry pullback setting & at what? And I’d leave the stop loss at $300/share which is what was set at (btw, I copied this office strategy dow 30 long add on 3% drops but id like to make it 4 or 5%-which is what tech support recommended & I don’t think Id have the funds to add that soon anyway). 1 last thing, I wouldn’t put in a minimum amount for the profit goal or the profit protection setting because 1% should be low enough for a $15-30 stock in my opinion. Microsoft would be the 1 stock that would eat some of my profits without a minimujm profit protection amount but I can live with that & I might not trade that one anyway. So that’s my plan Enlightened. Would you recommend these settings or change anything Ive said here or revise something or does this sound like a disaster (lol). I appreciate your feedback too. take care,
    Pete

    Hot strategies
    Any pros out there have and hot strategies as of June 1st they would like to share? feel free to email me if you like at bathjd@yahoo.com THANKS!

    Weird one.
    I was trading a $10,000 account virtually (unfortunately), and one of my instructions was to not trade within 10 days of an announcement. Right at the close of the day the Trader made a large number of closing burble sounds, then shut down.
    The next day my account was exactly $10,000 more than the previous evening, but the report showed no profits other than the little ones I took that day.
    Sup Dat? Looks like a bug to me, and I’m sorry I wasn’t trading live.
    I’ve been trading cheap (<$3.95) stocks, and could find no evidence of a split in any of mine, let alone splits in all 6.

    The best solution is to select REFRESH FOR NEW STRATEGY under the File menu on the login screen. In live mode the account value comes from the broker so that won’t happen in live mode.

    Every Friday the software automatically schedules a checkdisk/repair so your computer will check and repair and bad partitions on the hard drive the next time you reboot.

    Hedge

    ATLANTA COOLTRADERS
    HELLO ATL COOLTRADERS, I AM LOOKING TO START A GROUP FOR ATL COOLTRADERS. PLEASE RESPOND IF YOUR INTERESTED. i AM ON THE NORTHSIDE IN KENNESAW

    Hi Kevin:

    I’m interested in a user group. I’m in Lilburn on the east side of Atlanta.

    Owen

    Im not in ATL but in SC and like to be part of the group

    Im not in ATL but in SC and like to be part of the group

    I am in east Atlanta I am interested ...

    I am in east Atlanta I am interested ...

    Would be interested in knowing more about this group. I live in SC, but less than 3 hours from Atlanta.

    Any information you can give me would be appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Dennis

    Kevin,

    I am in Roswell and would be interested as well.

    Page

    Simple Question or Not
    Is there a way to write rules for a daily strategy where the MACD value line crosses under the MACD signal line - I don’t want to use the standard 12-26-9 MACD values? It seems that the Dynamic indicators come close but you can’t reference the MACD values from the previous day.

    Thanks,

    I don’t see how to do it with the 12-26-9 changed. but if you are using those params then you can complete the last 3 days. I think that’s the only way you can compare the previous days with each other.

    Hedge

    Thanks for the quick response - I was hoping that was not going to be the answer. Unfortunately, that seems to be a major flaw in the CT platform - the ability to do crossovers with a daily strategy and not have to use the industry standard parameters. The only way to do it with CT is to use Intraday indicators and only for 5-minute and 10-minute periods. It seems that longer periods than these in an Intraday strategy will not produce valid calculated values for the indicators(a data capture/caching issue). It would seem that adding a look back period to the Dynamic indicators would be easy enough to fix this flaw in the platform. Thanks again.

    Is there a way to take a stock out of my watch lis or not trade itt?
    In my dow 30 long strategy There is a stock APOL thats in my watch list but isnt in my portfolio & I dont want to trade it. Is there a way to remove it or a way to not trade it?
    Thanks,
    Pete

    Add the symbol to the BLOCKED list in the automated trader and then that symbol will disappear and never show up in your watch list again.

    Hedge

    ok thank you Hedge.

    Strategy suggestions?
    I’m interested in trying a new strategy now that the market is bouncing around near the all time high. I would welcome any suggestions from anyone who is happy with theirs. I welcome emails at teambuilders@cox.net .

    philip
    Is there any reason cooltrade would trade a stock at a loss. Or has anyone ever experienced cooltrader closing a position at a loss. today at opening bell cooltrader closed a position at a loss. can anyone give me a heads up as oppose to what might of happen or what I would need to do. This is very concerning. the stock symbol that did this was (prkr) at 9:30am on 7/15/14.

    There are a few things that could cause that.

    1. Since decisions are based on Bid (to sell) and Ask (to buy) prices, unusually high or low bid/ask prices can trigger a trade submission even though no trades took place at those prices. This is rare with high volume stocks like the stocks on the Dow (which is most of the stocks in the default strategies), but it can happen with low volume stocks. Also unusual bid/ask prices are not very common during trading hours but are very common in pre-post market hours.

    2. My traders are set to start trading later, like 9:35am - 9:45am.
    Starting trading at 9:30am is prone to receiving late price quotes from the data providers. Based on your description, I would say that is most likely what happened.

    For my traders with Dow stocks (high volume) I set the start trading (open position, add to positions, close positions) at 9:35am.

    For my traders with less common stocks or low volume stocks (under 5 million shares a day) I set the trading to start at 9:45am.

    Enlightened

    Hi Enlightened,

    Does that mean your first buy of a stock would be at 9:35?

    Is there a rule that can be setup to buy when the market opens?

    Can someone tell me why my dow 30 long strategy isn't buying on drops
    Hi Im simulating for over 2 months with the dow 30 long strategy add on 3% drops (trading 100 share lots & 9 symbols using around $17,000 with $15,000 funds available) that I copied off the office #4@cooltrade.com strategy in the strategy wizard & I did add a couple stocks to it (pbi & ori) & I’m down on 4 open positions over 3% (ORI down 9.6%,AA down 3.2%,GE down 4.4% & PBI down 3.7%) but trader isn’t buying any more shares & it should be.
    It has quite a bit of rules in tab 4 (add to current pos. rules). They are "ave true range %(14) is greater than 3", "10,200,2 & 50 day ave. vol. is greater than 1000000 shares" "todays current ask price is greater than yesterdays close price" "todays current ask price is greater than price 1 minute ago" "current asset is greater than current liabilities" "institutional ownership % is greater than 10" "intraday macd value (12,26,9,1,0) is greater than intraday macd signal line (12,26,9,1,0)" "my same symbol lowest trade price move is less than -1.00 dollars" "ABS (my same symbol lowest trade price move) is greater than value of my same symbol highest trade price %" (which is set at 3%) "price one min ago is greater than price 2 min ago" "3 and 5 day sma is greater than 18 day sma" & "yesterdays close price is less than 60 dollars & greater than 10 dollars".
    Those are all the rules for tab 4 on the sw. It also has in the declining preferences setting checked "add additional shares to losing positions" set at .25000. I would prefer the adding to % drops (using tab 4) rather than the amount on the dec. pre. setting so I was wondering if those 2 settings were confusing each other & I should just click the "do not add additional shares to losing positions" and just use the tab 4 (add to curr. pos. rules) setting or does this matter if both are set? I was considering using another dow strategy that had just the one rule (abs my lowest trade price move is greater than the value of my highest trade price %) to see if that would work also & turn off the dec. preferences setting. If anyone knows why its not adding to my positions & what you recommend I do I’d really appreciate your input. Thank you,
    Pete

    Pete,

    You must check ADD TO LOSING POSITIONS in Declining preferences to you cannot turn that off, otherwise it will not add to losing positions regardless of Tab4.

    The rules on Tab4 must also all be true.

    if you click on the symbol in the active list, it will pop up a reason that it is not adding to the position.

    Enlightened

    Hey Enlightened, thanks for the reply. It is checked to add to losing positions on the dec. prefrences setting at its at .00.25000. I didn’t change anything there & I never turned it off so it must be something on the rules on tab 4 that’s preventing it from adding to my positions. Ok I just left click on the symbol that has dropped more than 3% & it will tell me why its not adding to my positions?.Thanks again for your help.

    right. if you click on the bottom lot it will pop up a list and tell you the rule that is preventing the trade. you can also click on the RULES button at the top of the trader and it will show all of the add to position rules and their indicator values and you can eyeball them and see the rule that is failing.

    also click the Account Values button on the upper-right of the trader and make sure you have enough FUNDS AVAILABLE to make the purchase.

    also make sure the Max Shares in the strategy is set high enough to allow adding more shares.

    also make sure the Add to Position times on Tab1 of the strategy wizard is correct. I suggest clicking on the VERIFY TIMES button and ensure it says the times are correct.

    This all becomes second nature after you’ve looked at them enough. I can glance at my traders and see immediately why they are not trading.

    Enlightened

    Hey Enlightened, I checked t the rules at the top of the trader & noticed 2 rules right away why it wasnt adding on drops.. the 3 & 5 day sma weren’t greater than the 18 day sma.All it said on every stock why ti wasn’t buying more shares was out of open trading time range 2:30 (central time) but I didnt get home to check them until the markets were closed today. Thats neat you can check each rule to see how their doing. I was thinking of trying another dow 30 long strategy that had only 1 or 2 rules for tab 4 so it wouldn’t have to meet so many rules to add on drops. What do you think? Do you trade the dow 30 long strategy & if you do you add on drops & do u have a lot of rules in tab 4 for adding on them? Thanks.

    >>>the 3 & 5 day sma weren’t greater than the 18 day sma

    I have those same rules. I think they make total sense. they allow the stock to continue down and I only add to the position after it is on an up trend.

    I am not in favor of removing good rules.

    Enlightened

    Ok Enlightened well I’ll leave those rules in place. I haven’t closed a position in over a month as the market has gone bearish & my trader hasn’t added on 1 stock either. Do you have all of those rules (for adding to postions) that I mentioned in my 1st post? Another rule that comes up a lot to prevent from buying a long postion is the intraday macd signal line (12 26 9 1 0) is > the intraday macd value (12 25 9 1 0). Can you please tell me what that rule means & do you have that rule in your trader? Thanks,
    Pete

    macd signal line (12 26 9 1 0) is > the intraday macd value (12 25 9 1 0)

    if the signal line is greater than the value line then the trend is down.
    I wouldn’t do that unless I wanted to Short or add to positions that are on a short term down trend.

    If I was going to use it as a buying indicator then I would also look at the previous bar (offset=1):

    macd value line (12 26 9 1 1) is < the intraday macd signal line (12 25 9 1 1)
    macd value line (12 26 9 1 0) is > the intraday macd signal line (12 25 9 1 0)

    this shows that the was on a downtrend 1 bar ago and is now on an uptrend.

    and when I use that indicator, I always put the value line on the left. it’s just easier to read that way when comparing the less than / greater than signs.

    Enlightened

    Enlight, it’s not often that I can improve on one of your posts, but I would add one more rule to make sure the value line is above the previous bar’s value.

    macd value line (12 26 9 1 1) is < the intraday macd signal line (12 25 9 1 1)
    macd value line (12 26 9 1 0) is > the intraday macd signal line (12 25 9 1 0)

    Add this one:
    macd value line (12 26 9 1 0) is > the intraday macd value line (12 25 9 1 1)

    I would add these rules to the open position rules and the add to position rules.

    Hedge

    ok (Hedge & Enlightened), I’ll put in those 3 rules & should I delete the "intraday macd value (12,26,9,1,0) is greater than intraday macd signal line (12,26,9,1,0)" rule then? Should I leave all the other rules in place that I have in my 1st post along with those 3? Again I copied this from the office strategy because tech support told me these strategies were used to run hedge funds.

    Also, what about picking stocks? Do you use the default stocks like BAC, cisco, GE, Micorsoft, Alcoa,HP, intel, etc. or do you have other stocks that you trade with & if so what do you use to choose the stocks.(software, Investors business daily, etc.?) I trade all the stocks that I listed above plus a couple others & they’ve been down the last month or so but have rebounded nicely this week. Are either of you on the strategy wizard to copy & simulate your dow 30 strategy or similar strategies? Thanks again for your help...

    ok (Hedge & Enlightened), I’ll put in those 3 rules & should I delete the "intraday macd value (12,26,9,1,0) is greater than intraday macd signal line (12,26,9,1,0)" rule then? Should I leave all the other rules in place that I have in my 1st post along with those 3? Again I copied this from the office strategy because tech support told me these strategies were used to run hedge funds.

    Also, what about picking stocks? Do you use the default stocks like BAC, cisco, GE, Micorsoft, Alcoa,HP, intel, etc. or do you have other stocks that you trade with & if so what do you use to choose the stocks.(software, Investors business daily, etc.?) I trade all the stocks that I listed above plus a couple others & they’ve been down the last month or so but have rebounded nicely this week. Are either of you on the strategy wizard to copy & simulate your dow 30 strategy or similar strategies? Thanks again for your help...

    CTP Function Error?
    My cool trader bought a certain ETF and then sold it a few days later with a 5% profit (in accordance with my strategy) but then bought this same issue back a couple of days later at a higher price than it was sold at -- which my strategy should not allow for.

    Although the strategy’s rules for an "initial purchase" were satisfied, the "Re-Entry" rule was NOT. The "Re-Entry" rule is set at 5% -- so that the price should have to drop by at least 5% before it should be allowed to buy it back - is this not correct?

    Should it not need to drop by 5% from the price it was sold at -- in order to buy back into this ETF (or any issue that had been bought and sold previously)?

    Any insights? Thanks,

    The ReEntry Pullback setting on Tab6 only applies to the SAME DAY that the position was closed. The next day and thereafter, only the Open Position rules on tab3 apply.

    WOW - simple answer - big help - thanks, but a major confusion and time waster that could / should have been eliminated if this info were in the strategy wizard, program with the mouse-over directions - info.

    Anyone know if this system will get up on the cloud - internet based? It is a considerable pain running it on my pc, and don’t feel it is worth it to have another dedicated computer.

    Profit Protection selling immediately
    I need a little help with the profit protection feature. Every time I use it, it seems to trigger immediately instead of letting the position rise up to the profit goal. What would cause it to do this? I have the minimum set to a penny. For an example, I have a 1.5% profit goal and set a 0.5% profit protection. The position is always closed out immediately as it hits 0.5% in profits and gets marked with a "P" in the trading window.

    Thanks.

    John

    The Profit Protection features needs to have an absolute minimum of .06, otherwise it will close immediately. The feature was designed for higher numbers like:

    Profit Goal: 1.00
    Profit Protection .50

    If you are going to use it for smaller numbers then I suggest:

    Profit Goal: 1.5%
    Profit Goal Minimum: .20

    Profit Protection: .75%
    Profit Protection Mimimum: .10

    Hedge

    Trading 1 Stock
    I want to trade only one stock multiple times during the trading session. However, I want to make sure that before each buy/sell action is initiated, it goes through the rules to determine if appropriate to buy/sell. I believe that I need to set the Re-Entry Pullback parameter to 0 in the profit/goal tab. Is there anything else that I need to be aware of?

    Thanks,

    When you close a position, the trader will not look at the open position rules to open a new position in that same symbol until the stock pulls back by the amount you specify in the ReEntry Pullback field. If you leave it at 0.00 then the trader could reopen a new position in the same stock you just closed (even at a higher amount than where you just closed it). I personally do not like to close a position at $30.00 and then go right back into it at $30.05. Instead, I prefer the market come to me and let me back in at a lower price.

    However, the ReEntry Pullback for the closed position is only active on the same day that the position is closed. The next day, that rule is ignored and only the Open Position rules are looked at, regardless of where the position was closed on a prior day.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge2 - great explanation.

    Hedge2 - sorry I posted previous message before finishing.

    I have a short strategy that sells a stock when there is a MACD cross under and buys the stock when momentum changes to the upside usually booking a profit. However, sometimes after a small change in momentum(quick upward move), the downward movement continues. It is this subsequent downward move that I want to be sure to capture. Given that I only sell short when the MACD crosses under, I thought that setting pullback to zero might be appropriate.

    Thanks again.

    question-using a rule on support as a way to buy low?
    HI there:

    I was wondering, if one wants to buy when the price is lower and starting to coming up, could a person put a % on this rule and does it make sense to do this?

    On Open New positions:
    Today’s current price is greater than or equal to support 1. If you could put with something like
    Today’s current price is greater than or equal to support 1 by 10% but not greater than 10%.
    Would that be effective to buying closer to the bottom vs resistance? (If there is such a way to word that? )

    I keep thinking if this was such a good idea I would see it in the various default strategies listed, but have not seen it anywhere, so I have my doubts, but it sure makes sense, to me that is.
    thank you.
    rschaer

    I don’t believe in waiting for a particular indicator because even if the indicators say it’s time to open the position there are going to be so many times when the market goes down and drags your position down with it. Therefore I just assume get in and let the show begin and let the LIFO closes start taking the profits. You mentioned that you want 5% a month. The only way to do that is to accumulate a lot of smaller profit trades. I wouldn’t want to open a position and sit on it forever waiting for it to go up 5% a month, when I can take 1% 20 times and the stock never has to go to new highs.

    While you’re waiting for a stock to hit support and resistence lines, my traders will trade the stock dozens of times and rack up profits!

    Enlightened

    Hedge 2
    HI Hedge 2.

    It seems like you and Enlightened Investor are the two people who seem to answer the most questions here on the forum, or least in the past year...
    Your email address seems like you might be on staff with cool trade, but perhaps not.

    All This to say, that you have at least two strategies that were copied from the New User 1 or 2 it seems.
    I was wondering if i may be so bold, are you:

    1. still using the " Top Movers Long" or the "Conservative Long" strategy? or a variation of these?
    2. are you or Did you use the "Dow Long for simulating $x.xx" ? (preset strategy as well in New User 2) Have you used these in 2014? if so, may i ask what kind of success did you achieve?

    Have you moved on to a totally different strategy?
    May i ask you in a separate post or email any further about what you currently are using?
    Would you consider a proft of 5% per month, excellent or just ’an average’ profit this year, from January through now if you were only dealing with approximately $30k ?

    Thank you
    rschaer (Becky)

    Becky,

    I visited the ct az office (the old office now) a few times a few years ago, but I don’t work for them. I don’t think Hedge does either, at least he didn’t a few years ago when we used to spend a lot of time in the chat room. We used to all talk a lot on the board and chat room but now running the traders is just second nature since great strategies are just there for everyone to use. I remember a few years ago when ct first came out there where no strategies and we were all helping each other.

    No I don’t run the Top mover strategy or the Conserv strategy anymore. Now I just run the default Dow strategies for $xxx.xx account sizes. I remember in 2009 when the sun city west investment club went into the ct office and removed the stop losses from there strategies. It was a real game changer and virtually took the gambling out of the stock market. I remember we all removed our stop losses and started just adding to losers and selling lifo. It was then that we realized that we had all been throwing away thousands of dollars for years. Before that everyone I knew used stop losses and now I don’t know a single person who sells a position at a loss. The focus now is on taking profits over and over and over and not worrying about the handful of positions/lots that remain open. Good luck.

    Enlightened

    I wanted to reply to the response from enlightened investor on this post. EI, if you have found a combination of long and short strategy that works please let me know. Like others, I’ve spent countless hours creating strategies that support different market scenarios and haven’t found one that works.

    EI,
    Do you suggest to use "Dow Long for simulating $20,000" and "Dow Short for simulating $20,000" strategies at the same time on one trader? Do you suggest any modification to any of these stratgies since both strategies will have the same symbols in the watchlist due the same rule: "Yesterday’s Close Price < $20" being used in Tab2? Any suggestion from you will be appreciated.

    I never suggest shorting because the market or stock can go up indifinitely so you have unlimited upside risk.

    Hedge

    Intraday EMA cross strategy not working
    I finally managed to create my strategy -- I like to trade the 15 minute charts as I feel they suit me --- so here is my strategy

    OPEN POSITION RULES
    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,15,2 ) is Less Than or Equal to Intraday Exp MA ( 11,15,2 )
    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,15,0 ) is Greater Than Intraday Exp MA ( 11,15,0 )
    Intraday Exp MA ( 5,15,1 ) is Greater Than or Equal to Intraday Exp MA ( 11,15,1 )

    Looking at these rules -- I want to only trade the stocks when the 5 period 15 minute EMA has been equal/below the 11 period 15minute EMA - specially the current 5ema should have crossed the 11 ema.

    I have several trades that were executed today where the trades were opened even without the rule being met - I am quoting one example here

    A position was opened on SXC today at 12:09 central time

    Please find the chart attached -- It clearly does not have a situation anywhere close where the EMA have crossed.

    There are several other such trades -- am I doing it wrong ?? what is the right way to do it ? I want the software to be looking at the 15 minute EMA values -



    The circled part of the chart that you showed literally has price moves from one bar to the next of less than .01 to .02

    I think you need to click on RULES in the trader to see the values of each indicator that the software sees.

    I don’t trade based on moving averages since the fill prices could be dramatically above or below those values. Also .01 or .02 difference to me is negligible.

    I would take away the OR EQUAL from each one and change it to AT LEAST .05 GREATER (or AT LEAST .05 LESS THAN).

    I an a new trader looking for a strategy for $15,000 investment
    I am a new trader looking for a strategy for $15,000 investment. If anyone could help me out that would be great, if you have any other suggestions for a first timer please send . I’m so confused. Thank You

    if you have 2-1 margin then you have more than enough to run the default DOW 30 For $20,000 accounts. That’s a good place to start.

    Hedge

    Thank You

    I’m a CT member and I am also an authorized direct seller of CT working at the Home Office in Scottsdale.

    Contact me and I can help you.

    accuratetradingtoday@gmail.com

    Bruce

    I highly suggest that you contact the professionals at RTA who are familiar with and work with Cool Trade. Depending on how you subscribed to Cool Trade, you many already have a free consultation included in the price with RTA.

    I began using CoolTrade software this past September and immediately contacted RTA for a set-up/advice on my initial $20,000 investment. To date, I am nearly $2,000 down and, unless I sign their contract, I can get no further response. My experience with RTA is counter to some of you and I’m certainly not willing to spend $250-$750 for the type of strategy provided thus far.

    You should check out the Strategy Wizard and scroll through all of the contributed strategies.

    Regardless of your starting amount almost any strategy can be configured to work with how much money you have. Before using your cash simulate a few strategies for a long enough time to obtain desired results. Although a strategy will perform differently from simulation mode (better or not as well) you should find a few that you are comfortable with. Take the time to learn how to dial in the strategy to fit budget, risk tolerance and profit goals.
    Take as much time as you need to simulate before you go live.

    Very Disappointed
    I have been using this software for 1 1/2 years. I have traded with 4 maybe 5 different strategies and only made $5000. I am about ready to hang it up. I have made my money back with very little profit. Is anyone else in the same boat?

    Yes. Except for a few folks using the a Dow 30 type strategy who say they are having success with it-- but can not prove it-- I think there are many people in the same boat. I made money briefly on a couple of strategies but after taking a big hit on a stock due to a short seller that influenced the stocks direction with a scathing report (NQ Mobile) and getting a margin call I became disallusioned with the whole deal. I’m not a believer in adding to a losing postion. I think that’s a fools errand although the folks who have an account size large enough to successfully accomodate the Dow strategies will say otherwise.

    Unfortunately I let myself get suckered into buying this very expensive and TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED software. I think in many ways it does have some merits but not for $3000+ price tag which is there to compensate the folks selling it. Even the local reps seemed to have lost interest in selling it and are moving on to other MLM schemes.

    There were a couple of support groups in my local area that seem to have faded out of existance. They were basically an exercise in the blind leading the blind.

    That being said, I may still give the software another shot at some point when I’m comfortable with a strategy and if and when there’s some instruction as to exactly what the various rules mean.

    Yes. Except for a few folks using the a Dow 30 type strategy who say they are having success with it-- but can not prove it-- I think there are many people in the same boat. I made money briefly on a couple of strategies but after taking a big hit on a stock due to a short seller that influenced the stocks direction with a scathing report (NQ Mobile) and getting a margin call I became disallusioned with the whole deal. I’m not a believer in adding to a losing postion. I think that’s a fools errand although the folks who have an account size large enough to successfully accomodate the Dow strategies will say otherwise.

    Unfortunately I let myself get suckered into buying this very expensive and TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED software. I think in many ways it does have some merits but not for $3000+ price tag which is there to compensate the folks selling it. Even the local reps seemed to have lost interest in selling it and are moving on to other MLM schemes.

    There were a couple of support groups in my local area that seem to have faded out of existance. They were basically an exercise in the blind leading the blind.

    That being said, I may still give the software another shot at some point when I’m comfortable with a strategy and if and when there’s some instruction as to exactly what the various rules mean.

    Yes. Except for a few folks using the a Dow 30 type strategy who say they are having success with it-- but can not prove it-- I think there are many people in the same boat. I made money briefly on a couple of strategies but after taking a big hit on a stock due to a short seller that influenced the stocks direction with a scathing report (NQ Mobile) and getting a margin call I became disallusioned with the whole deal. I’m not a believer in adding to a losing postion. I think that’s a fools errand although the folks who have an account size large enough to successfully accomodate the Dow strategies will say otherwise.

    Unfortunately I let myself get suckered into buying this very expensive and TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED software. I think in many ways it does have some merits but not for $3000+ price tag which is there to compensate the folks selling it. Even the local reps seemed to have lost interest in selling it and are moving on to other MLM schemes.

    There were a couple of support groups in my local area that seem to have faded out of existance. They were basically an exercise in the blind leading the blind.

    That being said, I may still give the software another shot at some point when I’m comfortable with a strategy and if and when there’s some instruction as to exactly what the various rules mean.

    Do not expect the technical support or customer support to be of much help either. They have no motivation to solve your problems what so ever.

    Once you pay for the software - you are not getting your money back -- So, the support team does not have an obligation to solve your problems.

    I have been having all sorts of trouble for the past month trying to get this to work --- Here is a gist of what I learnt thus far ---

    Does the software work ?? -- Yes it does.

    Does the software work as promised/advertised ?? No.

    It will work fine as long as you are using a very simple strategy like buying on 50 cent dips -- with about 5 or 10 stocks in your watch list.

    If it gets any more complicated than that -- you are testing your luck.

    I totally agree with both of you. I found a Tech7 strategy that only buys 5 at a time, at least I’m not loosing like I was, but gains are very slow to come. I would like to have seen Ed share a few of his winning strategies. At least that would have given everyone a boost to start. I’d love to just take my money and invest in something else, but being an IRA, I don’t want to pay taxes yet..lol

    I am a CT member and I am also an independent (LLC) authorized direct seller working at the home office in Scottsdale. There are several strategies available that you can copy into your subscription that are profitable. It’s simple and easy to do.

    Contact me and I can help you at NO cost to you.

    accuratetradingtoday@gmail.com

    Bruce

    Bruce...sent you an email

    I highly suggest that you contact the professionals at RTA who are familiar with and work with Cool Trade. Depending on how you subscribed to Cool Trade, you many already have a free consultation included in the price with RTA.

    help
    I have been trading in simulator mode with no broker for some time. I now want to switch to simulator mode with a broker. I have a brokerage account set up. Cool trader asks for a user key and a user secret from the brokerage. I called the brokerage company and they didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. Any ideas?

    Sounds like your running an older version of the software.
    I suggest sending email to Technical Support at Cool-Trade DOT com.

    Canadian stratergy
    New kid on the block looking for Strategy for Canadian Stock investment

    I’m a CT member and I am also an authorized direct seller of CT.

    Contact me and I can help you.

    accuratetradingtoday@gmail.com

    Bruce

    Hello Bruce, I saw that you have a Canadian strategy up and running. I would love to talk to you about that. I’d love to compare notes as I’ve been simulating on the Cdn market. I’m not so new on the block but new on Cdn stocks.
    Francine

    Action Alerts PLUS by Jim Cramer
    Has anyone had luck subscribing to "Action Alerts PLUS by Jim Cramer"?

    Action Alerts PLUS by Jim Cramer
    Has anyone had luck subscribing to "Action Alerts PLUS by Jim Cramer"?

    Intraday ema values not being displayed right
    I have a strategy that also uses the hourly EMA values --- but when i check the rules for the stocks -- they all say the ema values are -1.00

    Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,5,0 ) is at least 5 Percent Greater Than Intraday MACD Value ( 12,26,9,5,1 )
    MinuteMacdValue (12 , 26 , 9 , 5 , 0) : 0.0004
    MinuteMacdValue (12 , 26 , 9 , 5 , 1) : -0.0033

    Intraday Exp MA ( 10,60,0 ) > Intraday Exp MA ( 21,60,0 )
    MinuteExpMa (10 , 60 , 0) : -1.0000
    MinuteExpMa (21 , 60 , 0) : -1.0000

    It cannot be that I am not getting intraday data because it is working for the MACD values

    I am having the same issues with certain SMA settings. It’s really weird because it will work with (10,5,0) but will not work with (30,5,0). Sometimes it kicks in towards the end of the trading day but mostly it displays a value of -1.

    (10,5,0) requires 10 X 5 = 50 minutes of historical data
    (30,5,0) requires 30 X 5 = 150 minutes of historical data

    If you are connected with TD, IB, or MB then you should have about 500 minutes of historical minute bars to start the day, so both of the above values should work right away. However, if you are not using one of those brokers for your data feed then the trader will have to run long enough to accumulate enough historical data make the calculations.

    Enlightened

    help
    I have been a financial advisor for many years. I am fairly new to cool trader. I am thinking about writing a newsletter for the people using cool trader. What topics should I write about? How often should the newsletter come out? Thanks

    how about an explanation of a strat - why each rule is included and its effect.

    Brich,

    I think that is a great idea.

    One suggestion would be to do a simple breakdown of each of the 6 tabs used that constitute a strategy and break down each thing on each tab and explain its value.

    Another would be to create a running list of HOW TO’s.

    Another would be to take examine the common strategies, like the marcialarmore strategy and break down each tab and explain the rules.

    WANTED USED COOL TRADER
    Please contact me if you are willing to sell your Cool Trader viccacio@gmail.com

    Facebook Office 2 strategy
    What causes subject (FB office 2 strategy) to buy? Is it on .75 drops? If so how does it show this?
    Feeney

    Cool Trader Online Support Group Welcomes New Members
    TO All Cool Trade Users:

    We run and host a weekly online CTP Support Group, where users get together to learn, share strategies and support each other. We have been meeting for about a year now and you are most welcome to join us.

    If you wish to join us, please send your request by email to the email address below, and we will add you to our Database to be sure you get the link each week. We meet Wednesday evenings, from 8:30-9:30 PM EST.

    Looking forward to meeting you :)

    Norm & Nancy Lacasse
    Full Time Traders & Educators
    nlacasse@rogers.com

    Hi,
    I sent you an email -- awaiting your response.

    Strategy on buying Long if a new intraday high is traded
    Hello,

    I am looking to implement a strategy on which I would like to open long positions if a new intraday high is traded in certain stock after 10 am, any idea of which indicator should be used?
    I tried (current price higher than today’s high) and set the trading time to start at 10 am, but it didn’t work. Any ideas?

    Thanks

    Ibrahim

    Buying Long if new high price is traded after 10 am
    Hello,

    I am looking to implement a strategy on which I would like to open long positions if a new intraday high is traded in certain stock after 10 am, any idea of which indicator should be used?
    I tried (current price higher than today’s high) and set the trading time to start at 10 am, but it didn’t work. Any ideas?

    Thanks

    Ibrahim

    long startegy
    Hello,

    I am looking to implement a strategy on which I would like to open long positions if a new intraday high is traded in certain stock after 10 am, any idea of which indicator should be used?
    I tried (current price higher than today’s high) and set the trading time to start at 10 am, but it didn’t work. Any ideas?

    Thanks

    Ibrahim

    My "KISS" approach.
    I purchased my CTP in October of 2013. I ran various strategies including the "Dow 30" with the companies I wanted to trade, it seemed fairly useless. After Studying the strategies, I decided to whittle the strategies down and use what appeared to be the heart of what used to be a donated strategy listed on line. The heart of my strategy uses a combination of 20 and 3 day SMA and combined with a conservative total change and a small revers change to trigger a buy or a sell. So far, it’s worked pretty well. Since March 1st I’ve earned My gross returns have been $6,929.40 on $60,000 funding. Basically I look for price changes exceeding $1.00. If a stock drops fairly rapidly over $1.00, I buy if it starts back up 0.1 cents, then when it meets my profit requirement of $1.00 or more it sells when it drops back $0.10. I trade in 100 share blocks. Worse case I make around $0.90 per share. I use interactive brokers. I’ve been happy with CTP and IB. I average about 25 trades per month.

    Your strategy sounds similar to the dollar up dollar down with a few different tweaks to it.
    Would you be willing to share your strategy? Can I find it in the wizard? Under what name?

    Not Sure if I Posted it. If there, it would probably be under "Pete Test"

    Not Sure if I Posted it. If there, it would probably be under "Pete Test"

    I looked, but not there. In order to browse strategies you have to have an email address in there so others can search for that email, then compare other users strategies.
    Thanks for responding though!

    did you post the strat? email?

    pjj_smith@yahoo.com

    E-mini values
    I wanted to run a test using the value of the E-mini as an indicator to buying. In essence, when the futures E-mini is positive and my other buying criteria is triggered I would buy the stock. If the E-mini is negative, I wouldn’t do any buying. My observation is that the E-mini is most heavily traded index and does seem to front lead market direction. In either case, I notice that when Cooltrader starts in the morning, it has a value for the E-mini. If, during the day you have to restart the Cooltrader platform, the E-mini value does not agree with the industry E-mini value. As an example, I have two Cooltrader platforms. If I restart one during the day, the value of E-mini of the restarted Cooltrader will not agree with the Cooltrader that was not restarted. All other index values(Dow, Nasdaq, S&P) do match. Any idea why this might be happening?

    Thanks

    Questionj for Enlightened & Hedge
    Hey guys could you please post what your "add to current position rules" are in tab 4 of your strategies? Or if you have a dow 30 or similar strategy to copy that would work too as my dow 30 strategy never adds on drops & I’d like some different rules & I really dont want to pay $250/hr to robot advisors to get them. thanks a lot

    I am a CT member and I am also an independent (LLC) authorized direct seller of CT working at the home office in Scottsdale. I can help you at NO cost.

    Contact me at

    accuratetradingtoday@gmail.com

    Bruce

    Oh great thank you so much Bruce. I’ll get in contact with you. You’re the best.

    Momentum
    If anyone can help/care to post the rules of Momentum trading strategy.

    The strategy that was titled Momentum Trading under demotrader4@robotictradingsystems.com

    To see and print the rules for that strategy, just launch your strategy wizard and click OPTIONS next to any fo the long strategies and then click COPY STRATEGY.
    Then at the top of the Copy Strategy screen search for demotrader4@robotictradingsystems.com and then click on it. It will then display all of that client’s strategies.
    Just copy that strategy and then you can see all of the rules.

    Hedge

    Thanks. I heard from the tech support that the email is no more in use. So my question is that if it is the original strategy? Has anyone used with positive results. Please share.

    Need help with Add To Position Rules
    How would I write this rule for: ADD TO POSITION RULES?

    I want to add to my positions once they have been purchased and then have made at least a .25 cent gain over the original purchase price (Not open price). Example: entry price $1.00, when it rises to $1.25, I want to add another position and so on.

    Thanks for your help!

    Make sure you have selected to add to advancing positions in the drop down menu at the top labeled "Advancing Positions". Then, in the "add to current position rules" tab, you would create:

    Todays current price is at least 0.25 higher than my same symbol highest trade price

    Also be sure you have enough lots allowed in the "auto trader preferences tab" under "edit share lot sizes"

    I recently had discovered a bug in this indicator, so you may need to be running the beta version of CoolTrade. I know it is fixed in version 7.5.96.

    -John

    Thank you John. That makes sense now. I will do the update also.

    Intraday SMA
    How would I add an intraday simple moving average similar to the 10 day SMA over the 20 day SMA? I am looking to copy the SMA indicator as it shows up on Yahoo Finance charts and I think they use minute bars for the SMA indicator.

    The rule for 10 minute sma > 20 minute sma is:

    Intraday SMA (10, 1, 0) > Intraday SMA (20, 1, 0)

    Thanks EI, I notice that the SMA data from CT and the Broker is many times not the same. I am using IB feed so does this mean I am getting the Intraday SMA information from them or is it coming from CT or FM Labs?

    IRA strategy
    Does anyone have or know of a good IRA strategy? As you know you are unable to daytrade in an IRA account, so I need a good trading idea that picks and holds stocks at least one day or more.

    Thanks

    Michael

    Every LONG strategy works with an IRA account.
    You can buy a stock and close it on the same day with an IRA account.
    You can also get an IRA Margin account with IB and as long as you have $25k or more in your account, you can execute as many round trips on the same day as you like.

    Enlightened

    Thanks for response. I didn’t expect an answer that late, but I certainly appreciate it.

    Michael

    What Symbols should I block
    I am receiving a pacing violation and need some help on what symbols I should block can anyone help with this information? Below you will find all the symbols in my watchlist. (I need to block about 30 of the 39)

    AG
    AKS
    AMCC
    AMKR
    APT
    ARWR
    ATML
    CLF
    DHT
    EGY
    ESI
    GST
    GTE
    GTI
    HOV
    HT
    IG
    JCP
    JRJC
    LSCC
    NAT
    NGD
    NOK
    NVAX
    ODP
    ONNN
    PDS
    PLUG
    PMCS
    QLGC
    RAD
    SBS
    SID
    SPF
    SSRI
    SVU
    WUS
    WEN
    XOMA

    WATCH LIST RULES
    30-Day Average Volume is Greater Than 1000000 Shares
    Current Assets is Greater Than Current Liabilities
    Yesterdays Close Price is Greater Than or Equal to 3.00 Dollars
    Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than or Equal to 9 Dollars

    Thank you,
    Rick

    Rather than blocking symbols, I would just tighten up the rules until the desired number of symbols meets the conditions.

    Example, instead of 1000000 shares, change it to 1500000.
    and/or instead of stocks between 3.00 - 9.00,
    change it to 3.00 - 7.00
    etc.

    Hedge

    Short Strategy Loss - errornous execution?
    Hi there.
    Newbie here (3 weeks test mode).

    I have a real hard time understanding some of these closed positions. I understand "P" indicate profit lock. If you look at the attached screen shot you will see that hi lighted in yellow there’s (-) profit. Why a "P" when this happens...it is acting as this was a LONG position when it’s not. Any one?

    Has anyone had success with SHORT watchlist and automated traded with profits? I’ve found this system has some faults. Any comments? experience?

    Much thanks in advance.

    where’s the attached screen?

    IB feed on CT Slow
    Hi guys

    Is it just me seeing this? Is it my internet? What is it?

    I’m seeing the price on CT application being delayed 1 to 3 seconds. For example, I would see LEVEL II price at or last price at $1.05 but the last price on CT still at $1.02. So when the short is finally filled it would fill at $1.05. Which is a good thing sometime but sometime price would go the opposite direction and I would get it filled with $1.02 an d the price on CT still shows $1.05. So frustrated!!!

    Thanks!

    ct has always said the broker-direct feeds are superior.
    I suggest you simulate with the brokers feed so your simulation is as close to realtime as possible.

    Personally, I would prefer my simulated strategy give me the worse fills possible.
    That way, if I can make money in simulation, then I am confident the live trading will be that much better. If a couple penny’s is the difference between a profitable and losing strategy then I would be looking at a different strategy.

    Enlightened

    Question about my add to current position rules
    Hi I’m simulating a Russell 2000 & Nasdaq strategy (for $25,000) & have added these rules in Tab 4 (add to current position rules) "Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,11)<Intraday Macd signal line(12,25,911)" also "Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,1,0)>Intraday MACD Value (12,25,9,1,1)" & "Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,1,0)>Intraday Macd signal line(12,25,9,1,0)". I’ve also added 3 & 5 day SMA >18 day SMA & iNST. ownership%>10. I’m also using the predefined table on the dec. preferences tab to add to positions & have the ABS(my same symbol lowest trade price move) is>then value of my same symbol highest trade price %) set at 5%

    .I’ve been simulating 2 weeks & it hasn’t added to a declining position yet over 5%. Does anyone else have these rules or recommend them or not or are there any other rules that you have for this setting? Thank you

    Intraday MACD Value (12,26,9,11)<Intraday Macd signal line(12,25,911)"

    I think the 911 in the offset above is too big.

    click on teh rules tab and see what value that indicator returns. I bet is shows -1 becuase there isn’t enough data to make that calculation.

    Thanks for the reply Jerry,
    the macd value line is at -.0023 & the sl is at -.0002 but they are constantly changing as Im checking it live or should I wait until the market closes to check it.so whats that mean & should I change that rule or any oher rule. Thanks again.

    phil why?
    cooltrader sold a stock today at a 0 dollar profit. Not a real big deal other than that I will be charged a fee for a trade at td ameritrade . Why would the system do a trade without a p or better yet a y popping up first? same dollar in same dollar out why?

    If a position disappears from the broker, then the software closes the position and uses the entry price as the close price (since the actual close price is unknown) so that the trade reflects a wash in the CoolTrade reports.

    CT

    Check your brokerage. CoolTrade probably sold the position according to goal and didn’t get a confirmation from the brokerage like customersupport said so CoolTrade washes the entry. The broker is where the money is, their report should show your profit.

    Bob

    IB Roth IRA 2 to 1 Margin?
    Does anyone know about IB offering a Free 2-1 margin on a Roth IRA acct? To be used for protection against funds settlement after cool-trader closes a position and then buys into a new position right away. I’ve heard it mentioned a few times but the only thing I see with IB is a margin acct which requires 25K or more.
    Thank you.

    Right. It is a IRA Margin account.
    A year ago IB was the only broker that offered an IRA MARGIN account.
    However, I just heard that TD Ameritrade now has one.

    They don’t give you 2-1 margin, but because it is a margin account, it frees up the funds immediately so you don’t have to wait for the funds to clear.

    Enlightened

    Suggestions?
    I am a new trader and unfortunately, only have $10,000 to start with. I see a lot of great strategies out there and I can see they are appropriate and work great for larger accounts. I don’t care to trade $1-2 stocks as they are too risky. I also would like to buy and add to my positions on pullbacks. Then with that in mind, I guess I’m limited to stocks or just one stock with a smaller share price.

    There has to be quite a few of you out there in my shoes. Any thoughts or recommendations on what to trade? I’m also aware of 100 share minimums so I was thinking of just trading BAC.

    Help!

    Trading only BAC is fine. For $8000 you can trade that stock forever regardless of where the stock price goes, even if it goes to $1 you will always be taking profits on the movements. If you want to change that one to newmont mining (NEM), that is another good moving stock that doesn’t appear likely to go out of business and is sitting a multi-year low prices now.

    Enlightened

    $6500 Account Strategy.
    I’ve finally got all my IB Roth IRA funded and account details set. Wanting to go live. Just wondering if my current $6500 is enough to run the DOW 30 Conservative Long Strategy in its default settings or if it should be adjusted for the lesser account amount in some ways until I can deposit more into the account after the 1st of the year? Other wise any suggestions for an alternate strategy at this point would be appreciated. Thank you!!

    If it were me I would start with the BAC only strategy that can be copied from NEWUSER

    Enlightened

    Enlightened.
    Thank you.
    As always I appreciate your input !!

    Can anybody tell me why this is happening
    The same indicator shows me different values in the entry and exit rules

    the values for MACD show up as 0 ??

    link to the image



    The Entry and Exit calcuations are not done at the same time. So, the only one that is valid is if these is an action needed.

    Example:

    If you have no open positions then only the Open Position Calculations are valid.
    If you have positions then the Entry rules are not checked and only the Exit Rules calculations are valid.

    Finally, if you there are not have enough historical minute bars to make the calculation then the indicator returns 0 or -1.

    Hedge

    I do not have an open position in DEPO

    The values of the stochastics should be 60.61 for the slowD and 57.58 for the FASTD

    why does it show the same value for both the fast and slow D ’s

    When there is not enough data the indicators return a -1 -- why am I getting a 0 this time ??

    Your picture shows 4:37pm, therefore the market is already closed, so the minute bars data has not changed for 37 minutes. No telling how that would affect the indicators.

    Hedge

    intraday stock
    Does anyone have experience with using intraday stoch indicator? I have tried testing intraday stoch for 5 minute time period using industry standard (14,3,1) and (5,3,1) parameters. I compared the Cool Trader results against an industry charting program and the Cool Trader results aren’t even close to the chart results. Any ideas why this may be happening?

    Open discussion on getting TD Water house and CoolTrade connected!
    Hi CoolTrade members!

    How many of our Cools from Canada?
    If you are, please talk about how to get TD Waterhouse connectable to CoolTrade.

    Current only IB in Canada seems working with CoolTrade.
    But IB in many cases are not willing to be helpful to cooltrade users.
    In my mum’s case, we close IB account.
    Now our CTP is using for simulation.

    So how can Canadians truly able to enjoy using CoolTrade, the best service brokerage that in my many years trading experience is TD Waterhouse which service time frame is 24X7.

    Please, does Ed or anyone know how to make this happen, please help to make this happen so no more need to suffer from IB bad service bad attitude.

    btw, this is our team blog that we are happy to share with all CoolTrade members:
    https://cooltraders123.wordpress.com/

    Cheers!

    Lily

    getting dow 30-am rookie to ct
    how do I find the like dow 30 to put on don’t see in drop down menu

    On the Copy Strategy screen, click on newuser@cool-trade.com
    That will show all of the Dow 30 strategies based on account sizes.

    Enlightened

    getting dow 30-am rookie to ct
    how do I find the like dow 30 to put on don’t see in drop down menu

    Colorado/Denver area users?
    Hello. I live in the Denver metro Area. I’m wondering if anyone would like to get together and have a cup of coffee? Please email me at bruce.speidel@gmail.com

    Since no one responded to this thread, I’ve started a meetup in the Denver Area.

    Since no one responded to this thread, I’ve started a meetup in the Denver Area.

    Intraday highs and lows
    Using a 60 minute intraday chart, I am attempting to write a rule whereby today’s intraday price is greater than the intraday high 3 bars back. Also, a rule whereby the 60 minute intraday low 3 bars back is the lowest low of the last 5 bars. I am entering the rules as follow:
    1. Intraday price (1,60,0) is greater than intraday high (1,60,-3)
    2. Intraday low (3,60,0) is less than intraday low (1,60,-5)
    Is this correct, or is there a better way?

    Paul

    Paul. You nailed it, but remove the minus signs from the offset.

    3 means 3 bars back.
    5 means 5 bars back.

    Hedge

    Hedge -
    Then I assume that writing the rule in this way:
    Intraday price (1,60,0) is greater than intraday high (1,60,3)
    means that it is also greater than the high (1,60,2)? And that:
    Intraday low(3,60,0) is less than intraday low (1,60,5) means that it is also less than the lows (1,60,2) and (1,60,4)? Are my assumptions correct?

    Paul

    No. I don’t think so.

    Intraday High (1, 60, 3) is the high 3 bars ago.
    While intraday High (1, 60, 2) is the high just 2 bars ago.

    I would list each one separately and then look at the RULES menu while the trader is running and see the values that it assigns to each of the variables.
    That is the safest solution.

    Hedge

    Thanks Hedge - I began to realize that as I studied further, including your answer. I got it now! Paul

    Hedge ,

    I checked the rules and the following is what is shown for the rule given here:
    Intraday Low ( 1,60,3 ) < Intraday Low ( 1,60,2 )
    MinuteLow (1 , 60 , 3) : -1.0000
    MinuteLow (1 , 60 , 2) : -1.0000
    These are not the values shown on the charts. I get the same results for every stock listed in my watch list. I’m really confused now. This doesn’t make sense.

    Paul

    -1 or 0 returns mean that the software does not have enough historical data to make the calculation. If you are using TD, MB, IB, or TK for your broker then they provide historical minute bars at startup and the calcuations will be done immediately. However, CT does not provide historical minute bars. So if you are simulating with CT only then you will have to wait until the software accumulates enough data to make the calculation. (1, 60, 0) would require 60 minutes of data so your trader would have to be running for 60 minutes before that indicator returns a value.

    Hedge

    I am now using TD, and the rules are indicating the following values which are all the same. I don’t understand why:
    Intraday Low ( 1,60,3 ) < Intraday Low ( 1,60,1 )
    MinuteLow (1 , 60 , 3) : 16.9800
    MinuteLow (1 , 60 , 1) : 16.9800

    Intraday Low ( 1,60,3 ) < Intraday Low ( 1,60,2 )
    MinuteLow (1 , 60 , 3) : 16.9800
    MinuteLow (1 , 60 , 2) : 16.9800

    Intraday Low ( 1,60,3 ) < Intraday Low ( 1,60,4 )
    MinuteLow (1 , 60 , 3) : 16.9800

    I want to use 60 minute bars. I am writing (1,60,2) etc. Should I be writing it differently. I may be getting results of 1 minute bars here.

    You can try reversing it to (60, 1, 2). I always mix them up.

    Hedge

    Intraday highs and lows
    Hedge -
    Then I assume that writing the rule in this way:
    Intraday price (1,60,0) is greater than intraday high (1,60,3)
    means that it is also greater than the high (1,60,2)? And that:
    Intraday low(3,60,0) is less than intraday low (1,60,5) means that it is also less than the lows (1,60,2) and (1,60,4)? Are my assumptions correct?

    Paul

    Running Etf s
    what if ran a etf .if you got some bought higher and stayed into it.it would pay a dividend. would this be a smart way to trade.

    I take profits where profits are there to be taken.
    If I happen to be sitting in a position I get a dividend, then that is a bonus.
    However, I would not stay in a profitable position just to get a dividend.

    Hedge

    Hello Hedge...what ETF Strategy would you recommend with 10k or 25k ?

    None. I have no clue. With $20-$25k I would trade BAC and NEM with 100 share lots. Just copy the newuser@cool-trade.com strategy for $20,000 accounts and change the symbols on tab2 to BAC and NEM, and make sure on tab1 max symbols is set to 2. As long as they don’t go out of business you should be taking money at least a few times a week.

    I have to put a disclaimer so try the above in simulator mode.

    Hedge

    i was using dpo. uses some of the dows so diversified. pays around 6% but I would play it like bac single. but divvy is quarterly so probably not worth looking at since profit be better to buy on dips sell high. I was doing this with the sar before cool trade with good luck .but not making as much as would like. theres some like pff that pay monthly .higher price so you would tweek or maybe run like hal single these just ideas. I ran myself when could. going try some different strategys here. my average was 8% monthly without cooltrade. looking forward to this.

    NEM has been great since I’ve been in it for the last few months.
    If you can afford it (like $30k) FB has been going up and down $2 every few days.

    EI

    yea want one to move ,just still so new waiting for opening account, have one with td and sharbuilder but opening with ib, its the 10 day hold on opening waiting for but gives me time run some simulations, the 30 been working ok but kinda has a holding of few days. market pulled back last few days. seeing how that works out so far looks be a pretty easy strategy to understand.

    HI E.I.

    I was looking at this thread. You suggested FB (facebook i presume) along with whatever else, on the New User strategy for dow long = NewUser2@cool-trade.com strategy.

    I pulled it up and the watch list rules say close price needs to be less than $20 !
    FB being at $80, then is this the strategy you would still be suggesting (with about a $30k account? )

    or
    did you mean use the new user startegy which the watchlist rule is:
    yest. close price less than $100. which makes more sense.

    and then limit the symbols to those you wish to trade as opposed to just taking anything under $100 that meets the other rules?

    Thank you
    Becky

    HI E.I.

    I was looking at this thread. You suggested FB (facebook i presume) along with whatever else, on the New User strategy for dow long = NewUser2@cool-trade.com strategy.

    I pulled it up and the watch list rules say close price needs to be less than $20 !
    FB being at $80, then is this the strategy you would still be suggesting (with about a $30k account? )

    or
    did you mean use the new user startegy which the watchlist rule is:
    yest. close price less than $100. which makes more sense.

    and then limit the symbols to those you wish to trade as opposed to just taking anything under $100 that meets the other rules?

    Thank you
    Becky

    You can copy by NEM LONG strategy.
    Trades in 100 share lots with a max of 1000 that can only go their if the company goes to 0.
    Takes profits every few days. NEM is way below its 5 year high.
    IMO FB is too high now to start trading it.

    Jerry

    running dow 30
    was wondering shows the dow 30 strategy, in the 2nd column shows search dow 30 for stocks prev closing at 30.00 or lower. was wondering if this wrong cause two in list are above 30.00, like 48.00 could it be when intialy made maybe had like below 50.00 and put on list,strategy that came with system.

    If the watchlist rule shows Yesterdays close price < 30 and the trader is picking up symbol greater than 30 then you either have two open positions that are coming in or you have symbol in the PERSONAL list in the trader. Click that link and remove any symbols you have in there because they will come in addition to what the watch list rules bring in.

    Hedge

    ok thank you. sincerely tim

    running dow 30
    was wondering shows the dow 30 strategy, in the 2nd column shows search dow 30 for stocks prev closing at 30.00 or lower. was wondering if this wrong cause two in list are above 30.00, like 48.00 could it be when intialy made maybe had like below 50.00 and put on list,strategy that came with system.

    NEW!
    Hi, I am a new trader with a strategy in mind and I would like someone’s opinion:
    I’m wanting to take companies that I am familiar with and invest them long term. They are all down right now and are all blue chip stocks.
    I bought the trader so it can do day-trading and bank the profits while the stock goes up.

    Please tell me what strategy I should use. I don’t get all these settings, and am even confused after watching and reading about them.

    NEW!
    Hi, I am a new trader with a strategy in mind and I would like someone’s opinion:
    I’m wanting to take companies that I am familiar with and invest them long term. They are all down right now and are all blue chip stocks.
    I bought the trader so it can do day-trading and bank the profits while the stock goes up.

    Please tell me what strategy I should use. I don’t get all these settings, and am even confused after watching and reading about them.

    From the wizard select a strategy to run in simulator mode while you familiarize yourself with the platform you will see it work its magic. Make sure the strategy you simulate is representative of your working capital and risk tolerance. If it does well consider going live after a thorough evaluation.

    Rising Dynamic K% Line
    Does anyone know how to write rule(s) that will indicate a rising K% line using the Dynamic Stochastic K%(14) indicator? I’m not interested in the K% line’s position relative to a Dynamic FastD% or Dynamic SlowD% line. Just interested to know that the Dynamic K% line is rising.

    Thanks

    How about this:

    Dynamic Stochastic K%(14) > Dynamic Stochastic K%(13)

    That should indicate that it is rising.

    I don’t use that indicator so that is the best I can suggest trying.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened -

    Thanks for the response. Your suggestion sounds like an interesting approach. I will run some tests to see if comparing two differing but close time periods might work. My experience is that, in most circumstances, differing time periods show different results and especially if the time periods are measured in day(s). But given that these are dynamic time periods, maybe this approach could work.

    Thanks again for the response.

    Enlightened -

    I ran some back tests trying your suggestion and, unfortunately, it doesn’t deliver results I was looking for. The differing period lengths included in the calculations resulted in an inconsistent set of returned values influenced, in large part I believe, by the additional input value of the longer period length. Thanks again for the suggestion. Will keep looking for other approaches to solve what should be a relatively easy rule.

    watch list
    I notice my autotrader only trades whats in my portfolio, the watch list its not trading out of. do I got a bug.

    Make sure your MAX TRADES is high enough to include more symbols.
    Also, if a position is not trading in the watch list, it shows the reason it is not trading on the far right of the screen.

    I don’t think there is any way the software can differenciate between any of the stock symbols. If the are anywhere on your screen in the trader then they are far game as long as the open position rules pass.

    Enlightened

    it basicly wont show them on the trader unless their in my portfolio with the box checked to add portfolio to watch list. then it will trade them, the watch list to the right shows 6 but only thing I just changed is increased to 50.00 or less since noticed only trades out of portfolio. now shows 8 in watch list none shows on the trader except if I add to portfolio. this is the standard dow 30 strategy didn’t do anything to modify. tried updating now to developer version, seams to load slower. will see in morning if starts and runs normaly, froze a few times with upgraded version. other ran good just only used out of portfolio. shows the standard 6 , I might be missing something basic, like if it loads the watch list to the trader when markets open. etc. ran for last couple weeks good just out of portfolio.

    oops meant to say dow long for simulating $50,000.00 .

    Look at the menu bar at the top of the trader when it starts and see if there are symbols in the EXCEPTIONS folder. That is where all symbols go until data is streaming.

    Also click on the BLOCKED list and make sure you do not have the other symbols blocked.

    If they are not in the exceptions list and they are not blocked then they should all load into the watchlist at the bottom of the trader.

    If they are not loading, send email to TechnicalSupport@cool-trade.com and get a tech to look at your system.

    Hedge

    loaded must load symbols when market starts. learning phase, glad

    Strategies for playing the VIX
    Can anyone here suggest a strategy for playing the VIX, More specifically I would like to play
    these:

    SVXY TVIX VXX

    This is the strategy I came up with for play the VIX . b These our the symbols on my watch list:

    PSQ RWM SQQQ SVXY TBT TVIX UVXY VXX VXZ XIV

    There’s the strategy. Any suggestion would be appreciated:

    Martys VIX Volutility Play
    Modified .


    Default Strategy: No
    Trade Shares: 100
    Max Shares: 500
    Profit Goal: 1.01 Per Share
    Max Symbols: 6
    Profit Pullback: 0.05 Per Share
    Max Range: 10.00
    Start Profit Protection: 0.50 Per Share
    Minimum Interval: 0.50
    Max Ask-Bid Range: 0.02
    Stop Loss: 300.00 Per Share
    Start Opening Positions: 06:30 AM
    Trailing Stop Loss: 300.00 Per Share
    Stop Opening Positions: 12:45 PM
    ReEntry Pullback: 1.50%
    Start Closing Positions: 06:30 AM
    Stop Closing Positions: 12:58 PM
    Close Positions at EOD: No
    Close Reached Goal Positions: 12:50 PM
    Close Up This Amount Value: 12:55 PM
    Profit Amount$ 50.00




    WATCH LIST RULES


    Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than 30 Dollars
    Yesterdays Close Price is Greater Than 15 Dollars
    Yesterdays Volume is Greater Than 3000000 Shares
    Average True Range%(14) is Greater Than .5
    Yesterdays Close Price is at least 20 Percent Less Than _
    Highest Price During Previous 200 Days
    Percent Change Since 2 Days Ago is Less Than 2
    Historical Volitility is Greater Than 10


    OPEN POSITION RULES


    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price
    Price 4-Minutes Ago is Less Than Todays Current Price
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Low Price
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Todays Open Price
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Price 5-Minutes Ago
    Todays Open Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price


    ADD TO POSITION RULES


    ABS(My Same Symbol Lowest Trade Price Move) is Greater Than _
    Value of My Same Symbol Highest Trade Price % ( 6 )
    Price 4-Minutes Ago is Less Than Todays Current Price
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Low Price
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Todays Open Price
    Todays Current Price is Greater Than Price 5-Minutes Ago
    Todays Open Price is Greater Than Yesterdays Close Price


    EXIT RULES

    You need about $95,000 to run this strategy.

    PSQ RWM SQQQ SVXY TBT TVIX UVXY VXX VXZ XIV

    PSQ 100 shares X $58.92 = $5892
    RWM 100 shares X $15.59 = $1559
    SQQQ 100 shares X $29 = $2900
    SVXY 100 shares X $65.32 = $6532
    TBT 100 shares X $46.79 = $4679
    TVIX 100 shares X $2.53 = $253
    UVXY 100 shares X $22.95 = $2295
    VXX 100 shares X $29.90 = $2990
    VXZ 100 shares X $12.69 = $1269
    XIV 100 shares X $33.22 = $33.22

    The 10 prices added up = $316.91 / 10 = avg price of $31.69
    $31.69 X 100 shares = $3169 for each symbol
    $3169 X 6 stocks = $19,014 [needed to start buying 6 positions]
    $19,014 X 5 Lots max each = $95,070 [funds needed if all lots opened]

    I don’t see where all of those symbols came from.
    When I enter the watchlist rules into my strategy wizard I only get these 3 symbols:

    EWA
    MGM
    OCN

    Hedge

    Those were hand picked symbols.

    ARe those Nasdaq companies? would those rules work for a dow 30 strategy? Id like to trade BAC,HAL,NEM for now & I have 20000. Thanks.

    ARe those Nasdaq companies? would those rules work for a dow 30 strategy? Id like to trade BAC,HAL,NEM for now & I have 20000. Thanks.

    I don’t know Pete. Try them in test mode (paper trading) and see how you do.

    Show Trades vs Positions Info
    My trader this morning shows it has bought 4 stocks and sold 1 in the show trades window. However, only 1 bought stock is showing in the Positions log.

    This is my first day of live trading using TD Ameritrade. I checked my TD account and it is showing only the one purchase as well.

    During simulation the information was always the same in both areas.

    Over 1 hour has passed since the trades were made.

    Does anyone know the cause of this or what actions I should take?

    Thanks, Dennis

    I believe the software is constantly reconciling with the broker and it may have seen positions that were not there and it just cleared them off so they look like trades. But, only the trades that went to the broker matter. Once you are live, only go by the reports at the broker.

    If you are concerned then send a picture of your screen that shows the 4 trades to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com and see what they say.

    Enlightened

    Thank you for the reply. It was comforting to know what to expect.

    With my first day of live trading I wanted to make sure everything was operating as expected.

    Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution?

    This continues to be a problem. The trader shows trades but TD does not acknowledge every receiving them.

    I have been in touch with CT tech support and he took over my computer and tried a number of things, but none of them solved the problem. He said he would need to talk with some other people at CT.

    Yesterday, 12/26, my trader showed a buy and a sell order, but neither showed up in TD.

    green guy


    green guy


    Backtesting Strategies Website
    Here’s a place to go to Back test your Strategies.



    Poll: Desirability of BackTesting
    Are you in favor of CoolTrade developing way for users to easily Backtest their strategies?

    I was trying to created a Poll but can’t figure out how to do it. I clicked "Attach a Poll" and it didn’t do anything.

    I know this thread is old, but yes CoolTrade would be 10x better if it supported backtesting.

    I would have agreed at one time, I thought the same thing.

    Then one weekend I decided to investigate it further and found some free back-testing websites. I must have spent 20 hours that weekend coming up with some back tests that created a high return. Then I set up one of my 2 traders to simulate that strategy going forward for a month. That strategy lost money in the next 30 days and I shifted my thinking from that point on. I sure thought if I could back-test a strategy it would be a guaranteed winner but that just isn’t the case.

    Try if for yourself, you can find free back testing websites on Google.

    Bob

    I firmly believe that CoolTrade should run all of the listed strategies so we, the users, can review them and see what works. Anyone who is an investor has heard many times that "past results do not guarantee future performance" mantra. But if we could review strategies that seem to be working based on parameters being run in a live simulation that would help a lot.

    So yes, a thousand times yes!

    good stratagy for 50-100k
    Hello all.
    I have been simulating for the last 2 weeks and most of the offered strategies seem to end up in the red at the end of each day. I realize it may take a few days to run and make a profit... well long and short of it is that it is kind of discouraging that cool trade does not offer council concerning strategies and even more disheartening is that after searching through this message board it seems that others are not very prone to sharing strategies either... Not trying to be negative, but what’s up with that? What’s the reason for the secrecy?
    I have tried simulating with the top user cynthialarmore2 and that one seems awesome with the right amount of capital.
    I’m hoping that I can essentially retire off from cooltrade in the next 3 years....

    I have been using CT now for over a year - just use the Dow30 long strategy (MSFT, HPQ, BAC,GE, CSCO, AA, INTC, added MU late in year) for $50,000.

    Made very few changes after copying strategy - increased number of shares per position from 100 to 200. Played around with profit margins. Am an unprofessional trader and ended year with return of $12,600 before trading costs versus Dow 11.3%. I’m sure if had taken some training could of returned more.

    Biggest challenge was not touching anything when you were in a down market. Biggest reward letting it work for you. There was one day at six months I was breaking even and ready to look at new strategy, but stayed the course.

    Biggest regret - used TD Ameritrade at $10/trade for year. Just transferred to Interactive Broker.

    Thanks a lot!
    I appreciate your thoughts.
    I think the reason most don’t share their "good" working strategies is because of the company robotic advisors. I am strongly thinking of having them help me with a strategy since the cost is only $250 to get set up. I do understand why someone would not want to share their strategy if they pay money for it to be set up.
    J

    Hi Guys, I looking to start off with $50,000 and wanted to see what you all thought. Looks like the $50k strategy is adding on 5% dips. Just wanted to see how your strategies did and if you’d share, or if I need to talk to a robotic trader person?

    You can contact Robotic Trading Advisors at info@roboticadvisors.com. They are not related to CoolTrade and can provide advice. I found a contact number on the website www.roboticadvisors.com.

    Hi Terri, how did that advice go for you when you contacted Robotic Traders? I’m still running in simulation mode. First couple months did the DOW 30 with $25,000 and did okay pulling in like $500 after two months.

    Right now I’m running the DOW 30 for $50,000 and have pulled in over $1,000 over one month so just a hair over 2% rate of return if you take the $1,000 / $50,000 so that is pretty awesome so far.

    To be honest, that rate of return is understated because I don’t even have $50,000 fully in as it typically had like $15,000 to $22,000 in at any one point. BUT, since I pretend to have $50,000 in that strategy and that will be the amount I start with it’s tied up so that is how I’m calculating my rate of return.

    I didn’t take into consideration whatever my inventory of stocks were at as to me it’s kinda irrelevant and unless I was to cash out.

    I have 4 traders running several variations of an aggressive strategy I downloaded from the community. My top performer did exceptionally well, after building up a reserve I started using a margin account and further enhanced the results. I created an excel spreadsheet to track daily returns and calculate trading fees.
    In the past year I have seen some amazing months and some not so amazing months, so finding something that performs fairly consistent month after month is key.
    I generally don’t share my strategies because I don’t want a novice to download something I may be testing that may or may NOT work.

    I have 4 traders running several variations of an aggressive strategy I downloaded from the community. My top performer did exceptionally well, after building up a reserve I started using a margin account and further enhanced the results. I created an excel spreadsheet to track daily returns and calculate trading fees.
    In the past year I have seen some amazing months and some not so amazing months, so finding something that performs fairly consistent month after month is key.
    I generally don’t share my strategies because I don’t want a novice to download something I may be testing that may or may NOT work.

    I have 4 traders running several variations of an aggressive strategy I downloaded from the community. My top performer did exceptionally well, after building up a reserve I started using a margin account and further enhanced the results. I created an excel spreadsheet to track daily returns and calculate trading fees.
    In the past year I have seen some amazing months and some not so amazing months, so finding something that performs fairly consistent month after month is key.
    I generally don’t share my strategies because I don’t want a novice to download something I may be testing that may or may NOT work.

    good stratagy for 50-100k
    Hello all.
    I have been simulating for the last 2 weeks and most of the offered strategies seem to end up in the red at the end of each day. I realize it may take a few days to run and make a profit... well long and short of it is that it is kind of discouraging that cool trade does not offer council concerning strategies and even more disheartening is that after searching through this message board it seems that others are not very prone to sharing strategies either... Not trying to be negative, but what’s up with that? What’s the reason for the secrecy?
    I have tried simulating with the top user cynthialarmore2 and that one seems awesome with the right amount of capital.
    I’m hoping that I can essentially retire off from cooltrade in the next 3 years....

    We have been running the DOW 30 Long strategy and it has been working very well for us. We are looking to run a secondary strategy using the cynthialarmore2 since we simulated this strategy last year and had success in simulation mode.

    cool trade has never made a profit
    I have been running cool trade for a year in stealth mode, it has never shown a profit, I also paid 1500 dollars to Nick Rouch which was supposed to give me guidance on strategy’s . I made several appointments with him which were never kept but was called back out of the blue and told he would call at another time and never did .

    Curious what strategies you have tried. I have only been using CT for a month and it has been profitable in both simulation and live mode.

    I don’t know who Nick Rouch is.

    Here to help if I can.

    Dennis

    what strategy are you using Dennis & can you give me your name on the strategy wizard so I can copy it to simulate if you dont mind.
    Thanks
    Pete

    Pete my strategy name is denisfunk@hotmail.com.

    Would love to speak with you.
    Send me an email at dennisfunk@hotmail.com if willing to talk.

    Thanks,
    Dennis

    Shortly after I posted my complaint my program has been shut down and will not work.
    I rotated thru at least 10 to 15 strategies and went farther and farther in the red.

    Sounds like you should join us on Saturday so you gain an understanding on what CoolTrade and a Stock Trading platform is in relation to your chosen strategy. Take some time to this Saturday so you can hear other CT subscriber questions. Information below.

    You would also want to contact Robotic Trading Advisors (this was where you contacted Nick) at info@roboticadvisors.com to speak to this 3rd Unrelated party to CoolTrade regarding suitability and strategy advice. I found a contact number on the website

    phil
    when c.t. turns on in morning it shows 3 symbols when I have it set for 4 symbols. I have to rebot it to fix the problem. how can I fix this.

    You should probably contact tech support for that, doesn’t sound like something a fellow user here could help with. Might have some virus or adware or anti-virus program interferring.

    Send them an email to technicalsupport@cool-trade.com

    Bob

    Percentage move impact
    My knowledge of trading stocks is quite limited, so I am hoping someone in this community can tell me if my thinking is correct or am I missing something.

    I have been running the $1 - $2 strategy with a profit goal of 15 cents per share. The 15 cents equates to a 7.5 to 15% move in the price of the stock. I have no idea if this considered a small, medium, or large move for a stock.

    If one takes this same strategy but changes it to a $2 - $3 share price, the percentage move would now be 5 to 7.5%. Therefore, it seems like the opportunity to reach the profit goal would increase. I realize this would reduce the number of shares one would be able to buy with the same amount of money.

    My questions:

    Do lower percentage moves normally equate to increased trades?

    Does anyone have experience doing this or something similar?

    Are there any other considerations in making a change like this?

    Thank you in advance for your response.

    FB Strategy
    I like what I see in the FB strategy. However, wanted to make sure my understanding and thought process is correct. I trust someone in this community can verify, negate or clarify the below information.

    At a price of $75 per share, 500 shares would require $37,500.
    With a 2/1 margin would the requirement be $18,750?

    If so, with $40,000, only two trades could be held at any one time.
    Is this correct?

    Are the numbers totally scale-able based on number of shares purchased, i.e. 100 shares would require $3750 or $1875 on 2/1 margin?

    The gross profit would be reduced by one fifth on 100 shares vs 500 shares?
    I realize the broker commission would be a larger percentage of the profit on fewer shares per trade.

    Are the above calculations correct?
    Are there other considerations?

    Thanks.

    Based on my experience:

    At a price of $75 per share, 500 shares would require $37,500.
    With a 2/1 margin would the requirement be $18,750?
    Correct.

    If so, with $40,000, only two trades could be held at any one time.
    Is this correct?
    correct. 2 lots of 500 shares each.leaving you 2500 in cash minus commission charge of course.

    Are the numbers totally scale-able based on number of shares purchased, i.e. 100 shares would require $3750 or $1875 on 2/1 margin?
    For 100 shares $7500 will be required, with 2/1 margin $3750. Yes the share purchase is scale-able in 100 share increments.

    The gross profit would be reduced by one fifth on 100 shares vs 500 shares?
    correct.

    I realize the broker commission would be a larger percentage of the profit on fewer shares per trade.
    correct. smaller the per lot size smaller the profits.

    One other thing that I would consider is-- In your example of $20,000 with 2/1 margin will give you total buying power of 2 lots of 500 shares each. However, if the price were to decline say to $62. depending on . your broker you may receive a margin call asking you to deposit additional funds or liquidate some of your share.

    Thanks typeztrader for your response. It gave me a greater confidence in my understanding of the numbers and margin.

    Puget Sound CoolTraders Support Group
    I and a friend are starting up a CoolTraders Support Group for the Puget Sound Region. We will have monthly meetings where we can discuss ideas about Cooltrade and the Strategy Wizzard. If you are interested in being part of the group please contact me:

    martyfrancom@comcast.net

    Hi

    I am interested in your support group. I live in Sammamish. My e-mail is chuckneir@comcast.net.

    Hello Chuck,
    Thank you for your interest. So far I have 3 people interested.
    I live in Bremerton, Mark lives in Bellevue, and you live in Sammamish.
    I am hoping to get a few more people. Then we can decide on a
    convenient location. Probably on the east side (Bellevue maybe).
    If you know of anyone else please encourage them to contact me

    I am interested in a Support Group in Puget Sound. I live in Skyway/Renton area. I will email you.

    I started CT last week and have been wandering the various Cool Trade / Interactive websites. I just started exploring the Forums. I would also be interested in sharing some ideas/ experiences, etc. I am located in Richmond Beach, in the NW tip of King County.

    Glen

    cost_ eval@comcast.net

    I would like to be available by email/Phone. i don’t live in your area but would like to share ideas and thoughts.

    rfpulcrano@aol.com

    Hi Marty,

    I would like to be in the group too. I’m new less than 1 week but am an Accountant and good with spreadsheets and numbers.

    My name is Neal and my email is... nealsbusiness@yahoo.com

    Hey guys, glad to see another support group starting up. I am in the Atlanta area but would be willing to share my experiences with you all and maybe give you some ideas on strategies that are working for me. I am currently running four platforms with different strategies on each. Thanks and good luck. Troy

    Probably would have helped to post my email. woodtradingfirm@gmail.com

    I suggest creating a meetup at

    MACD And Stochastic: A Double-Cross Strategy
    Anyone using the following: MACD And Stochastic: A Double-Cross Strategy. Looking for someone willing to share there CTP Strategy description.

    Looking for two popular indicators that work well together resulted in this pairing of the stochastic oscillator and the moving average convergence divergence (MACD).

    MACD and Stochastic: A Double-Cross Strategy
    Anyone using the following: MACD and Stochastic: A Double-Cross Strategy. Looking for someone willing to share their CTP Strategy description.

    Looking for two popular indicators that work well together resulted in this pairing of the stochastic oscillator and the moving average convergence divergence (MACD).

    Have you received any help or know how to do it now? I want to use this strategy but did not know how. Cool Trade is not provide any help!

    CoolTrade User Tip of the Week - Webinars
    Did you know that included with your paid subscription to the CoolTrade Stock Trading platform you have free access to Saturday Live workshops? Watch the short clip below to see how to Register for free, what is covered during the live Q&A, Webinar times and even how to opt out after you attend.

    Mr. Rogers CoolTrade Tip of the Week:



    DAY TRADER
    DOES ANYONE HAVE A DAY TRADING STRATEGY? t
    THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

    Watch List and Book Value
    One of the indicators I would like to use in my watch list is BOOK VALUE PER SHARE But I don’t seem to be able to find it in the list of available indicators. Does it available to use?

    What I want to use in finding stocks for my watch is this:

    Yesterdays Close Price is Less Than Book Value Per Share


    Is that possible to do with CoolTrade ?

    Denver CoolTrade Meetup just started today
    I’ve just started a new CoolTrade Meetup group for the Denver Metro area. You can look it over at

    Trader not making trades
    My Trader recently has not been able to execute trades on my brokerage account. I turned on the trade alerts so I get emails of the buy and sell orders but they never get executed on my brokerage account. Any Ideas? I use TDAmeritrade.

    If you have not already simulate using the TD Ameritrade log in and data feed to make sure it is logging in property.
    If you shut down your computer the trader will not trade. (get a cloud)
    Your trader should open and start when the markets open if your computer is set up properly.
    Contact tech support to make sure you are set up properly.

    Trader not making trades
    My Trader recently has not been able to execute trades on my brokerage account. I turned on the trade alerts so I get emails of the buy and sell orders but they never get executed on my brokerage account. Any Ideas? I use TDAmeritrade.

    How did your Stocks Do?
    What Cooltrade strategy is used to compute "How did your Stocks Do? " on the Cooltrade Home Page?

    Not 100% sure however it is most likely a very basic long strategy $10-$25 drops.

    It is a simple Buy 100 shares on $1 drops and sell on $1 increases.
    It is the original Dow 30 strategy created by the Sun City West, AZ Investment Club.
    It is the foundation of the current Dow 30 strategies that are optimized for specific account balances.

    That strategy proved that adding on drops and taking profits LIFO destroyed the returns of those selling losing positions with stop losses.

    Enlightened

    Thanks so much as I was curious about that as well.

    Account Value Discrepancies in Simulation Mode
    I’m trying to understand how Current Account Value is calculated. I am currently running in simulation mode with TD Ameritrade as my broker. I allocated 45,000 initial value with 2:1 Margin and limited cool-trade to a max of 50,000 regardless of account value.

    Since the simulation began a week ago, the closed trades indicates 767.79 in profit. The current open positions values are a total (p/l) of -351 (at the time of writing this). Which would be a total profit of 416.79 if I sold all open positions.
    So, with a starting value of 45,000, I would expect that the current value would be 45,416.79. But CoolTrade is reporting the current account value as 44,970.

    So, how is CoolTrade handling this in simulation mode? Why is there this discrepancy?

    I have looked through other similar commentaries, but none seem to address this directly. And none have an answer as to why the (original account value + total closed positions P/L + total open positions P/L) does not equal Current Account Value.

    Or is a different calculation used by CoolTrade to determine account value?

    So you are off by about $47?

    How are you figuring the value of your open positions? I would think if you are in positions long you would figure the bid price x # of shares. Maybe they figure that with some algorithm since they execute market orders and those market orders will have some variance.

    CoolTrade is a robotic trader focused on executing strategy. When in simulation mode, there is no accounting ledger like a brokerage account will have. I’d focus on getting from cooltrade what cooltrade does - position executions. Making it an accounting program isn’t what they are trying to do.

    Bob

    I have to agree with you Bob. My complete focus is on letting my traders buy low and sell higher (all 100% unattended) and they do that excellently. Market was down today and my trader loaded up and it will be cleanup time when they rebound. NEM didn’t even waste any time in rebounding. I’m certainly not interested in counting change.

    However, I do feel inclined to report an observation when running in simulator mode. If a position is in the *Exceptions folder, it can throw the account value off because the software uses current prices and not previous day’s close prices to calculate the account value. Usually a symbol is in the *Exceptions folder because it is waiting for current streaming prices.

    Enlightened

    I think I need to clarify my original post. I know that cool-trade is not an accounting tool and I’m not asking it to do so. Though, I am trying to understand how the Current Account Value is calculated when running in simulation mode.

    When generating a report showing the total gains/losses of all sold positions, CoolTrade reported a value of 767.79 (profit). The total p/l estimated by Cool Trade of currently open positions at the time of the original writing of this post was -351. Which would mean that the Current Value of the Account should have been 45,000 basis + 767.79 realized profit - 351 potential loss = 45,416.79. But the application displayed the Current Account Value of 44,970. Which is a difference of 446.79.

    So, I’m trying to understand, whether CoolTrade actually sold stocks in simulation mode for the amounts listed in the report or not. Because based on the numbers, I am seeing a significant discrepancy between what the reports indicate happened vs what the account’s value is. Where did the 446.79 that was listed in the reports as realized profits go?

    Which is more accurate the Current Account Value listed (which I’m not sure how it’s being calculated) or using the Basis + Realized Profit/Loss + Potential Profit/Loss as the current account value to determine how much the strategy has earned. The discrepancies in values is significant and is making it difficult to determine whether the strategy is working or not. Did the strategy currently make 416.79 (based on the report’s closed positions profit/loss + open positions potential profit/loss) or is the strategy stagnant and not actually making any money because the Current Account Value is hovering at 45,000 (near the basis).

    Or does the simulator’s main page not update based on what the trade actually bought/sold for and so it’s values are not reliable. Since, there is a delay between making the order and it’s final execution (which can increase or decrease the profit/loss). Is the missing 446.79 due to that discrepancy and lack of accurate reflection, on the main page, of what the positions actually opened and closed for. Does the profit/loss on the main page represent what CoolTrade requested the order at and not what the order actually executed for?

    I believe it is the bid/ask prices on the screen that are throwing the numbers off.
    That in conjunction with the fact that the software does not update the account value every second as the prices change. The intent of the simulator is to show you a wide range to account for slippage. I say look at the worse numbers/results and it they show the strategy is making good money/profits then you’re ready to go live. Once your live the brokers numbers rule.

    Since you are not submitting orders then there is no slippage. It appears that cooltrade compensates for that by logging the current bid/ask price on the screen at order execute time and then when it logs the order in the database (a few seconds later) it uses the new bid/ask prices. I’ve read on these boards that simulated fills are done at the worse possible bid/ask prices so you don’t expect to get filled at the best prices in live mode.

    Hedge

    I think what would help is if Cooltrade would keep a journal/ledger of all trading activity. I would like this journal kept in a CSV file so that the file could be loaded into a spread sheet. These are the data elements (columns) I would like to see in the journal.

    Transaction Time
    Stock Symbol
    Action (Bought/Sold)
    Price
    Quantity
    Total $Amount
    Profit Goal
    Profit/Loss at Close

    This would be a perpetual journal, but the user would have the option of saving the journal and creating a new journal. I would do this monthly or quarterly.

    I don’t know if corporate tracks requests here. there is a feature request section at the bottom of the community board main screen.

    If I change strategy, what will happen to my current bought shares
    I currently have a couple (100) of long BAC shares bought only have a 5k account...

    the share price has droppped alot and so the trader wont sell...

    Im stuck with what is a good strategy to use, as IB only allow 3 day trades.... so im stuck with ideas?

    If i change my strategy, what will happen to my current bought shares??

    Is anyone willing to share any info on this please?


    Thanks

    A

    If you change strategies, your BAC shares will still be in the account and start following the new rules in the new strategy.

    If you have $5k you should have only been adding on 10% drops so you would have enough funds to sustain at least a 50% drop in the stock price without running out of funds.

    Enlightened

    CoolTrade Workshop on Saturdays
    Free Live Introductory and advanced workshop. CoolTrade is taking an extra step to educate our existing CoolTrade subscribers. Please no prospects. This is a live Q&A session where you ask the questions regarding portal software functionality.

    Time: 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time / 9:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific Standard Time

    You may register for this Saturday workshop, February 7th at:

    Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/783191953

    You can also see the full webinar schedule at

    The Q&A sessions have been moved to Tuesday Evenings at 5PM PST (8PM EST).

    Mr. Rogers CT Tip of Week: CoolTradeUniversity
    Did you know there is a an entire website for current CoolTrade subscribers that contains not only your portal software Orientation Videos but also Stock Market 101-105 videos including How To Build a Strategy and Adding Stocks To Your Strategy.

    View this easy to follow overview of what is available at

    Big daily loss remedy!!!!!!
    question on a big daily market drop- can i stop trading my account??? i can see if not you could get caught with many stop losses that could add up to some serous losses- what can i do to stop this????

    how to build a MACD strategy with cooltrade
    I like to trade with a conbimed strategy with MACD and Osciliator. Anyone who knows how to set up with cooltrade system?

    Aslo, have anyone made significant money with cooltrade system? I have tried several strategies. They all can make some money but not significantly.

    Do we ever receive a real help?
    I have tried to set up a strategy to trade with combined MACD, Stochastic, RSI and Chaikins but go no where. Every time I asked the cool trade technician to help me to set it uu, they always responded that they did not provide advice about how to trade. I do not need your advice about how to trade. I just need to know how to set up technical indicators to trade.

    I have the same problem. I have also received the same answer and feel that we don’t get any help on setting up a strategy even if it is just setting the parameters correctly with the strategy and not any investment advice.

    The only help one seems to get is just how to setup the software. So, the software for all practical purposes has not been very useful for me.

    There a Saturday workshop webinar that will help:

    https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2840759079101770242

    Anytime I have had a technical issue and contacted support I have received excellent support, on the same day.

    Entering rules in the strategy is very easy. The problem is that strategy related questions tend to require subjective reasoning and when someone loses money with a strategy they wanted, they might say "hey - then tech created that".

    People always start out saying "I just wanted to know how to enter this simple rule", but then the discussion ends up having the tech create a lot more. That is because the automated strategy has so much available that one simple rule by itself does not make a strategy.

    I strongly suggest you watch Eric Rogers Saturday webinar at noon EST and 9am PST for starters. Then post specific questions on the community board and many of us will help you. Just saying "no one is helping me" will not get anything done.

    https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2840759079101770242

    Enlightened

    enlightened.investor:

    You are right, I too have received very quick and effective response for technical questions. Kudos to tech support!!

    The issue is with the strategy creation help. I have couple of killer strategies that have been working for me for years--manually. . I am a seasoned trader with a whole lot of technical experience and have programmed in various platforms including trade station.

    However, have not been able to duplicate my manual strategies and put it in practice using CT. Tried but they don’t seem to work the way they should and don’t get any help from CT.

    I have attended couple of Sat seminars some times back; they seemed to only cover canned strategies and geared towards getting you up and running. Looking forward to attending today’s and see if things have changed.

    The chatroom (top right of this screen) has a feature where you can bring up your strategy and discuss it. If you would like me to enter the chatroom and discuss your strategy with you, I would be happy to assist.

    Enlightened

    enlightened.investor
    Sure would love to discuss it on today’s (chat) session.


    BTW, I do think that the reasons given for not to help with the strategy creation is a cop out.

    The problem, that you mentioned, perhaps can easily be fixed by requiring a clear statement in writing from the person seeking help that he/she will not blame the company or the support for the help they receive. Period. I would be willing to sign such a statement and others may as well.

    Purpose of the CT is to help people make money. I would think that you among all, know that if a strategy does not fit some one’s style-- they won’t stick to it for long term and make the best use of the system.

    I think if CT provided more help in strategy creation-- the rewards can be tremendous for subscribers and CT. Because those of us with strategy ideas will be able to test, run, make money for ourselves. May be contribute our successful strategies and CT will be able to help its subscribers make money. Resulting in more software license sales and fulfilling its mission at the same time.

    As for me, the canned strategies have no published history to back them up. Only anecdotal evidence. To put any serious money behind any strategy for long term a serious trader would want to back test and forward test any strategy that they use especially for long term, which is given with CT, and know the reasons of success and failure and ranges of it’s performance. I would have to run each canned strategy for several years before I could put any serious money behind them.

    I have 6 successful strategies, that have worked for me for years. I would buy 6 more licenses of the software if I had confidence that I could program them into CT and they would function.

    I agree with what you are saying. I don’t work for them but I have visited their office multiple times over the years and see what they are up against. I can tell with all honesty it is not as black and white as you are saying. The stock market is a regulated industry and common sense rules do not apply. I’ve seen some statements like "that tech told me to do it that way...and I lost money!".

    I see the 3 year specials so there’s more than enough time to master the system without pounding on a pc technician. If you really want to master the system then do what I and other do and that is come to the community board and answer questions that you may be able to answer and read the other responses and you’ll know the ins and outs of this system in no time. Once you get it you will see how easy it is to do what you want.

    I’ll hang around the chat room today and ring the doorbell when I see you. I may be away from my computer and if you ring the doorbell I won’t hear it because my computer doesn’t seem to have sound.

    enlightened

    enlightened.investor

    Sorry were not able to connect today. As voice on my computer also stopped working after I got on the call. So had to dial in. We can connect latter. you can email me @ typeztrader@gmail.com.

    As to the issue we originally started. I have noticed others also having similar issue that I am having. I am just trying to see if there is a solution.

    Typeztrader, would like to discuss trading strategies with you. completely understand your frustration. please reach out to me at rfpulcrano@aol.com

    Thanks

    Richard

    I can appreciate how you feel. I recently had a similar issue and got this response from TS which makes sense in light of the big SEC gorilla breathing down their necks:

    "I can’t give any suggestions on how to change or modify a strategy. Support techs do not have a Series 65 license and so would be unable to advise on strategy/investment related issues."

    Trust me, staying on the sunny side of a government agency like the SEC is wise and prevents red flags to attract them.

    TS suggested the community forum which isn’t constrained by SEC rules as much. It works.

    When I purchased CT license, I was under the illusion that it was "Plug and Play" - that it was 3 Step - "Download Software, Select a strategy, Walk away." I did not understand "Select a strategy" was so difficult. The advertising said a child could do it. In two months CT has done nothing but lose money (in simulation) - sometimes over $1,000 a day, sometimes a profit of $250 with 139 trades (the broker fees would have been immense). Every strategy that I have tried has made a few dollars, occasionally, and lost a lot more. All I see is red bars in the P&L, rarely, a blue one.

    Obviously, I am not qualified to use the CT and there is no help getting it set up to work properly. I only encounter that "SEC Compliance" response. I read the community board but only understand a small fraction of it, so that is of little help.

    I suppose I would have to pay a serious amount of money for someone to guide me in making the platform preform as advertised - if that even exists.

    Anyone have any ideas on what I should do? Other than step three- "Walk Away.??"

    Suggest you look at this post. It basically says to run the default strategy based on your account value:



    I am also in the same position... intraday indicators not working fine... no help ...i am getting...

    I am also in the same position... intraday indicators not working fine... no help ...i am getting...

    We, on this board, can help with stock strategies and trading and indicators as we are not regulated by the federal goverment and SEC.
    There are lots of ways to use each indicator and the tech is not authorized to tell you how to use the indicators.
    However, we on this board are not regulated so if you have a specific question about some indicator someone on this board probably knows how to use it. I know I’m not an expert on all indicators but I know some. What I don’t know I’m sure others do.

    How may I help you?

    Hedge

    I also notice that more meetup.com groups are popping up all over the country.
    I suggest seeing if one is in your area and joining. If there isn’t one then its easy to create one and promote it on this board. I notice that Ed is going to the scottsdale meetup group this weekend. I found it on the

    @jsmyth, I am also a new member of Cool-Trade but am very much wondering how you are having an issue with strategies when that is part of the setup. Select one that will resemble your account balance and let it ride. I have not seen anywhere near the losses you are claiming to have. I have four platforms running simulated. One at 100k, another at 50k, and two at 5k. None of them are posting big losses. Only one of the 5k accounts is showing a lower account value. Mainly because I am playing with the strategy. You can always reset your sim account and start with a new strategy. This option is on the Login screen.

    Just a tip; there are many successful strategies that have already been created, so complicating matters to create your own is really not necessary. I have 4 traders that I use to test configurations of the same strategy. So if you have a winning strategy I can simulate side by side while making slight changes. If the NEW strategy performs better than the old download the changed strategy. This is awesome software and should conservatively generate a 5 to 10% monthly return. My traders have done above average performance and I only made 3 critical changes to the strategy I downloaded.

    Just a tip; there are many successful strategies that have already been created, so complicating matters to create your own is really not necessary. I have 4 traders that I use to test configurations of the same strategy. So if you have a winning strategy I can simulate side by side while making slight changes. If the NEW strategy performs better than the old download the changed strategy. This is awesome software and should conservatively generate a 5 to 10% monthly return. My traders have done above average performance and I only made 3 critical changes to the strategy I downloaded.

    Just a tip; there are many successful strategies that have already been created, so complicating matters to create your own is really not necessary. I have 4 traders that I use to test configurations of the same strategy. So if you have a winning strategy I can simulate side by side while making slight changes. If the NEW strategy performs better than the old download the changed strategy. This is awesome software and should conservatively generate a 5 to 10% monthly return. My traders have done above average performance and I only made 3 critical changes to the strategy I downloaded.

    I want to start learning about shorting but the strategies posted are limited. Is there others that have a short strategy that they would share so I can have a starting position.

    I want to start learning about shorting but the strategies posted are limited. Is there others that have a short strategy that they would share so I can have a starting position.

    MACD, Stochastic Oscillator, RIS
    Anyone who knows how to set up a trade strategy with MACD, Stochastic Oscillator, RIS and chaikins, please contact me at global_sale@hotmail.com. Thanks

    Mr. Rogers CT Tip of Week: CoolTradeKB.com
    Mr. Rogers CT Tip of Week: CoolTradeKB.com
    Did you know that CoolTrade has an independent webpage that serves as an Easy Access page to our most frequently asked questions like ’how do I refresh for a new strategy’ or ’what if my computer is not launching CoolTrade in the morning - Task Scheduler isn’t working’?

    View the short 7 minute YouTube video highlighting the features of this very helpful webpage:

    Mr. Rogers Tip of the Week:

    IN THE RED
    I am a new user, just signed up. After a few problems we got the platform installed. However, I began losing money immediately - in simulation. I am using the "Trade with Cramer" strategy and would like to change strategies, now that I am - in simulation - down over 10k. Friday, the platform did not make a single action. I have not been able to locate the strategies, other than the five listed on the Strategy Wizard. Does any one know where the contributed strategies are located, so I can down load a new test run?

    Any help is appreciated - I’m really in the red, so far.

    I think the default DOW strategies are the best.
    However, you can click on OPTIONS next to any of the 5 strategies and click COPY STRATEGY.
    Then at the top of that screen you will see a dropdown list of email address.
    Those are the clients who have selected the top to share their strategies.
    If you click on any of those email names you can see all of their strategies.
    I sugggest you click on NEWUSER1@COOL-TRADE.COM or NEWUSER2@COOL-TRADE.COM and look at that CONSERVATIVE LONG STRATEGY. It has many great rules that will ensure the technical indicators are pointing in the right direction before opening a position.

    Enlightened

    "Selected Historical Rules Result in Zero Stock Symbols."
    What is causing this error message when I save on the Strategy Wizard:
    "Selected Historical Rules Result in Zero Stock Symbols."

    How do I correct what is causing this error?

    position closed in the negative
    Hello.

    I have been running live for 2 days after simulating for 2 months.
    Ctp is closing positions in the negative with no stop loss set. I don’t believe that it should do this... Is there a exit rule that I can use to enforce ctp to only close a positions once the profit goal has been reached? Should this even be needed with no stop loss set and the profit goal set at $1?
    LMK
    Jesse

    Sometimes a Profit Protection set too small will cause the stock to close at a loss if the stock reaches profit protection and then goes straight down.
    That would be one place to look.

    Also, so you don’t pick up late pre-market data you should not open or close positions at the instant the market opens. I have my start times sent to 9:45am. That may be too late for some, but I would not put it earlier than 9:35am for the open or close times.

    Enlightened

    Cloud services
    Just curious for anybody using the Cooltrader on a cloud service, if you are experiencing any software glitches, freezing up of the strategy wizard, etc. Thanks

    Cloud services
    Just curious for anybody using the Cooltrader on a cloud service, if you are experiencing any software glitches, freezing up of the strategy wizard, etc. Thanks

    reach out to: enlightened.investor
    enlightened.investor, if you could reach out to me by email address, I would like to discuss Cooltrade strategies with you and parameter settings. I’ve reviewed the full boards and you seemed to be the investor on this site the longest and the most astute on this system. thanks



    richard

    rfpulcrano@aol.com

    Conservative Long and Conservative Short
    Has any one tried Conservative Long or Conservative Short strategies in simulation or Live mode. Will love to share your experience, results and compare notes. I am running it for a while in simulation mode both long and short.

    If you do a search for "Conservative Long Strategy" many previous discussions will come us as that strategy has been around for a number of years.

    Here’s a good one:



    Cooltrade Users Group in Southern California
    Hello Fellow Cooltrader Users in Southern California,

    I’m looking for serious Cooltrader users in Southern California that would like to get together and discuss successful strategies and ways to increase our profits. Let me know if you are interested. I’m located in the Santa Monica area.

    Thank you,
    Bill

    Residual Positions/Symbols
    Has anybody found an effective way to trade residual positions/symbols when actively trading and switching strategies. Example: Using Dow 30 or other multiple symbol strategy and then switching to a single symbol strategy like BOC or FB. If there are Dow 30 positions left in my portfolio and now I have FB loaded, I’m told by Technical Support that the residual symbols will trade using the same rules as the new strategy that is now loaded and in the watch list.

    I was able to match residual symbols on CoolTrade with the positions being shown in my portfolio in my brokerage account using the great advise provided by Technical Support(thanks guys). They are now showing up on the dashboard and are actively being monitored in trading halted status.

    I know I can manually trade to close a position but obviously not when it’s negative. I don’t want to babysit CoolTrade so as to manually close positive positions when they become available. I’d like to put my new strategy into effect with a clean slate.

    What now?

    Any suggestions anyone?

    The only thing I can think will work is if the single stock you want to continue opening/closing is outside the price range of the other stocks then you can create a rule in your open position and add to position rules that will only allow the single stock to trade.

    Example:

    FB is above 60 and the other stocks are priced lower.
    So create this rule (Current Bid Price is greater than 60).

    This will prevent those residual stocks from opening new lots but still let them close if profitable.

    What I have done in the past when I change strategies, especially in the scenario you outlined, is block the open symbols out of CoolTrade and then set GTC (good til canceled) Limit orders at my broker for the residual symbols/lots.

    If I have 2 lots of XYZ that I blocked out, I create 2 limit order for those shares at a profit point I’m willing to accept.

    If my now old strategy has 5 open symbols with a total of 10 open lots I block the 5 symbols in CoolTrade and then create 10 limit orders directly at my broker.

    This might be an alternative if the new strategy has profit requirements that don’t align with my new active strategy.

    Bob

    You could do both of those ideas to handle the residual stocks.
    It’s all way to involved for my liking.
    Personally I would just close all of the positions (even at a loss) and go into my new strategy with a clean slate.

    Enlightened

    Cool Trade & VantagePoint software
    Has anybody tried using the VantagePoint Trading software that uses a Neural Network to project out the market (s) for the next three days, to optimize entry and exit points, and combining it with the Cool Trade System?

    Trading platforms interpretation of Rule
    This question is not about strategy, but about how the trader interprets a rule.

    I need help understanding a rule interpretation as my trader wouldn’t purchase this morning and I don’t understand why. The trader did not seem to have the same interpretation of the rule as I have.

    My trader is setup to only trade Facebook and it has been doing so very effectively for 2 months.

    I added the rule below to my Strategy Wizard under Open New Position Rules before the trader launched this morning. I had no current open trades for FB.

    "Todays current price is at least 0.50 dollars less than or equal to the calendar year high."

    The calendar year high for FB is $84.60. With the above rule, my interpretation is the trader would purchase FB at a price of 84.10 or less given the current calendar high of 84.60.

    Is my interpretation incorrect of this rule?

    I ask this because during the first 10 minutes of the market opening FB went to less than 83.50. More than $1.00 below the calendar high and stayed below $84.00 for the first 15 minutes.. Yet, on my trader under "Rule Preventing Next Trade" was the above rule I had added.

    I went back to my Strategy Wizard, removed my new rule, and relaunched the trader. The trader immediately purchased a position in FB which I fully expected it to do.

    So, my question is; Am I interpreting the above rule differently than my CT trader? If not, why did it not purchase? Again, it was saying the above rule was the rule preventing next trade.

    Remove the "or equal to" from the rule. It’s not needed and is confusing the calculation.

    I’m certain that will fix it.

    Enlightened

    How does CT treat pre-owned shares of FB if running the FB strategy?
    I’m running the FB strategy on 2 computers with 300 shares, and a total of 900. At times, I will buy FB on my own in the pre-, day, or post- markets. If I already own a block of FB pre-market, will CT treat it like any other shares and sell them if the price meets the FB strategy price, or would it ignore them as external shares and only buy/sell the shares it controls? And not that I would mind CT taking over the shares to sell them if the price is right, just can I "co-mingle" blocks of FB shares?

    Along the same lines, if CT is buying/selling blocks of 300 shares, will those pre-purchased blocks also have to be in blocks of 300 for CT to take them over, or will CT act on any blocks of 100?

    How does CT treat pre-owned shares of FB if running the FB strategy?
    I’m running the FB strategy on 2 computers with 300 shares, and a total of 900. At times, I will buy FB on my own in the pre-, day, or post- markets. If I already own a block of FB pre-market, will CT treat it like any other shares and sell them if the price meets the FB strategy price, or would it ignore them as external shares and only buy/sell the shares it controls? And not that I would mind CT taking over the shares to sell them if the price is right, just can I "co-mingle" blocks of FB shares?

    Along the same lines, if CT is buying/selling blocks of 300 shares, will those pre-purchased blocks also have to be in blocks of 300 for CT to take them over, or will CT act on any blocks of 100?

    The software buys/sells in fixed lot sizes.
    Once it owns a position in 100 share lots, then it will continue to buy/sell in 100 share lots. So if you already own 100 FB and go to the broker and buy 300 shares it will show up in the software as 4 lots of 100 each.

    However, the software will not load the position at all if the shares it finds at the broker are not divisible by the strategy share sizes.
    For example, if you are trading in 300 share sizes and you go to the broker and buy 100 shares then the software will think only a partial order was filled and wait for the other 200 shares to arrive.

    So to keep it simple, make sure you always buy/sell in the lot size specified by the strategy.

    Enlightened

    I'm new as well
    Also looking to see what a new member should do ? NorthAtlantictile did you end up using one of the suggested trades or did you find the best conclusion was to use Robotic Advisors? Tom

    I'm new as well
    Also looking to see what a new member should do ? NorthAtlantictile did you end up using one of the suggested trades or did you find the best conclusion was to use Robotic Advisors? Tom

    First impressions / strategy feedback request
    Hey everybody. I’m new to CT and overall I’m excited about using this potentially powerful tool. To get oriented, I watched all of the orientation videos. This helped me get a sense that the default DOW30 strategy dialed to portfolio size makes use of dollar-cost averaging to get in the market, and then picks off profits when possible.

    Second, I’ve read most if not all of the posts in the "Strategy" forums over the past 2-3 years. This has given me a better sense of a) what seems to work best among the people with the most experience with CT and b) the kinds of problems people (both with a little and a lot of experience in the markets and with CT) tend to have with CT.

    Third, I spent several hours copying and examining strategies from people on the community board. I focused on people who had something like "cooltrade" or "trader" or "broker" in their email addy, figuring these were more likely to be CT or trading pros/staff/associates or at least serious traders. There’s a lot of interesting ideas there.

    Based on all this plus whatever I’ve learned over the past year or so researching and trading various strategies, I’m creating a custom LONG and SHORT strategy combo designed around medium time frames, from a day or week to 2-3 months. I’ve got some watchlist criteria and I’m adding my own symbol lists.

    I’d love to hear any thoughts that any of you may have about these strategies, especially any potential leaky spots that could lead to large losses!! They’re at danielbmus@gmail.com (DB Long and DB Short).

    Thanks in advance and I’m grateful to have joined this community.

    Daniel

    Help How do I get the newest strategy wizard?
    Ive downloaded the developer version and tried to download the newest software (7.5) but that never works. I want to get the 7.5.110 strategy wizard so I can copy someones strategy but it isn’t on my version which is 7.5.108 so how do I get it? My watchdog is version 7.5.98 if that helps. Thanks.

    FILE->DOWNLOAD DEVELOEPER VERSION will bring up the most recent version. I just did it and got 7.5.118.

    Enlightened

    ok thanks Enlightened. Got it now.

    silly question but how often should we do this?
    Should not it do it automatically?

    When CoolTrade does a major update then the update is forced. However there’s no need to install the Developer version of the software unless you are working with a tech and are directed to do so.

    CT

    $2 and under Strategy with $5,000
    With the current market (April 2015) is there anybody that has fine tuned a $2 under strategy that is working well. If so, would you mine sharing it. If you are trading with more or less money, what would I need to be fine tuning considering I am working with $3000-$5,000.

    I am brand new in regards to the stock market, so any and all suggestions are helpful. I know the money I have to work with is not real good but I have to start somewhere.

    The default $2 and under strategy should already be optimized.
    You can copy it from NEWUSER@COOL-TRADE.COM

    Enlightened

    So the dollar amount of $3,000 compared to $5,000 should not make a difference?

    Strategy if Greece Defaults
    It appears that Greece is close to defaulting which of course will affect the market.

    Is there anyone working on strategy that has the potential to take advantage of the situation? If so are you willing to share it. Or at least share some concepts that would be helpful in creating a strategy?

    Greece is announcing it will default on June 5.
    Anybody have some strategy concepts that can be effective if this occurs?

    To Buy over 50% of trading Range
    If I want to buy only when any stock is trading higher than 50% of its trading Range for the day, can anyone tell me how to do this - what rule / indicator would work the best?

    Does this parameter define a price that would be at the 50% mark of its trading range for the day? " Intraday Top 4/8 of Candle Price ( 1,5,0 ) "

    Thanks.

    " Intraday Top 4/8 of Candle Price ( 1,5,0 ) "

    That is right for a 5 minute candle.
    I don’t think there is one for the current day.

    If you don’t mind the candle going into the previous trading day you could use a 300 minute bar. so you could see the mid point of the last 300 minutes:
    Intraday Top 4/8 of Candle Price (1, 300, 0)

    Thanks much.

    So if I only let it buy anything around the end of the day, say the last hour, then I could set that interval at 300 to 330 which would be 5 to 5.5 hours, and then the candle that it would be using would be very close to just that current trading day, right?

    Otherwise, in the first hour of the day it would be using the trading prices of the last 4 hours of the previous trading day, right?

    so I should have an rule like: "Last trade > Intraday Top 4/8 of Candle Price ( 1,300,0 )"

    - right?

    Thanks,

    Strategy for AT&T taking advantage of its 5.78% dividend
    Looking for a strategy to trade AT&T. AT&T traded in a 52 week range of $32 to $37.48. I would like a strategy that allows me to make the normal CT day to day trades and also have all money in on ex-dividend date to take advantage of the excellent and safe 5.78% dividend. I’m planning on $35,000 to $40,000 invested. Between 350 to 500 shares per buy. I’m thinking $.15 per share profit. I believe a ROI of 14% is a conservative target. I want to use this strategy for retirement income. Any ideas?

    Under What Circumstance can you lose money with CT?
    Somebody Please help me understand this.

    I am new to this and have been simulating for the past 2 months.
    I am wondering under what circumstances one can lose money with Cool trade.
    There reason I ask is because what I see so far is this:
    1- I pick a strategy
    2- It buys, holds and sells the symbols when conditions are met.
    3, buys some more.

    So it makes me wonder if that is all it will be doing whenever I decide to go live.

    If I just let it run the way it is right now without ever tampering with the set rules, does that mean I can’t lose money?

    Please I don’t know if my question is clear enough but I hope you get the point. Thanks.

    Hi sheeloo:

    You will make money if you have a profitable strategy. Has your 2 months of simulation shown you what strategy works for you and what is profitable?

    If you are unsure I suggest continuing with your simulations, tweaking your strategies, and learning how cooltrade works until you are more confident.


    opie

    $20,000 to invest
    I have $20,000 - well now $18,000 - $2K down with $2 and under strategy.

    Any proven strategies or consultation availables?

    thanks

    I have a Roth IRA that I’m working on getting over the $25,000 threshold for more frequent day trading and I’ve had good luck with the BAC strategy. In my opinion the $2 strategies are too hit and miss for my liking. With my smallish $15,000 account owning one symbol and being able to buy it down is perfect. It has been a steady producer for me for several months.

    Bob

    How do I download the BAC strategy? I am just very new to the whole stock investing stuff. Any help would be helpful from the experience folks. Thanks

    They have some instructions on their knowledgebase site. You can email their support team to find it, I don’t have it handy. I think they’re technicalsupport@cool-trade.com

    They also do a super helpful Saturday webinar designed specifically for newer users. You’ve GOT to do that once or twice. I wish they’d done that when I first bought my platform. I attended one about 6 months ago and even then still learned a couple things.

    You can sign up for that at www.cooltradeevents.com

    Bob

    Thanks Bob!

    Investment Club
    Any body using the CT system in an investment club like setting?

    Cynthialarmore2 Wizzard discrepancy
    When viewing the Cynthiaore2 strategy in the print summary of the strategy wizzard the trade shares of 100 and max shares of 1000 are shown. When I downloaded the strategy I noticed the trade shares and max shares were both set to 100. This of course would negate the add to position rules and prevent any purchases other than a single purchase of 100 shares. Anyone else notice this discrepancy and which is right?

    Hi gianopulos100

    This is easy to fix. Just change the max shares to 1000.

    Owen

    very aggressive strategy
    Can someone must’ve just been very aggressive but proven strategy ?

    runing BAC Strategy
    Hi All,
    I have been running the BAC long strategy for a little over a month now. It has made a good profit. I was wondering if any runs the BAC SHORT strategy at the same time as the LONG? It seems to make sense to make money on the way up and on the way down. I never run the SHORT and wondering if there is anything I really need to know before jumping in.

    Thanks!
    Amy

    I never short.
    If you are running the BAC long then more than likely you will always have open long positions. Therefore the long would never kick in anyways.
    Similarly, if you were shorting there’s a good chance you would always have a short position open and that would prevent you from ever going long.

    Remember a long position can only go down 100%, while a short can go up an unlimited (+5000%) amount.

    Enlightened

    Strategy quit working
    I simulated a recommended strategy for about 5 weeks and it did great. soon as I went live it quit producing winners and all positions are in the red and going deeper. At what point do I bale out and start over.

    That depends on your strategy.
    Before I open a position I already know I have enough funds to add to the position and close positions LIFO all the way to the bottom if necessary. Therefore I don’t care how far down the open positions go. What is important is that I continue to take profits forever.

    Enlightened

    I’m not getting any profits

    Dow 50,000 ?? A good strategy now?
    I am getting ready to go live but not sure what (prepackaged) strategy would be good with the market as high as it is now. ANY SUGGESTIONS???

    Hi, I’m on the same boat. Did you end up going live?

    Atlanta area Cooltrade User Group
    Hi Folks

    We are starting an Atlanta Area CoolTrade User Group. I live in the Lilburn area. We have 3 people so far. If you are interested send me and email.

    opie99@comcast.net

    Thanks

    Owen

    Opie,

    I believe Troy at woodtradingfirm@gmail.com just posted an interest in creating a meetup group in Atlanta.

    Please tell me Meetup name for the group. Thanks.

    -Martin

    Hi Hedge

    We are in touch with Troy.

    Thanks

    Owen

    Hi Martin

    We are not part of the Meetup website.

    Owen

    would be interested in learning more about your user group . please email me with more info . thank you

    would be interested in learning more about your user group . please email me with more info . thank you

    Hi lcsmick

    What is your email address?

    Owen

    Changing Active Stocks to a new strategy
    > moved from customer request area by moderator

    How do I move an active stock or stocks like from a long strategy to a short strategy?

    See this thread for previous response to this question:



    How do i set up Slow Stochastic Slow CT rules?
    I am in the process of setting up my rules, which are to be based on Stochastic. I am having a hard time understanding the codes on the entry and exit section. I would like to set separate entry and exit rules with ( Stochastic 12 %K3 %D5 ) on the crossover.

    I would appreciate any help!

    Thank you!

    -Tom

    Tom,

    If you click SEARCH on the community board menu bar and enter

    stochastic crossover

    it will bring up multiple threads where that has been discussed in the past.

    which broker is the best to use?
    Hi I just purchased the software and wanted to know which broker is best for use with Cooltrade?
    I know Ed prefers auto share and that the robot trader guy prefers IB.
    Any input would be appreciated....

    Been using IB with the tiered pricing and it’s averaging $0.36/100.

    Bid-Ask Spread
    Given the extreme volatility of late, I am noticing that my strategy is missing on buying stocks because of the spread between bid and ask pricing - I have tried spreads of 2 and 6 points. My watch list has a rule to select stocks that have trading volumes of at least 250000 shares per day so that there is a liquid market for the selected stocks. Even given this, I’ve noticed the daily spreads on volatile days to be upwards of 15 to 25 points. Any thoughts on spreads that others are using. I’ve given thought to using the current ask price to trigger long buys and making the spread a large number.

    Session Profit/Loss
    Thanks for your reply Hedge. Somehow I deleted the original post.

    Hedge -

    Can you review again the rules for ending session after achieving a specific profit amount.

    I believe you said the rule for long strategy would be "Session Profit/Loss Value is greater than 1000."

    Would the rule for short strategy be the same?

    What would happen if you are running both long and short strategy and the combined session is greater than 1000 but individually each strategy is not greater than 1000.

    Thanks,

    I don’t ever go SHORT.
    However, the SESSION/PL is based on the account value so it would encapsulate both long and short combined.

    Thanks again Hedge

    Dynamic Price Crossovers
    I’m looking to create rules to effect a dynamic crossover of the 10 period simple moving average.

    I’m thinking of coding the rules as such:

    Today’s Current Price is Greater Than Dynamic SMA (10)
    Price 1-Minute Ago is Less Than Dynamic SMA (10).

    I’m assuming that the "Price 1-Minute Ago" may not necessarily be the last trade price as other trade prices could be established in that 1 minute time frame assuming a fast moving stock. In that case, would I be better off coding rules as such:

    Today’s Current Price is Greater Than Dynamic SMA (10)
    Today’s Last Trade Price is Less Than Dynamic SMA (10).

    My issue is that I’m not sure if Current Price means the same as Last Trade Price or if Last Trade Price is truly the last established price before the Current Price. Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    IB Commission on $10000 BAC strategy
    Hello CT community,

    I plan to go to live trading with IB using the BAC strategy. I have not being able to figure out the cost of commissions on this strategy with IB. Could those of you who are using this strategy with IB please share your experience of the commission charges. Even if you have tweaked the strategy to suite your preferences please share ie 100 share lots vs 200 share lots. Thanks in advance

    all of my commissions for 100 share lots at IB are $1.02 to $1.04 A TRADE- MADE $1093 IN OCT. ON $25,000 ACCOUNT USING THE ACTIVE STARTEGY THEY DISCUSS IN THE WEBINAR- GOOD LUCK- BERTIE

    Exit Rules don't work
    My only exit rule for shorts is 10-day EMA goes above 50-day EMA, but it will often hold onto positions for many days of the 10 being over the 50. Any thoughts?


    days range strategy
    Hi everyone

    My strategy is to trade stocks when they brake the days range ..
    For example : the market opens and the stock start moving and the days range is 3.54-3.74 .. So what i do is short when it reaches 3.53 or
    Go long when it reaches 3.75
    So what strategy is this on the program ? Which strategy should i choose ?

    SHOW me the MONEY
    Anyone care to share their winning strategy or collaborate on developing an above average performing strategy. I have 4 traders running long and short strategies and other than human error they seem to be doing well. However I think with some additional input a very high preforming strategy could be developed. I believe 10 to 20% monthly return is achievable with a fine tuned trader.
    From the Wizard you can add me to your friends list.

    I bought the system earlier this year and have had nothing but issues running the program. With the latest update I was finally able to get it running today, but no stocks we bought Just sold some I had in the account) today. I have been trading for years, but I want to be able to let this run on my IRA. Would you be willing to help me out a little in getting this up and running? The guy I bought it from has used robotic advisors and is asking that I dish out another $250 to talk with them to set it up, but after spending the money for the software and paying $100 a month for realtime quotes through Interactive Brokerage I don’t want to spend any more $$$...

    Chris

    PowerBroker, Like you I believe that with some work 10% returns are possible but not easy. I would like to talk to you about putting together such a strategy. Send me an email at merr8bill@gmail.com and let me know how I can get in touch you.
    Thank you,
    Merr8bill

    PowerBroker, any success on a new strategy?

    Hi PowerBroker, yes i to am getting +10% per month returns, can we hook up please to compare notes, my email address is bobking2244@gmail.com thanks

    One Stock Strategies
    I hoping to get some chatter happening on this forum.

    It is way too quite compared to other forums ie real estate where people are consistently sharing and help others succeed.

    With that said I just recently went live using a single stock strategy with 20k. It is too early to post the results.
    I am treading the symbol TEVA. I just tweaked the FB and BAC strategy that come with the program.
    I have read others here traded NEM as well. I am also simulating MMM with the intention of going live with 35k next month.

    I would welcome others to share there one stock strategy here. Hopeful it help some to take a leap into the world of investing. If you trade two stocks please share that as well.

    Cheers

    The board is a lot more quiet than it was a few years ago. I think that is because when I started years ago there were few strategies and there was a lot more experimenting going on. There was a lot of old-school trading styles clashing but I would say since about 2009 or 2010 the new trading styles had proven themselves and so folks coming on board now are just running the default strategies and enjoying the same successes as those who created and fine-tuned those strategies.

    The FB strategy is good but should only be used with a $50,000 account and the shares should be tweaked to trade only 100 shares with 1000 max. Just my opinion. I think a $20,000 should only be trading a stock that costs no more than $10.00 per share.

    Enlightened

    Enlightened, thanks for your feedback. From the history of your and Hedge’s post you have offered very valuable views on the how the trader workers...mainly people have to simulate for an extending period of time to get to know the software. Very valuable advice. So after 8 months of simming I finally went live on Monday. What a week to go live! In a way I am glad this happened now as this is a great lesson on being patience.

    Could you share some possible stocks for a One Stock Strategy for the following amounts: I believe it was you who introduce NEM on the forum.

    $20K
    $30K
    $40K
    $50K.

    Others reading this please share your thoughts as well.

    Cheers

    TVIX

    Consider this.

    Research the symbol for a 3 year period so that you know the likely range it will trade at. Account for splits, reverse or regular.

    Be able to trade that symbol down 10 levels. Use the "Reserve enough funds" option. Don’t let your center of gravity get too high.

    Use the declining preferences pre-defined table in a fashion that will allow you to trade that symbol effectively in that range, allowing max spread and minimum initial purchase price for a lower range than would be expected.

    Proper positioning is key. Much like basketball, position is an important defense and the difference between a good play and a foul. If your symbol can get below your ability to trade it at, you’ve been beat to the basket. Symbols will run up and run down, you need to stay in range at your lowest lot. It may not trade every day, but you will always be in the range and some days you will trade several times.

    Research is key. BAC, NEM have a good history, but there are many good symbols.

    Ron

    I made a few changes to the generic strategy that comes preloaded and have been hitting some very high returns. I even developed an excel spreadsheet to track my results, had to recheck my math to make sure the numbers were real. I took into account broker fees, margin interest (if used) and I’m working on a tax calculation. I went live after one of my 4 traders hit $ 3,700 in 10 days on a 27k balance. That said if it took 12 months to do that I think most investors would be OK with those numbers.
    I found the one stock strategies are harder to track and very unpredictable.

    Hi Powerbroker. Would you be willing to share your strategy with rest of the community? Someone of us are not savvy at doing the technical analysis stuff to set the rules.
    Thanks

    I’m simulating a FB strategy substituting ROCK instead because it trades around $25. I trade 200 share lots on a $50K account. It’s returned $1300 in 30 days on 24 total trades. Beware, it has a sizable margin spread of about 0.06 which could affect results in active trading.

    Paradigm Shift Trading

    Hi all. I have been trading with NEM and doing pretty well. I have traded with a strategy from my trading advisor called high atr but when the market declined in January, I got caught and was down as much as 50% with only a portion of my account. My advisor said to stay in. I felt it was going to take a long time before I caught up so I sold at a loss. I have made up the money since then. I have also talked with technical support several times. Once, with the strategy I was given by my trading advisor, I was told one or two of my settings were "non-sensical". Funnny since I did not know what I was doing and was given the strategy by my "expert trading advisor" I think this is more of a learn by doing situation. Now I feel my advisor is just a salesman who probably does not even have an account. Anyways I am back again with NEM and doing fine. It is at about 27 per share now and my account is about 64k now. I am still trying to figure out how to find better stocks.

    Good luck.

    Profit Goal Did Not Kick In
    Hello,

    Jan 12 at 7:05 am the trader bought 100 shares of MMM at $140.83. Today the stock went as high as $142.44. My profit goal is set at .50 and profit pullback is .10. I have no rules other than the requirements in tab 6.

    Shouldn’t the trader have traded the stock at $141.33 or higher as the stock did close at $142.44. On Jan 11. the trader opened 3 positions and each was closed when the stock met the profit goal. Not sure what happened today.

    Do I need to tweak something? This is only in sim mode.

    Thanks

    Can only suggest you make sure the close position times in the strategy are set correctly to ensure the software can close the position before the market closes.
    I set the time on my trading machines to match that of the east coast and my close times are set to go until 3:58pm.

    Also just to be sure the software is the latest update I would click file-download dev version.

    Enlightened

    My start closing position is set at 6:30 am and stop closing position is set at 12:58 pm. These are west cost times.

    How often should I be down loading the dev version and after downloading do I need to make any adjustment in the strategy wizard and or on the TWS for my live strategy?

    Thanks for your response!

    Good Strategy to Start for $25k
    I’m new to CT, could somebody willing to tell me which one is the best strategy for new trader.
    Thanks

    Good Strategy to Start for $25k
    I’m new to CT, could somebody willing to tell me which one is the best strategy for new trader.
    Thanks

    You can copy the top strategies based on account sizes from newuser@cool-trade.com.
    There’s a $20k strategy that you can start with.

    Enlightened

    Thanks I will try

    Thanks I will try

    Thanks I will try

    Thanks I will try

    problems
    I have been trying to access <a href="

    I sent email to TechnicalSupport@cool-trade.com and go this to fix the permissions:



    My Strategy
    Hey whats up guys,

    I wanted to share a strategy with you all that I have been using.

    Its the 2.00 and under strategy I kept all of the technical indicators the same.

    Max symbols to be purchased 2

    1000 share lots. 3000 max

    In Tab 6 I changed up the Profits 10 cent profit goal. and 5 cent profit protection. Ride the stock up unitl it drops 2 cents then sell.

    800 dollars in 3 weeks off of a 10,000 dollar account in simulation mode.

    Thanks for sharing your strategy. And more importantly the results. When did you start this? Just curious if it was during the latest market turmoil.

    I started it on February 2nd. I’m guessing that was slightly after the big drops in the market?

    Tim
    I have several Traders going and would like to put your strategy in a side by side test if your game for that let me know.

    Tim can you update the community on how you are doing on your strategy. Thanks

    Hey guys.

    I currently only have one auto trader so I can only have one Strategy running at a time and am trying to test out different ones along the way. (Cooltrade is my first introduction to stocks) I am no longer running that particular strategy I posted, but if your interested in it feel free to use it. All of the the things I changed in it are in my original post.

    Hope this helps!

    Powerbroker if your interested in it. Shoot me an e-mail tim.whiddon@gmail.com

    Declining Preference did not work.
    In my live strategy I have the trader to set to buy 3 position of 100 shares each. The minimum interval is set at .30. Does this mean that the stock must drop by .30 cents before it buys a second position of 100 shares and another 100 shares if it drops again.

    If that is the case than I must be doing something wrong as today the trader only bought 100 shares and the stock dropped more than .50 cents and trader did not buy any more.

    Please let me know what I need to do.

    Thanks

    Stop Trading After Reaching Goal
    I would like to stop Cooltrader from trading after I reach a daily goal of $100 (example).

    I notice that there are several indicators that seem to address this:
    . Session Profit/Loss Value
    . Today’s Total PL
    . Today’s Net PL

    Has anyone used these indicators to accomplish my objective? If so, how are they used? Where would you place the rule - "Today’s Net PL equal to or greater than 100"?

    Under what circumstance would you use each of the above indicators?

    Thanks

    Support and Resistance - Trading Range
    Hello - I need help in figuring out how to configure a strategy that shows me stocks that are trading in a range - and has oscillated between resistance and support several times in that range. What CT eqations would be useful to identify such stocks

    UWTI
    On the last webinar Ed talked a lot about UWTI and I see that UWTI did a reverse split. Just wondering if it is a good time to add this to a strategy and if so what kind of rules would you set and most importantly what would tab 6 look like. Thanks

    Simulation mode concept?
    Is it possible to increase the $50K to 2.0M in simulation so I can demo 30-50 stocks just to see which stocks /sectors are doing good.
    I see I can get individual stock results by stock symbol for any timeline.

    Symbols within the proven strategies
    My question is regarding the proven strategies that I have downloaded from the newuser2 for $20k-long. The symbols that are within strategy, some of them are ETF’s(RUSL & BRZU). Can I still use these symbols to trade? Or, should I remove all those symbols within that strategy and use a couple symbols from the Top Active Trade Stocks list that are closer to the same stock price and have a two year history of moving a lot?

    how to change simulator strategy
    I seemed to have been successful changing the amount I was simulating from 10,000 to 60,000 dollars. Why does the main screen still list stocks that have not been puchased. Is it because I was using Top Stategies for $10,000 then switched to Top Long strategies for $60,000 amount midday?

    Crashes every time can't even see what the program is...
    Is there any way the program will load without showing the program stopping and shutting down?

    Thanks

    Crashes every time can't even see what the program is...
    Is there any way the program will load without showing the program stopping and shutting down?

    Thanks

    Crashes every time can't even see what the program is...
    Is there any way the program will load without showing the program stopping and shutting down?

    Thanks

    Sounds like you are having PC issues or the software isn’t installed correctly.
    I suggest you send email to TechnicalSupport@Cool-Trade.com for assistance.
    Those techs can remotely connect to your computer and fix it.

    Reserve function
    The new beta version has a ’reserved’ dollar amount, exact what does that do?

    New 'Reserved' function
    The new beta version has a ’reserved’ dollar amount, exact what does that do?

    TopActiveTrades Report
    Has Cool Trade listed anywhere on the web the TopActiveTrades Reports. If these top active strategies have been running for awhile why are they not listed similar to cooltrade.org/reports/ and cooltrade.org/reports/. This way we can the proof in the pudding.

    Opps the second one should of been cooltrade.org/traders/

    USERS GROUP SC & NC
    I attend the Atlanta Users Group monthly meeting, but would like to start one in Upstate SC/Western NC.

    CoolTrade has been very profitable for me and continues to be.
    These meetings would be focused on Strategy optimization.

    Send an email to dennisfunk@hotmail.com if interested in this meeting.

    You can see all of the CoolTrade meetup groups that are available all over the country at

    I plan to be there. Dennis is quite knowledgeable with his traders.
    This will be good.

    Rule definitions
    Hello, could someone please take the time to explain the following rules in simple laymen terms.

    A) Active Symbols trades all moves total is greater than 250

    B) Active Symbols trades .25 moves total is greater than 100

    C)Historical Volitility is Greater Than 50

    D)Average True Range(30) is Greater Than 0.5 Dollars

    Thanks

    I don’t have the answer for you but I am just now starting to look at the rules & understanding them, so I’ll be following your post. I hope someone can be of some help <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie17.gif’’ border=’’0’’>

    These two indicators were an experiment for the Active Trade strategy and are being removed soon as hey didn’t work out. You should remove them from your strategy:

    A) Active Symbols trades all moves total is greater than 250
    B) Active Symbols trades .25 moves total is greater than 100

    I don’t know what this is. I thing Historical Volitility is a standard indicator that you can google:

    C)Historical Volitility is Greater Than 50

    This one means that the symbol has averaged a $0.50 move each day over the last 30 days:

    D)Average True Range(30) is Greater Than 0.5 Dollars

    CT

    setting up autoshares account
    I new to online trading and stock market investment. I am setting up my autoshares account and they are asking" # of average shares/trade and # of trades per year. Is there a set amount for the program? I have no idea what to put in this box.

    since my trades are in 100 share lots the AVERAGE SHARES is 100 shares
    AVERAGE TRADES is 1000

    if you are using CT then those numbers sound about right.

    How does abraeish stock get to watch list for top long strategy ?
    This question is for Ed Barsano.

    Am simulating the top active trade 20k long strategy and have MRTX trading. This stock has been in a long and short term downtrend and is at a 5 yr low : it fell from $19 from June 1 2016 to a current price of $5.55 on June 27, 2016.

    Question : how does such a bearish stock wind up on a top long trading watch list ? Please clarify since it is important for us to understand.

    Thanks

    The top long strategies (created by other CoolTrade users) are shared as-is.
    If you want to add additional rules to only trade stocks that are in an up-trend, you can do that.
    I’m sure others have ideas for other rules too.

    Best of luck,

    Ed

    Strategy
    I am new to cooltrade and the stock market in general and a bit overwhelmed. I am curious if anyone has any proven strategies that earn a good return that they would be willing to share. I am starting with an account balance of around $5000. If not, can some one point me in the right direction of someone who can help me develop a strategy? This does not seem as easy as was advertised.
    Thanks in advance!

    On Balance Field Trend
    Hello

    I’m currently testing CT.

    I have a OnBalanceFieldTrend setup.

    It is like this:

    ObVol Field Trend (-2 Day) is at least -50 Percent Less Than ObVol Field Trend (-1 Day)

    But i am unsure if it is doing what i want it for???

    Can anyone help?

    Here is what i want:

    I want Volume of 1 day ago to be above volume of 2 days ago. I want to set a value of, say, 30%.

    Does anyone know if i’m on the right track here?

    Thank you

    Hello again

    Here i made a small change...

    ObVol Field Trend (-1 Day) is at least 100 Percent Greater Than ObVol Field Trend (-2 Day)

    It’s a little easier to understand.

    But i thought if the OBV 1 day ago is 100% greater than OBV 2 days ago.

    In other words, if on 2 days ago Volume was 20000 then yesterday it’d need to be 40000 for this rule to activate a trade...

    Can anyone understand? Do you know if i’m on the right track?

    Thank you

    Hope this answers your question.. I got this response from the support of the fmlabs-- the developer of the indicator package used in CT


    The breakout array is filled with the following codes: 1 = up, -1 = down, 0 = no breakout on this bar.
    The fieldtrend array is filled with the following codes: 1 = rising, -1 = falling, 0 = doubtfull.

    There is no timeframe as such. The OBV is cumulative. If today’s close is higher than yesterday’s, then today’s close is added to the OBV. If it is lower, then today’s close is subtracted from the OBV.

    Hope this answers your question.. I got this response from the support of the fmlabs-- the developer of the indicator package used in CT


    The breakout array is filled with the following codes: 1 = up, -1 = down, 0 = no breakout on this bar.
    The fieldtrend array is filled with the following codes: 1 = rising, -1 = falling, 0 = doubtfull.

    There is no timeframe as such. The OBV is cumulative. If today’s close is higher than yesterday’s, then today’s close is added to the OBV. If it is lower, then today’s close is subtracted from the OBV.

    Hope this answers your question.. I got this response from the support of the fmlabs-- the developer of the indicator package used in CT


    The breakout array is filled with the following codes: 1 = up, -1 = down, 0 = no breakout on this bar.
    The fieldtrend array is filled with the following codes: 1 = rising, -1 = falling, 0 = doubtfull.

    There is no timeframe as such. The OBV is cumulative. If today’s close is higher than yesterday’s, then today’s close is added to the OBV. If it is lower, then today’s close is subtracted from the OBV.

    No central rescource means help is corrogated.
    Hello all

    I bought CT about 1.5 years ago.

    I received a welcome email. With links to the community, and some (only some) links to videos and more.

    But, every time i have a problem, i can come to the community, go to tech support, or peruse the ct websites.

    But it seems to be a problem. There must be 10 CT websites. That could be an exageration but there’s more than one.

    I think this problem can be fixed.

    This is a message to the powers would be at CT...

    Can we please, please, can we have a central resource location where we can access all links to the CT assets? This could be a FAQs page, with more questions and complete answers, not just incomplete ones. For instance, it should have links to videos etc.

    Also, when tech and Ed is about to launch a Beta upgrade, could you please send us an email letting us know of the time to download? This should be common courtesy. Instead of me going to login and finding two days later my CT platform hasn’t been trading because suddenly i’m running an old platform.

    Can you help Ed? Or tech support?

    Please consider this...

    Thank you

    Hi Steven,

    There is definitely a lot of content that we cannot put all on one page. However, we have need attempting to consolidate the information.
    If you log into your account at

    Hello Ed

    Thank you for the reply. It is much appreciated.

    It is great to hear you think some detail could be added to a more central location. And that the Beta updates are better used for some people than others.

    Thank you again.

    schorizons

    New Rules added to Tab 3 of New Top Strategy
    What is the purpose to adding the rules to tab 3 in the New Top Strategies that say:
    Todays current bid price is greater than $5
    Todays current bid price is less than $15

    (Prices used depends on the $ amount of the New Top Strategy being used).

    New Rules added to Tab 3 of New Top Strategy
    What is the purpose to adding the rules to tab 3 in the New Top Strategies that say:
    Todays current bid price is greater than $5
    Todays current bid price is less than $15

    (Prices used depends on the $ amount of the New Top Strategy being used).

    New Rules added to Tab 3 of New Top Strategy
    What is the purpose to adding the rules to tab 3 in the New Top Strategies that say:
    Todays current bid price is greater than $5
    Todays current bid price is less than $15

    (Prices used depends on the $ amount of the New Top Strategy being used).

    Trying to find a profit :(
    I have had my trader for over a year now and spent a lot of money converting my IRA into a corporation in order to pay for CoolTrade out of my IRA. My first issue was using Interactive Brokers and not being able to stay connected, turns out my processor on my computer was incompatible with IB’s.

    I am now with Autoshares and have been with them since February. I am running the Aggressive Long and Aggressive Short stategies, unfortunately I have seen no return, in fact I even received a margin call which locked my account for the last three weeks.

    I bought 1,000 shares of SLVP around March and since then it has gone up about 50%, my CT, has returned about $500 from $35,000 that I am using.

    I have not had a lot of time to try and tweak my strategies because of commitments to work, Army Reserves, school, and family.

    I would love to be able to talk to someone who is turning a profit and see what parameters they are using so that I can make this worth while, otherwise I will have to let my license expire and write off my losses.

    Thanks in advance,

    Chris

    I just went live after 18 months of simulated trading getting about 4% gross monthly profits with long only strategies to accommodate IRA rules. I transferred a ROTH with $26,000 to IB earlier this month to avoid the day trader limits on accounts below $25k.

    I’m not sure why you converted your IRA to a corporation - does that mean you took a full distribution and paid the taxes and penalties? I just added the cost of CT to my itemized deductions since I won’t be paying any taxes on my ROTH profits, I get some of the cost covered.

    Anyways, after 3 days of live trading, I booked my first 2 profitable trades today using the Dow Long for Simulating $50,000. If that pattern holds, I’ll earn 2.6% a month before brokers fees. That’s about 30% a year which I can live with! Of course, time will tell...

    I am having some crashes during the trading day using a Windows 7 machine running the CT and TWS (IB) software. My enquiries show it may be an issue with IB’s API. I downloaded the stable version instead of the older 40 version the instructions linked to so it may be my fault!
    I’m also on a WIFI - I’m either going to hook the PC up via a cable or (probably) I’m going to transfer to the cloud server.

    I’d be happy to continue discussing our experiences and results as we move towards really automated trading profits!

    Later, Lee

    Rate of Change
    How do I write a rule that says -->Today’s current price is at most 20 dollars less than Yesterday’s close price?

    Currently, I know how to write a rule that says Today’s current price is at least 20 dollars less than Yesterday’s close price... The key difference here is the least and the most.

    In other words, I want to only short stocks whose difference between yesterdays close price and today’s current price is no more than $20...

    Simulation Sharing
    Looking for other traders running simulations to compare notes, brainstorm ideas, and share results to increase the rate of optimization for rate of return from using the CoolTrade Platform.

    For those interested, please reply here or send information to dennisfunk@hotmail.com. We will figure out how best to connect.

    I’m interested in comparing notes with you. I’ve been running both the top long for simulating $20,000 and $50,0000 for about a month now. At first they both looked promising and appeared to be on a track for returning profits as high as 10% on a monthly basis. Then they both got bogged down in downward trending stocks from the the "Top Stocks For CoolTrade Active Traders" list and now they do few trades and have stopped producing daily profits while the the Net P&L gets bigger and bigger. I’d like to hear how others have fared with the top active long strategies. Reply here and/or directly to taw52556@yahoo.com.

    From what I understand. You want your trades to go as low as possible to scalp them on the way up. I was told not to pay attention to that. You can also set your trading amount and just bank the stocks that you scalp.

    I am interested in brainstorming ideas.

    I am interested in brainstorming ideas.

    Top Long Strategy
    What is the perceived value in using the $100k Top Long strategy vs using the $50k Top Long strategy and buying stocks in 200 share lots?

    Is there a $200k Top Long strategy? How do we obtain it?

    another declining preferences table option
    Ed Barsano,

    I sent the to your email and by post mail about 2 weeks ago attention to you. I’m just trying to make sure you recieved it because i think it can help the autotrader make more money.

    Attached is another version of the declining preferences table i’ve been working on.

    I will explain a few things in this email.

    This table is designed to allow a stock to trade more often and not get caught in “no man’s land.”

    I didn’t put the formulas in the cells. I had a hard time converting the numbers back into positive numbers.
    It’s all done by hand, but the numbers are right.

    The table is based on an $8.00 stock, with 25 positions and 100 shares. And it takes $11,240 to control the stock to the bottom. Although you could use 50 shares too and reduce the dollar amount invested.

    The left column is percent drops. They equal down to 95% coverage.

    As you can see the table is repetitive with the 2, 3, 4, & 5, 5. Those are all subsequent drops from the previous positions.

    So the idea here is that the $8.00 stock will trade often even if it drops in half. If the stock price gets caught in the two 5% boxes then sooner or later the stock price has to move back up or down and when it does it will trade in the 2, 3, & 4 percentage boxes allowing it to trade faster, it has no choice.

    The downside with my table is it’s 25 positions and costs a bit more money, but if you increased all the 5% boxes to perhaps 7% or 8% or even 10% there would be less overall positions.

    The upside to my table is that no if that stock drops in half it will still trade more often. And people might want to invest more per stock if it trades more and works. I think I would.

    I’m sure you could use this for more expensive stocks too. I have $8 stocks so that’s all I based it on.

    Again, there are no formulas in the cells. I thought if you found this interesting you could play with the numbers and tweak things. Or call me and I can tell you the formulas for the cells.

    Anyway please let me know what think and if there needs more clarification call me 217-414-5674.

    Thanks very much, hope this email helps

    Jerry Kuhn jerryjrk@kuhn01.com

    Ideal Ask Bid Spread
    I’m simulating the $2 strategy. The ask/bid MAX Range is set at $0.02 It’s only bought one stock. Everything else in the watch list spreads typically $.07-.10. Is $.02 to tight of a spread?

    add on to current declining preferences make it faster
    Ed,
    I have a different suggestion for the current ’declining preferences’ table.

    The number of current positions available now is 10 (10 drops).
    The 10 drops are mandatory.

    But after that how about extending it up to 15 positions? And all positions from 11 - 15 are optional depending on how much money the user wants to put up.

    So each stock has the option of anywhere between 10 to 15 positions.

    This will allow the stock to trade a little tighter by having more positions hopefully resulting in making more money overall.


    For example if i have 3 stocks.

    i could have one stock that has 10 positions (10 drops).
    I could have stock two that has 12 positions (12 drops).
    I could have stock three have 15 positions (15 drops).

    OR if i wanted i could have all three of my stocks at 15 positions. I would be up to the user how many positions they want, up to 15.

    Additional positions would likely trade more resulting in more money i think.

    Thanks Ed,
    Jerry Kuhn

    add on to current declining preferences make it faster
    Ed,
    I have a different suggestion for the current ’declining preferences’ table.

    The number of current positions available now is 10 (10 drops).
    The 10 drops are mandatory.

    But after that how about extending it up to 15 positions? And all positions from 11 - 15 are optional depending on how much money the user wants to put up.

    So each stock has the option of anywhere between 10 to 15 positions.

    This will allow the stock to trade a little tighter by having more positions hopefully resulting in making more money overall.


    For example if i have 3 stocks.

    i could have one stock that has 10 positions (10 drops).
    I could have stock two that has 12 positions (12 drops).
    I could have stock three have 15 positions (15 drops).

    OR if i wanted i could have all three of my stocks at 15 positions. I would be up to the user how many positions they want, up to 15.

    Additional positions would likely trade more resulting in more money i think.

    Thanks Ed,
    Jerry Kuhn

    Short Strategies
    Anyone have a short strategy that they are willing to share? Trying to simulate shorts but having difficulties.

    Hi I can see it´s an old post, ( i´m new CT user and wanted to find forums about short Strategy Hard subject to find info about ) but did you got some short strategy ?
    K.R Jonathan

    Hi I can see it´s an old post, ( i´m new CT user and wanted to find forums about short Strategy Hard subject to find info about ) but did you got some short strategy ?
    K.R Jonathan

    Reserve Enough Funds to Purchase Max Shares
    All:

    I’m running the Top Long $50,000 and have a question. By default, Cool Trade is really holding back what it’s allocating for new positions. Even with $50k in the account and 2-1 margin, I’m only ever actively trading about $13k worth of my account value.

    The very vast majority of my available funds are "Reserved For Open Positions", which I assume is related to the "Reserve Enough Funds to Purchase Max Shares" option I have selected in preferences. I’m not sure I really understand that setting and can’t find enough information on it to know whether I should "uncheck" it or not.

    With that said, if I uncheck that option, I still want to make sure I have some kind of reserve to take new positions when my rules kick in.

    I’m getting pretty good results (35+% annualized return), but I feel I could do better with a higher allocation of my funds.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,

    Michael

    Using Bearish Candle Stick Patterns for Short trades
    I am looking into the use of Candle Stick Patterns (bearish Patterns) to initiate a short trade. My experience with the candlestick patterns are they are 80 to 90% on target in predicting the short term market trend.

    The jury is still out on how the bearish candlestick patterns can play within the Short strategy in the Cool Trade application. I am currently simulating my new short strategy approach.

    Using Bearish Candle Stick Patterns for Short trades
    I am looking into the use of Candle Stick Patterns (bearish Patterns) to initiate a short trade. My experience with the candlestick patterns are they are 80 to 90% on target in predicting the short term market trend.

    The jury is still out on how the bearish candlestick patterns can play within the Short strategy in the Cool Trade application. I am currently simulating my new short strategy approach.

    Using Bearish Candle Stick Patterns for Short trades
    I am looking into the use of Candle Stick Patterns (bearish Patterns) to initiate a short trade. My experience with the candlestick patterns are they are 80 to 90% on target in predicting the short term market trend.

    The jury is still out on how the bearish candlestick patterns can play within the Short strategy in the Cool Trade application. I am currently simulating my new short strategy approach.

    Using Bearish Candle Stick Patterns for Short trades
    I am looking into the use of Candle Stick Patterns (bearish Patterns) to initiate a short trade. My experience with the candlestick patterns are they are 80 to 90% on target in predicting the short term market trend.

    The jury is still out on how the bearish candlestick patterns can play within the Short strategy in the Cool Trade application. I am currently simulating my new short strategy approach.

    Using Bearish Candle Stick Patterns for Short trades
    I am looking into the use of Candle Stick Patterns (bearish Patterns) to initiate a short trade. My experience with the candlestick patterns are they are 80 to 90% on target in predicting the short term market trend.

    The jury is still out on how the bearish candlestick patterns can play within the Short strategy in the Cool Trade application. I am currently simulating my new short strategy approach.

    avoiding pattern day trading
    I don’t have enough funds to increase my account to have the benefit of unlimited trades, if I was to increase my profit goal slightly would this lesson the frequency of trades per week, but still gain reasonable profits?

    Hi,

    I personally don’t think that would make much of a difference. From what I hear most people trading with smaller accounts don’t seem to be affected that much by the day trade rules of having at least 25k or more in your account.

    Join one of the webinars that Ed hosts every other Tuesday and ask that question directly to him on there.
    Hope this helps.

    Help tweaking a short strategy
    I am running a short strategy for stocks in a downtrend and am looking to scalp the market. If I get enough trades I can hit my initial target of $100 a day.

    Is there anyone who would be willing to help me out? Yesterday I had 44 total trades (in and out), I am looking for a profit of $.15 per trade. Would anyone care to take a look and see where I can improve? I am not available to monitor during the day, so I rely on my email notifications to see if it is working correctly. You can email me directly at:

    ctwesterholm@gmail.com

    Thanks in advanced

    Chris

    Online Broker
    Which online broker works best with Cool Trader ?

    Hello. I started out with AutoShares (AS) just after they came on board with CoolTrade (CT). They are smaller, great customer support, and sort of a small town feel. What I don’t like about AS is the monthly fee of $40, no tier stock trading option, a margin rate well over 7%, and finally having to clear trades through another company named APEX Clearing. Upon speaking with the owner/manager Rob Shapiro at AS, the only thing negotiable is the margin rate.

    So recently I made a switch to Interactive Brokers (IB). For a bigger company, the customer service has been great. No sending orders to be cleared by a secondary company, no ridiculous monthly fee’s, and a margin rate under 2%. Also what I find is pretty cool is the trading screen is up along side the CT platform. Nice charts to boot and just a good professional feel to it.

    Hope this helps.

    Top Strategy performance since election
    Has anyone noticed their top strategies grinding down to hardly anything? I have three traders and lately with three traqders, I am lucky to get 100.00 in a day.

    Any sugestions? Yes I have noticed. I have had 0 profit days and lost $500 last week. Finally yesterday Jan.26.2017 I made some money, $600 with about a $50,000 portfolio value. FRS4ETERNITY@aol.com I have another acct. ready and waiting for more clarity ? Thank you.

    There are a few things I have noticed that have all happened near the same time recently. First, the weekly webinars have stopped. Second, the price has increased a lot. Third, my traders are now making peanuts. My coworker is basically swing trading based on charts and is making ten times what my traders are making. This is very frustrating.

    So after some reflection, I have a few more thoughts. 1. I whine sometimes. 2. The VIX is has has been very low for the last few months. This is not helpful for the top trader strategies in my opinion. I am still making money just not as much as before. The market is at an all time high but gold is on the rise. I think we just need to wait and the bear and or volatility will be back and help our traders.

    I hope it goes up soon. Ive been trading the top at 20000 and its down over $8000 since October (when I started it). Still kicking myself. I was trading the dow 30 long and AA (Alcoa) went up from 10 to $30 (as did Navistar-nav) and a few others went up at least 25% too since I switched. I guess I’ll try & wait it out but I’m getting discourged for sure. Oh these stocks are traded on the Vix then? What is Vix not to sound dumb. thanks,
    Pete

    If it is the VIX, it is the volatility index; which supposed to spike when the market drops.

    I am experience similar issue with the new strategy as well; I have lost in the 5 digits. If you look at the Top Stocks For CoolTrade Active Traders at https://login.cooltrade.org/topactivetrades.asp, you will discover that most of the stocks in the active strategy started out at a phenomenal high price such as $361 for SAEX which now goes for $5.31, $265.50 for HK which now goes for $7.75, and SKLN at $127.50 and now goes for $2.17. Yes, they do go up and down, but overtime, they drop.

    You may want to use the new reverse split count indicator since many of the stocks that have dropped hard have done reverse splits in the past. The atlanta meetup group discusses solutions and not just problems. You should consider joining.

    You may want to use the new reverse split count indicator since many of the stocks that have dropped hard have done reverse splits in the past. The atlanta meetup group discusses solutions and not just problems. You should consider joining.

    Thanks for the idea josetteb. I just contacted Owen from Atlanta group. Should anyone feel like contacting me directly I am at jharaszko@gmail.com . I live about 20 minutes from cool trade corporate so I will be visiting and maybe trying to get the user group going out here again.

    Thanks,

    Joe H.

    Yes I have two traders and I am luck to make 100 bucks a week
    gnhlth@aol.com

    Yes I have two traders and I am luck to make 100 bucks a week
    gnhlth@aol.com

    my trader also hasn’t did much since mid November. these stocks on active trades list are like fish out of water. they flop up and down and eventually seem to die.what should a guy do just wait it out and hope for the best. I’m getting very discouraged. It would be nice if Ed would have a show once in a while. At least give us a glimmer of hope.

    my trader also hasn’t did much since mid November. these stocks on active trades list are like fish out of water. they flop up and down and eventually seem to die.what should a guy do just wait it out and hope for the best. I’m getting very discouraged. It would be nice if Ed would have a show once in a while. At least give us a glimmer of hope.

    my trader also hasn’t did much since mid November. these stocks on active trades list are like fish out of water. they flop up and down and eventually seem to die.what should a guy do just wait it out and hope for the best. I’m getting very discouraged. It would be nice if Ed would have a show once in a while. At least give us a glimmer of hope.

    If anyone has solutions to what we are encountering here, please share. some of us are thousands of miles from any meet up group. CoolTrade is looking pretty bleak right now and I am not encouraged by the issue others are encountering.

    Hey the market only goes in 2 directions and Ed only seems to talk about the long side, look at some short strategies make money going both ways

    I know I am only using Long because I was using some IRA/Roth accounts. I just don’t have enough confidence in CoolTrade to want to trade short, which potentially means I am on the hook for gianormous loss.

    Top stradegy
    I to have had little earnings since the election and the DOW rising . My strategy seems to be bogged down with so many paper loses .

    Top strategies
    The joy was short- lived <img src=’’images/smilies/Grey/cc-smilie11.gif’’ border=’’0’’>

    Tax related question
    I just saw my 1099-B from Autoshares/APEX. Does anyone have suggestions or guidance on how to handle the ’wash sales’ in order to offset the ’realized gains’?

    Thank you!

    Tax related question
    I just saw my 1099-B from Autoshares/Apex. Does anyone have suggestions or guidance on how to handle the ’wash sales’ in order to offset the ’realized gains’?

    Thank you!

    I don’t know how smart your accountant is so I will just say that you need to make sure they add the "Wash-Sells" amount to the cost-basis.

    Otherwise it will look like you have a lot more net-profits and you will end up owing a lot of taxes.

    CoolTrade users are considered "day traders".

    Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars
    A friend of mine uses the old version of the Top Long 150k strategy, and I use the new version (11/19/16) and his performance far exceeds mine. The only difference between the two is the new one contains this line: "Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars". I am not sure what the value of this line is. Can anyone enlighten me. Thank you.

    Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars
    A friend of mine uses the old version of the Top Long 150k strategy, and I use the new version (11/19/16) and his performance far exceeds mine. The only difference between the two is the new one contains this line: "Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars". I am not sure what the value of this line is. Can anyone enlighten me. Thank you.

    Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars
    A friend of mine uses the old version of the Top Long 150k strategy, and I use the new version (11/19/16) and his performance far exceeds mine. The only difference between the two is the new one contains this line: "Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars". I am not sure what the value of this line is. Can anyone enlighten me. Thank you.

    Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars
    A friend of mine uses the old version of the Top Long 150k strategy, and I use the new version (11/19/16) and his performance far exceeds mine. The only difference between the two is the new one contains this line: "Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars". I am not sure what the value of this line is. Can anyone enlighten me. Thank you.

    "Average True Range(14) is Greater Than .35 Dollars"

    Rule states that the stocks has moved at least .35 (between daily high and low) every day for the last 14 days.

    It works in conjunction with the other rules to ensure you are selecting stocks that move enough each day to give you more profits.

    account total
    I’ve been live trading since Dec using the top strategy for $100,000. The platform seems to be performing as expected (maybe a little less) regarding the daily profits and I am saving saving 100% of those profits since that feature was made available to us.
    I have a clarification question to ask. I believe I am correct in saying that the "account value" is the accumulated total of the "positions value" + "reserved for open positions" + "profits saved". If this is correct I am a bit confused because my "profits saved" continues to grow each day but my "Account value" pretty much stays the same. It would seem odd that my open positions are dropping the exact same amount as my profits are going up. Am I missing something?

    account total
    I’ve been live trading since Dec using the top strategy for $100,000. The platform seems to be performing as expected (maybe a little less) regarding the daily profits and I am saving saving 100% of those profits since that feature was made available to us.
    I have a clarification question to ask. I believe I am correct in saying that the "account value" is the accumulated total of the "positions value" + "reserved for open positions" + "profits saved". If this is correct I am a bit confused because my "profits saved" continues to grow each day but my "Account value" pretty much stays the same. It would seem odd that my open positions are dropping the exact same amount as my profits are going up. Am I missing something?

    No sir/ma’am, I do not believe your confusion/concern is unfounded. I am experiencing similar if not worse issues. The problem with active strategy lies in the fact that the stocks listed in the active strategy are highly volatile. If you look at the Top Stocks For CoolTrade Active Traders at https://login.cooltrade.org/topactivetrades.asp, you will discover that most of the stocks in the active strategy started out at a phenomenal high price such as $361 for SAEX which now goes for $5.31, $265.50 for HK which now goes for $7.75, and SKLN at $127.50 and now goes for $2.17. Yes, they do go up and down, but overtime, they drop. The problem with the active strategy is that it doesn’t sell the ones in the negative, and after all, why should it? But as these stocks drop and are held on, only the ones that have gained $25 or so are sold resulting in ’realized gains’. Yes, CoolTrade tells you to not mind the stock prices while it falls because you only care about the realized gains, but what happened if it takes 10 years for the price to come back? Will you lose money eventually or your funds are tied up for years? This week, I ’lost’ thousands of dollars as ADPT lost 60% in one day and SGY also lost about 1/2 its value after buying back its shares. Will they all come back? Possibly, but I bet CoolTrade also isn’t sure that they will. But this pitfall could be very dangerous for CoolTrade investors. You only look at the realized gains, when in reality, the value of your stocks may never come back. While this is true for all stocks, the S&P500 do not have a history of losing 60% of its value and not come back over time. These stocks in the active strategy, however, I am not so certain.

    I would be reluctant to throw a strategy away because a few stocks dropped a lot overnight. I believe the top strategy methodology works. My suggestion would be to stick with that strategy but add some additional rules for filtering the watch list to something that better suites your idea of a stock that will not plunge overnight.

    I’ve had great returns over the last year and only this year so far my account value hasn’t taken off. But my trader takes profits nearly every day and that has stopped the account from dropping very far. I’m certainly not throwing in the towel over a few stocks dropping in a short period.

    Remember the top user strategies are user strategies. CoolTrade/Ed tries to explain the philosophy of the strategy of the Top strategies and how CoolTrade is used in the strategies. Nothing more.

    I recently joined the Atlanta meeting group and there are many discussions from other members who are sharing their ideas on how to add more filters to the watch list to get potentially more stable companies.

    I would be reluctant to throw a strategy away because a few stocks dropped a lot overnight. I believe the top strategy methodology works. My suggestion would be to stick with that strategy but add some additional rules for filtering the watch list to something that better suites your idea of a stock that will not plunge overnight.

    I’ve had great returns over the last year and only this year so far my account value hasn’t taken off. But my trader takes profits nearly every day and that has stopped the account from dropping very far. I’m certainly not throwing in the towel over a few stocks dropping in a short period.

    Remember the top user strategies are user strategies. CoolTrade/Ed tries to explain the philosophy of the strategy of the Top strategies and how CoolTrade is used in the strategies. Nothing more.

    I recently joined the Atlanta meeting group and there are many discussions from other members who are sharing their ideas on how to add more filters to the watch list to get potentially more stable companies.

    I would be reluctant to throw a strategy away because a few stocks dropped a lot overnight. I believe the top strategy methodology works. My suggestion would be to stick with that strategy but add some additional rules for filtering the watch list to something that better suites your idea of a stock that will not plunge overnight.

    I’ve had great returns over the last year and only this year so far my account value hasn’t taken off. But my trader takes profits nearly every day and that has stopped the account from dropping very far. I’m certainly not throwing in the towel over a few stocks dropping in a short period.

    Remember the top user strategies are user strategies. CoolTrade/Ed tries to explain the philosophy of the strategy of the Top strategies and how CoolTrade is used in the strategies. Nothing more.

    I recently joined the Atlanta meeting group and there are many discussions from other members who are sharing their ideas on how to add more filters to the watch list to get potentially more stable companies. I suggest you join that group.

    Thanks for your input. I have joined the Atlanta group and will be attending the next meeting. I appreciate the advise.

    I wish there is a discussion group where I am. Can you share your strategy with by putting me down as friend to share strategy with in Strategy Wizard?

    I am using the "top long strategy for $100,000" with no changes by me.
    I actually don’t live near Atlanta, but was able to join the group anyway. I won’t make all the meetings but it’s worth the trip for a few per year.

    How about it josetteb? Willing to share your strategy?

    By the way, I too didn’t modify the strategy for utilizing the $50K. May be this is where we go wrong?

    I’m just running the Top $100k strategy, unmodified.
    You can retrieve it by starting the strategy wizard and selecting the top long list at the bottom of the main screen.

    I think the biggest differences between our two accounts may be based on when we started the strategy and the stocks and prices we got into at startup time. I started in Jan 2016 and participated in the SAEX run from $9 to $40 (overnight) and at that time the ETF’s were still checked and I made a killing on NUGT.

    I don’t think you’re missing anything. My trader hasn’t done well since December. The last time I saw my trader in a rut like this I woke up one day and nearly every symbol I owned opened up big and my trader closed almost everything in one day.
    My feeling is the harder it falls the more shares I will own at the lower prices, which means I am going to make that much more profits when it heads back up. Most charts I see have up and down lines and not lines that just go straight down forever.

    Thanks for the reply. So you and ’jtwalter’ are doing the same with the strategy for the $100k then.

    I started the strategy within about 2 weeks after they came out (2016 sumer/fall) as well as the ’profit saved feature’ pretty soon as they were made available.

    So I think you may have some of the answers and experiencing some of the same issues I have.

    However, I am doubtful the symbols that I have lost a lot of money on will come back. At least, not in the foreseeable future. This is what I mean, ’TWER’ lost about 90% since it was acquired under the Active Strategy. DRYS also dropped over 70% within a week. DRYS shares were acquired by the same strategy. Between March 1st-2nd, under the same strategy, SGY and ADPT shares dropped 60-70% within a day then was aggressively acquired under the condition of the strategy. I have a hard time seeing their full values come back, and the loss combined are in the 5 digits.

    Top strategies?
    My portfolio its down over 18,ooo. I lost everything I gained in last year.
    The scary part is reversible split and it happens quite often.

    You’re certainly not alone. i get the impression that most CT users have seen significant portfolio loses over the last 3 months or so. The number of trades per day are way down for many users. My portfolio lost $9000 in value in the last few months. Most seem to blame it on the lack of volatility in the market. Of course no one can say for sure when that might turn around.

    I forgot to ask if you know about version 8.0.16 that was released last week. It included forward and reverse split count indicators. You can add ReverseSplitCount=0 to your watch list to weed out symbols that have a history of reverse splits. Of course, that’s no guarantee that you won’t wind up with a symbol that undergoes it’s very first reverse split but at least it will steer you clear of repeat offenders. The new release also allows you to block symbols from opening or adding to a position. That should help to avoid going too many levels deep on a position that appears to be tanking.

    Huge lost
    My strategy is down almost $20,000. I am worried what will happen next if these shares never go up.

    stocks shouldn’t have to go all the way up. they should just have to wiggle up and down.

    stocks shouldn’t have to go all the way up. they should just have to wiggle up and down.

    All my profits are invested in actively falling stocks
    The CT software is buying stocks that might be very active - BUT - a stock that once sold for $40 to $60, and now sells for $7 - though it has much activity - might not turn out very good - if CT started buying it at $12 (after falling out of the sky,) and again at $10, $8, etc. These are fictitious numbers to show approximately what has been happening repeatedly in my account. I had +$43000 originally, and now after almost a year I’ve got an acct value of $40655 and a portfolio of 10 stocks (3300 shares,) valued at $17740 and show a P/L of -$6145. Meanwhile according to CT’s closed trades report I have seen +$12000 in profitable trades!
    Please don’t tell me that the answer to my dilemma is to sell off my losers - so that CT can have more money to trade. I’ve tried that before - but the problem of purchasing fallen (active) stocks just happens again.
    I will not sell these losers until I have a solution for HOW I CAN MAKE SURE THAT THE STOCKS CT TRADES FROM ARE EITHER RAISING STOCKS, OR WITHIN A CERTAIN TRADING-ENVELOPE - THAT IS NOT TOO FAR OFF FROM THEIR NORMAL PRICE BOUNDS.
    Are there any suggestions as to how I could limit CT in its stock selection in the future?

    HOW I CAN MAKE SURE THAT THE STOCKS CT TRADES FROM ARE EITHER RAISING STOCKS, OR WITHIN A CERTAIN TRADING-ENVELOPE - THAT IS NOT TOO FAR OFF FROM THEIR NORMAL PRICE BOUNDS.

    It all comes down to entering the watchlist rules that match what you are looking for.
    You can always enter an initial position when the conditions are right but that doesn’t solve the issue of what to do if/when the conditions change.

    it sounds like you are trading a strategy that is picking active stocks but you want to add more conditions to only go into stocks that are trending higher.

    You could always add watchlist rules to what is already there. For instance YESTERDAYS CLOSE PRICE IS GREATER THAN CLOSE PRICE 20 DAYS AGO
    OR
    YESTERDAYS CLOSE PRICE IS GREATER THAN SMA(50)

    I’m running the Top 50k strategy and taking some profit just about every day. It’s been pretty good since I closed all the positions that had reverse splits about a month ago.
    I notice the trading gets better and better when I do the updates as they get announced.

    Is anyone out there is actually making some money with this software?
    Hi All
    Does anyone at all out there have a strategy that actually is making money? I’ve been at this for 4 years now and I don’t see it. I mean I only pay $1 to get and $1 to get out and after 4 years on a 27k account I am at 25,500k. It is Sad.... I still have not talked to one trader that has made any profit to date. What is the point? This current strategy I have was actually personally setup up by the CEO of the company and still I am down 2k since September when it was setup by him. It was suppose to yield 10% a month. I have never recouped my $6k in license fees and I am down $2k as of today.
    It seems they tout the success of a strategy by only adding up when it makes a profit on a trade but then discount the overall value of the account after the profits are made. It is an illusion. It buys these stocks that collapse 70 to 90%. And then you are stuck with them. So I am not sure I want to waste my time with this anymore, just paying broker fees and losing money. But I still would like to know, if anyone out there is actually making some money using CoolTrade?
    Thanks
    Tony

    Is anyone out there is actually making some money with this software?
    Hi All
    Does anyone at all out there have a strategy that actually is making money? I’ve been at this for 4 years now and I don’t see it. I mean I only pay $1 to get and $1 to get out and after 4 years on a 27k account I am at 25,500k. It is Sad.... I still have not talked to one trader that has made any profit to date. What is the point? This current strategy I have was actually personally setup up by the CEO of the company and still I am down 2k since September when it was setup by him. It was suppose to yield 10% a month. I have never recouped my $6k in license fees and I am down $2k as of today.
    It seems they tout the success of a strategy by only adding up when it makes a profit on a trade but then discount the overall value of the account after the profits are made. It is an illusion. It buys these stocks that collapse 70 to 90%. And then you are stuck with them. So I am not sure I want to waste my time with this anymore, just paying broker fees and losing money. But I still would like to know, if anyone out there is actually making some money using CoolTrade?
    Thanks
    Tony

    This is my personal email: jgarufi1@nycap.rr.com

    Tony the market has not been that great for the small cap stocks this year.

    I am making consistent money. 1) the market was moving well at the beginning of last year and I made a lot of money. Then the stocks slowed down near the end of the year. I got the save-profits feature and let all of the profits get saved and that has added up a lot even though this year a few stocks cost me money like adpt-drys-sgy. But then the company put out the new top strategies with updated rules to get rid of most of the stocks giving us problems. That strategy is date 3/30/3017.

    Your post states that you haven’t updated anything since last September.
    The software and strategies have been improved over the last 6 months to compensate for the situation you described. Since you haven’t adjusted your strategies to adopt the improvements that have been boasted in the webinars and email newsletter that have been sent out then you are not taking advantage of the help everyone is trying to give you.

    I talk to another guy who runs the same top strategy but has changed the rules to only trade facebook since he has quite a bit more money than I and he’s killing it.

    I think just keeping your software and strategies updated will fix your problems. But there’s no reason for you to be sitting on an outdated strategy when improved strategies are readily available is what is causing you to be unprofitable. The new strategies take profits every day that the stocks we own make a move. I can’t ask for more than that.

    Hi keithsit1943
    Thanks for your response. I have kept the software updated unlike what you said. So you can take that part out of the equation. Ed Barsano personally setup my strategy. I told him what I wanted and he set it up that way. Unfortunately not him nor anyway, including tech support, ever mentioned anything about updating a strategy. You can change strategies of course but you are talking about updating one. Are not all these strategies all different?
    So when I update my strategy to the top long strategy (3/30/2017) which I have seen in the strategy wizard and have even downloaded, it is the same as the one I have? Again no one said this to me ever. Thanks for responding.
    Regards
    Anthony

    Also...isn’t the "the save-profits feature" another charge to traders? Now why in the world would someone like me $8k in the hole pay more when I have not even recouped any of my losses or license fees? You have the money and can do it perhaps, whereas people in my situation are just being gouged for more money. And that other charge of joining groups I also find outrageous. We paid for our license fees and then we get gouged for more money fees otherwise we are at a disadvantage? I don’t think it is fair quite frankly. I had enough money to be able to day trade and I get nowhere after 4 years. Thank you.

    Vectorvest and watchlist
    Hi everyone. I have just started with vectorvest. A while back I heard that someone was creating a file of symbols with vectorvest and telling the trader to use this file instead of the watchlist. Please respond if you are doing this. I want to know your selection criteria in vectorvest if this is working for you.

    Thanks
    Joe H
    jharaszko@gmail.com

    Max Shares and Buying Down
    I’m simulating as a new CoolTrade user and am curious about the Max shares trader preference.

    Investing literature is replete with the admonition that you should never go long and increase your stake when a stock is falling, or try to catch a falling knife. I get that the software will only exit the position when it meets the profit targets, but....

    1. Wouldn’t it be better to NOT reserve all that cash "space" in your account waiting for the stock to decline (to buy) and instead put it to use acquiring other stocks that could be more immediately volatile, and thus profit making?

    2. Is there meaningful historic indication that a stock that has dropped recently is not only MORE LIKELY to rebound above whatever your buy points are, but that such a stock is MORE LIKELY to have that profitable surge than ANY OTHER STOCK that ALSO MEETS your chosen momentum directional indicator? I mean, what is BETTER about the stock you may have doubled or tripled down on that is still DECREASING than buying something different that meets the otherwise identical purchase criteria?

    Thank you!

    Optimization Tab


    Adding on sma
    I added a simple to add to must be above the 100 sma . Then add to position extra rule. Instead seams to be selling .says rule preventing..next buy price above the 100 sma , but its below..

    If the Buy rule is:

    next buy price greater than 100 sma

    and the price is below the 100 sma, then the RULE PREVENTING NEXT BUY will be:

    next buy price greater than 100 sma

    It is just saying that the above rule is failing.

    Exiting requirements.
    If I put any exit requirements in , none seem to work. Don’t exit the trades with the requirements. Anyone know what’s going on. The profit requirements seem to work. Others are if put in requirements like buy above sma etc don’t work on other tabs. Works on watch list. If any others wants to work with me on experimental strategies.i have extra trader. Contact me via email. Tumalotim@hotmail.com sincerely tim..

    Community's posting of strategies
    Did they stop posting community strategies.i no longer see when I log in.

    The only top user-shared strategies can be found at the bottom of the Strategy Wizard main screen.

    Top User Shares Strategies: 5K, 10K, 20K, 50K, 100K

    Finding strategy that works.
    Cant seem to ever get a strategy to work if I try make.invested little more then12k and second trader.tried available ones.was trying others but the ones shared stopped being there. If use thiers I loose as much gain . Best did was 1 stock .but 6 percent I get now sitting in ETFs. Anyone have a idea I can try.

    The top shared strategies are still available.
    First log into the strategy wizard. Then you can see the shared strategies at the bottom of the screen.

    Private client group
    Hi everyone. Is anyone in the PCG? Would you recommend it? I was told cool trade is not really interested in selling anymore new licenses and is changing their model by somehow only moving towards a private client type of model. I may have interpreted incorrectly. Can anyone shed some light on this?

    Thanks,

    Joe H.

    Joe, I’ve been in the pcg all year. My trader was in all the wrong stocks before I joined the group. By that I mean every stock I was in was actually on a long term downtrend. Ed brought up charts on every stock and I surprised how bad every chart looked. every stock I own now is on an up trend. He also explained every setting in the strategy and the importance of setting them perfectly. Before he showed that to me I had no idea how critical every setting actually is. I feel good that he logs into my trader every day and makes the necessary changes to adapt to the market conditions. for instance the last updates he did saved me from closing all of my open positions during the market downturn and slowed down the buying to only open positions when the indexes are pointing up. so I don’t even care how many days the market goes down because my trader is waiting for up days to buy.
    with the pcg I have Ed’s phone number and we text a few times a week so I feel like I’m on top of the market conditions without having to interpret the talking heads on tv.
    Jeff

    Thanks a lot Jeff for the quick reply. I have recently gone back to the old top long strategy before the latest changes for stocks only going up. I did this because it seems the whole market is no longer in an uptrend. How is your trader doing in last week? I did 96 bucks today which is ok.

    My trader took 266 in the last week and 1062 in the last month. but I dont think how much I took is as important as he lack of positions my trader opened in the down market. I think the strength of the strategy the pcg group has created is that it doesnt accumulate a lot of new open positions while the market is going down. so while I hear everyone on tv talking about how the dow and sp have lost all of the 2018 gains I’m laughing because I see the market crashing but my trader is only taking profits on teh stocks going up and not buying more yet. you should talk to Ed because he’s the genius that invented this and maybe can explain better.
    Jeff

    Thanks again Jeff. I did speak to Ed. I mainly wanted to see how you feel about the 3500 for the PCG. I did switch to the latest "only stocks going up strategy" that is available to copy. I did for a while until the market began to change, then I switched to the previous flavor again. Even though the market is going down and there may not be any symbols in the watchlist, I do see the wisdom of waiting on the sidelines until symbols start to move up(which the newest strategy does). I also wanted to verify he did not switch you away from the "only stocks going up" strategy when the market changed recently. I appreciate your input Jeff and I am still considering the PCG. Cheers.

    Joe H.

    Hi Joe,

    I review every PCG member’s trader every day and make small modifications to advance the strategy further as the market behavior changes. I will say that I do not go backwards. I.e. I would NEVER simply change back to an old strategy. Using this method, the strategy continues to cut off the bad things the market throws at us.

    Basically anytime the trader makes a trade I review the current market conditions and determine could something have been done to improve the trade. One example is that too many times a position gets closed profitably, but then gets reopened immediately (at a higher price) because the Open New Position Rules passed. Simply setting the ReEntry pullback to a small number ensures the price is lower (on the current day) before the open position rules get checked again.

    Every trader has different numbers in the settings (based on the account value) so simply copying someone else’s strategy, without fine-tuning for the current account, is not a recommended solution. Hence the creation of the Private Client Group so that I could personally ensure the software/strategy works at its best.

    I hope that was helpful.

    Ed

    Cool Trade AI
    Hi, I was wondering if anyone can tell me there experience with the AI option ?
    Also do you think it is worth $ 2,000 ? Thanks

    Hi Vic,

    The fixed "cooltrade ai" strategy method did not work and so that feature has not been activated. Instead I created the Private Client Group, that I believe I sent you and invitation to join. Each PCG account get monitored daily and continuously fine-tuned with the knowledge learned from all of the PCG accounts. That way you don’t have to wait for bad things to happen in your account before improvements can be made. Kind of a preventative maintenance model. The PCG is the place to be going forward.
    Ed

    Mr.&n944505=v913072
    1

    CoolTrade Home
    Subscribe Now! Automated Trading Auto-Start Your Trader Supported Brokers Choose Trading Software Subscribe Now!
    Subscribe Now! How To Create a Strategy How To Change Your Strategy How To Run CoolTrade How To Simulate Strategies Automatically Executes
    Indicators in CoolTrade Invite Us To Your Club Long and Short Strategies Market Basics Maximizing Performance CoolTrade Partners
    Subscribe Now! Protect Yourself Technical Support Trader's Best Ally Supported Brokers Subscribe Now!

    CoolTrade Robotic Trading System

    FINALLY, AN INTELLIGENT, EASY TO USE, TOOL FOR THE INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR
    Completely point-and-click system. No programming required.

    Traders in over 35 countries enjoy trading with the CoolTrade Fully Robotic Trader.

    CoolTrade works with the following online brokers:

        E*TRADE
        MB TRADING
        TD Ameritrade
        TradeKing

    Test your strategies in real-time.

    Download strategies FREE from other CoolTrade members.

    The Robotic Trader may be set to start by itself in the morning and trade the market all day 100% unattended.

    Click To Email CoolTrade
    Terms and Conditions
    Copyright CoolTradeâ„¢ Inc. 2004 - 2013

    Copyright ©2010 CoolTrade Community