bakrob99

You have 2 options to make sure that your Strategy is in Sync with your real world position. Under the Strategy Properties Tab you can set the strategy to: 1. Replace a Strategy Limit order with a Market order XXX seconds after the strategy thinks the fill has occured -or- 2. Set the Strategy to fill non-historical orders only when he TradeManager reports them as filled. Either choice will make sure you are out when your target is hit.

Why not just use Close of Bar entries and data rather than Intrabar Order Generation (which is much more complicated)? Solves the problems you werep ointing out. Really this has nothing to do with Backtesting... it has to do with the type of entry / automation you're using.

Is thee a decent Cumulative Delta indicator for Tradestation? I guess any of them would have to use Upticks/Downticks and might not reflect as accurately as the ones being shown here?

Try Electronic Local

Could you show some examples in CL please.

That's the kind of negative posting without any information that I don't expect to find here (at Traderslaboratory). Why not give your reasons for claiming these services are "expensive". If they are credible - they are hardly expensive for an education. You obviously think they are ripoffs , implied in your language, but you choose not to support your reasons. Just innuendo.

Another one I look at every day pre market is very good Quantifiable Edges

Without Question, the best is: electroniclocal.com

Have you considered phoning Tradestation to see what these trade represent?

Sure ... if I see big tape movement ... I will try to get into a runner ... but it is very rare. I am actually better off exiting ... then re - entering. FYI, my re-entry criteria has a stop which is quite a bit smaller than my original entry criteria.... so it either works or I'm out and waiting for the next setup. I may trade 1/2 size for the re-entry... and keep doing it until it fails.

HI Kiwi - Basically I realized after 5 years that I was more comfortable putting some money in my pocket rather than sit and watch the tape (and my trade's profit) go up and down. So I take a profit and have come up with a reliable method for re-entering in the trend (trade). I do exit my first position at 4-7 ticks (ES) and my 2nd half rarely exceeds 12 ticks. I will re-enter up to 3 times on any additional move in the "trend" I am following. In one move up or down I may have as many as 4-5 entries ... but the caveat is that each entry price must be LOWER in a down trend than prior entry (higher for an uptrend) I used to have difficulty thinking this way because I would always be getting a worse price - but then I realized that if I werent getting a "worse" for my setup then I was actually entering when the trend had either stopped or reversed. If I have consolidation (defined by me as 4 overlapping price bars, I won't take an entry until and break and trend continuation (either way) occurs. Bottom Line: If you are a scalper - get a good technique for getting back in the trend.

If you're going to scalp and not take the bigger move, then missing out on the bigger move is not a problem.

I have traded both systematically with 100% automation and on a 100% discretionary basis. After many years of watching the ES and trading it .. I have discovered that the actual process of trading during the day while the tape is running and the indicators (Tick, Trin etc.) etc are making alerts... has somehow now worked inside my brain to give me a pretty good idea of what the market condition is like. This is completely missing on backtest / review of historical data. Looking back, you can see what happened to the price bars... but you can't "feel" them. Now I find that seeing the time and sales and watching how traders are lifting the offer (or not) gives me the occasional (dare I say) "gut feel" for the move. Not for the entry technique. Of course, I have to rely on my entry criteria and be patient and watch for a setup ... but one develops a feel after time spent. And one knows that the time will come. Don't chase. The truth about trading for me is that when I first started I would make the normal mistakes of entering after a move had started and exiting on a pullback or worse... Newbie mistakes. I went thru a period of being " total mechanical or systematic" to get around this market trickery. Now, as the trading day develops, I absorb, perhaps subconsciously, market price action and often can tell when a market is done... and about to sell off hard... or when it is about to run parabolically and positions should be held, and added to, when possible. I look back on entries a week later and wonder then how I knew at the time... My Truth about trading is: practice and screen time is required before one can confidently make consistent money.

I think you missed the part where he trade 800,000 plus shares per day. If he made .02cents per share and trade 1,000,000 shares ... that's $20,000. Obviously - the .02 cents referred to is the net per share after losses are subtracted. If one were to trade like the above the average day is $20K, but we are told that the earnings are around $1.2M per year. So that is 60 average days ... out of what ... 220? Seems like his edge is very small.

Doesn't the winner also have to pay for everybody to travel to a resort ... that could be a might expensive Ipad.

IMO, the returns from daytrading have absolutely nothing to do with the returns one could expect from an investment in a portfolio of stocks/bonds. Trading is about finding an edge and applying that over and over. You obviously have no edge in your trading style and so you can not understand what the traders in theis Race are trying to demonstrate. If you did have an edge - you would realize that your beliefs are misplaced when applied to the traders in this race.

well... to have a race you need more than 1 competitor. Most of the guys/gals have dropped out and the others are not trading as they are busy in their normal lives. I for one, hope that it gets going again

SIM race would be okay ONLY IF you could have realistic entries and exits. Butmost or all SIM actually allows you to gain the bid-ask spread which is a huge benefit. When I am practicing a setup I either ONLY use market orders for SIM or only enter/exit after my price has been exceeded by 1 tick.

In theory you may be right - but in practice my point is: NO ONE will do it because they will not have the gumption to stick to the rules. Especially when they are up 6 big figures ... Ouch wouldn't want to see the drawdown. My experience with trading suggests that I do well when I am in the right frame of mind to just trade my rules and be okay with what the results are. When I am nervous or try to "predict" ... forgedaboudit.

With most racers crashing or being sideswiped... I think the Race has demonstrated that goals must be believable... and that psychology trumps system.

Hmmm... well the Race is certainly showing that psychology trumps system.

If you are going to hold positions overnight - then you need to have your stop considerably further below the price action than shown on your chart. You put your stop loss at a point which is commonly support and a good place to enter long. If you can;t afford to have aa bigger stop - then REDUCE YOUR SIZE and TRADE SMALL until you learn to place your entries and exits at the right place.

This past week May 17-21 has seen a dramatic increase in transaction volume as Time and Sales literally scream by. May 6th was the start of the huge volume. I have approached each open with fewer workspaces and charts open ... and reduced the number of indicators I have displayed using "Update Intrabar" to a minimum. I have NOT had one disconnect or slowdown. My charts are updated in sync with Time and Sales and the TS 8.7 I use has kept pace perfectly with the action. I am based in Toronto and I believe my connection was through a TS Chicago server although sometimes it could be TS Texas. My computer does not have any antivirus on it - it is strictly used for trading and does not get updated through the cumbersome Microsoft update process. I have the bare minimum of additional programs on it and with a Quad Core and 4GB Ram it remains as fast and crisp to use as the day I got it about 1 year ago. To trade for a living you must use the best tools you can within reason. As to whether TS should or should not reconnect after an Internet disconnect is not an issue for me because I will never trade an automated strategy without being present and watching it perform, unless I am just testing it on simulator.

Autotrading does NOT mean UNATTENDED trading. You must be present with your strategy/computer for many reasons. By the way - there are alarms which can trigger if/shen a disconnect occurs. Search the TS forum.

If I remember correctly, planet Earth does not YET owe anything to the Martians or other beings stupid enough to lend it to us... so it's all about who is the debtor, and who are the indebted... watch the money.