2 Years of Trading - Lessons Learned (Part 2 of 3) - The Learning Process

[This is a continuation of the first blog post in the series:  LESSONS LEARNED (Part 1 of 3): TRADING FUNDAMENTALS]


LESSONS LEARNED (Part 2 of 3): THE LEARNING PROCESS

I wish I had done a consistently better job at keeping a trading journal

Who knows where I'd be now if I had a journaling system such as Tradervue many years ago.  As I've written about many times before, Tradervue is a powerful online trade journal system that has made it a lot easier to journal and to analyze the statistics of my trading. 

Or what if years ago before the Internet, I consistently journaled in a simple paper notebook and more importantly, had the discipline to review and take corrective action on a regular basis?  Would I have been able identify my strengths and find my style more quickly?  Could I have discovered how to achieve mental control more effectively?

Keeping a journal is something most say you should do, but writing about and having to relive a really bad day can be difficult. In many ways, this blog has been somewhat of a trading journal at times, but it has been far from consistent.  A true journal is one of those tough nitty gritty tasks that most people don't take seriously, and so I keep in mind that most people are not consistently successful traders.

There are no right or wrong ways of keeping a journal, although there are some good guidelines and templates out there.  But in the end, you should be able to understand why you are not (or are) following your trading plan, focus on areas of improvement, understand what your strengths are, improve awareness to know when you should and should not trade, etc.

Especially during the early formative period when the learning curve is steep, I believe keeping a journal is not an option, it's a must do.  As time passes and experience is gained, the nature of the trading journal also begins to evolve.

Paper trading is good, but I believe betting very small is better
There is much debate on whether paper trading is useful or not.  Once again, everyone is different.  For me, I believe learning with real money, even if very it's a small risk, is better than paper trading via a SIM account.  There's nothing like having real money on the line.

There have been times when I absolutely got killed on a % of account basis trading the ES E-mini.  Due to the tick size and average movement (rotations) in the ES, it's easy to go on tilt and lose over $1k trading only one contract.  Yes, been there a few times.  On another note, I always wonder why I never went on tilt and made over $1k trading one contract.

Other "trade small" solutions is to trade the spot forex, where you can trade in a "micro" size where each pip = about $1.  With some of the volatility recently in certain forex pairs, such as EUR/JPY, the movements are equivalent to the E-mini ES daily range of 30 to 50 points or more! 

Since I try to think in % terms, I've had sleepless nights swing trading spot forex, where my absolute dollar risk was only $30, but it was considered a big % risk based on my trading plan.  Conversely, in my longer term accounts, I could be risking many dozens of times more $'s and not lose a wink of sleep since it was a small % of risk relative to portfolio size.  Having those sleepless nights was when I knew that even betting small was much more realistic than trading on SIM.

Another option is to trade the E-micro EUR/USD (M6E) futures that trade on the CME.  Each tick is only $1.25, but the prices track the same as the big contract (6E).  For charting, you can still use the big 6E where the data isn't spotty like the M6E.  But by trading the micro contract, you'll still be able to trade with a small account, not worry about pattern day trading (PDT) as with stocks, and still have the ability to scale out of your positions by trading multiple contracts.

I wish a brokerage like Stage 5 Trading existed when I first started trading

I believe one of the best opportunities now, especially if you trade futures, is to open your account and start trading at Stage 5 Trading.  The core team at Stage 5 was previously with Vankar Trading, but have now started their own brokerage firm.  Full disclosure -- I'm not currently daytrading nor am I trading futures at this time, but I feel very strongly about the people at Stage 5 based on my experience with them.  They have earned my loyalty for when I one day return back to futures.

At Stage 5, you get access to FuturesTrader71 who is a master ES E-mini trader and is also a tireless and passionate educator.  One of the primary reasons why he became a broker was so that he can work more closely with his students and to be able to monitor their actual trades.

I've always wondered why FT71 gave so much, with what doesn't seem like much in return.  Wondered when the bait and switch would finally happen where he would monetize his followers?  What's the catch?  But the more I listened to him, it finally started to make sense that he has some deeply set values and beliefs about helping others, locked in the core of his being.  I've found this type of dedication rare, especially within the trading industry.

And right now, you'll be able to watch him as he is re-learning how to trade the E-Micro EUR/USD (M6E) futures through his active chatroom as well as weekly webinars.  He's relearning the Euro after many years, so this is a great opportunity to watch and understand how a master trader approaches a new product to trade.

He realizes that for those just learning to trade, the M6E is a great step up from SIM trading.  This is primarily due to the small $ per tick size and margin requirements.  Although his trading method is primarily volume profile based, his education transcends the trading methodology used, and a great deal of his focus (and his strength) is on the psychological side of trading.

Except for you to open your account and trade through Stage 5, there are no addition costs for the chatroom and webinars.  This is probably one of the best educational deals out there to learn from a highly respected trader and educator, while also getting some of the best service in the futures brokerage industry lead by Anthony Giacomin.  It's a no brainer. 

If I had to start now, I would do my best to learn on a physical trading floor surrounded by successful traders

Who wouldn't want that kind of opportunity?  I know this is much easier said than done.  But I'm confident that learning how to trade surrounded by successful prop traders who are great and willing mentors would accelerate and increase the odds of longer term success.

I'm not familiar with anyone who has joined the SMB training program and whether it's good or not, but something similar to that would have been very interesting for me when I was first starting.  Even if it didn't end up being a good fit, understanding what a trading environment is like and seeing successful traders in action would have been a valuable experience.

Back in the days before I had a family, if I had spent those 6-18 hour work days being surrounded and learning from the best in the business, where would I be now?  I'll never know and it's not my nature to dwell much on the past.

But looking forward, we now live in a world with zillions of chat rooms, newsletters, advisory services, blogs, and Twitter where you can learn independently or with others in a virtual setting.  Although you may have to look and research hard, there are a few great traders who are also great teachers (as mentioned earlier about FuturesTrader71).

So participating in a chatroom or joining forces with other traders in the virtual world is the next best thing to being on a physical trading floor.

Trade and learn with others

Being an independent retail trader from home can be quite the lonely business.  Back during my early attempts to be a trader, telephone calls were the only way to communicate with other traders.  And this was back in the days when long distance calls were $0.20+/minute on a land line.  When I started getting rates of $0.10/minute, I thought that was a steal.  Oh how times have changed.

Compared to even 10 years ago, our options to work, learn, and trade with others is amazing.  Webinar and screen sharing services, chatrooms, Skype, instant messaging, etc.  We may be physically isolated, but we have never been more close to others in the virtual world.

Through this blog, Twitter, and the various services and chatrooms that I have participated in over the past couple years, I have been very fortunate to have met some amazing people from all over the world.  Many have become great friends that I communicate with on a regular basis, constantly learning and sharing ideas about the markets. 

For me, surrounded by like minded traders have made the good times even better and the bad times not quite as bad.  And as physically isolated as I may be, being a part of a community has never made me feel as if I were alone.  Trading is a tough endeavor, even tougher when going through the unavoidable slumps, so having that support network to trade, learn and just be there for others is vital for growth and survival.

Twitter is a "double edged sword"
As of this post, Twitter is "only" about 7 years old, but the impact it has had on trading and investing is enormous.  When I first learned about trading, I had to go to the library at the university to checkout books and read back issues of Commodities (now Futures) Magazine on microfiche.  I still recall the old books by Stanley Kroll wrote as some of my favorites.

Today, who needs the library (hurts me to say that) since the Internet has changed this all.  Recently, Twitter has become an amazing source of real time trading information that has truly changed the landscape of trading.  But a potential downside to Twitter is that it's like drinking from a fire hose.  It can become so overwhelming and conflicting that it becomes noise and impedes our ability to learn.

Here are some random tidbits I've learned through Twitter over the past couple years:

1. Big # of followers ≠ a great follow.  Some of the best follows are up and coming with surprisingly few followers
2. When someone usually active stops tweeting, they're likely losing
3. Observed trend: Get a big Twitter following, start a subscription service, then cash in.  Get 100 (or more) subs at $100 (or more) a month and that's some decent money -- easier than trading!
4. There are some that just can't use Twitter and trade effectively due to excessive noise 
5. Twitter wars (arguments) prove that some of us never quite grow up.  

For those moving ahead with leveraging Twitter, if used methodically with the proper filters and context, it can be an incredible way to learn about trading.  Managing your following list often is essential to provide focus based on what you're trying to learn or monitor without going overboard.  And you should also monitor to what level of effort you are able to write tweets, without impacting your primary job as a trader.

Great talking head ≠ Great trader ≠ Great teacher

Staying along the topic of Twitter, someone who produces great tweets breaking down and analyzing the markets does not necessarily mean they are a great trader or a great teacher.  There are many who call the markets accurately, but when it comes to executing their plans, their trading leaves much to be desired. 

I have a strong suspicion that most of the elite traders don't tweet much, if at all.  And those on Twitter may not be very active or tweet only non-trading related topics, or simply don't want to be known.  Many might even be a someone who is a terrible teacher or poor communicator.  Even if you find a great trader who actively communicates and makes great returns a year, they might not even trade similar to your style.

And except for entertainment purposes (which Twitter is great for) I'm not quite sure how actionable following a great talking head (such as those that appear on CNBC regularly) are for a trader.  Many of those who sound great with an impressive pedigree and/or ivory tower vibes followed by 10's of thousands on Twitter don't ever seem to be wrong, just like economists!

Looking back on their calls, most don't seem to be that much more accurate beyond random chance.  But the bravado and confidence at which they make their predictions makes for good entertainment.  There's a lot of ego out there in Twitter-land.  So those who regularly admit to trades that ended up as losses are to be respected.

Therefore, I believe it's most important to try and find people that you can learn from -- on or off Twitter.  What matters is that they possess some knowledge that is valuable to you, and whether they are a good teacher by communicating in a way that resonates with you.

Learning is a process that should never stop
In order to remain successful, I believe it's important to establish some process that helps us to learn most effectively and then always strive to learn more.  If we ever reach the point where we truly believe we think know all we can about something (like trading), then that's when we have essentially quit -- the game is over and we will begin to fail.  By making the process of learning a regular and continuous part of our lives (not just trading), we will help put success on our side.


The next post in this series is:  LESSONS LEARNED (Part 3 of 3): THE MENTAL GAME

2 Years of Trading - Lessons Learned (Part 1 of 3)

It has been about 2 years and well over 4,000 trades since I started trading full time in Q2 2011.  Over the past 20+ years, I've been involved with the markets on and off in one way or another.  But when I decided to return full time, I tried my best to be as humble and open with myself to start with a blank slate, just like a rookie or a freshman. 

Even though I wanted to restart as if I didn't know anything, when I first started learning about trading long ago, I could have told you nearly each of the lessons learned in these posts very confidently. 

I was like a teenager who "knows it all" only to realize decades later that the older you get, you really didn't know.  Experience has a way of doing that.  It's one thing to know, but it's another thing to truly understand and believe the words.

You will find nothing groundbreaking here in these mostly well known trading aphorisms, just views from yet another developing trader who has come to the realization that there are no secrets to trading -- except for passion, desire, hard work, and some luck. 

For readability, this post has been broken into 3 parts.

LESSONS LEARNED (Part 1 OF 3): TRADING FUNDAMENTALS

The concept of trading is simple

Trading is simple, just like golf.  Hit the ball with a golf club into the hole with the least number of strokes.  Conceptually easy, but as we all know who have tried, there's a lot of complexity involved with the details and execution.

Trading is similar.  However, there are many people trying to sell you a system or algo or model or "holy grail" with many bells and whistles, full of "proprietary" indicators, based on impressive statistical and mathematical formulas that can only be interpreted by ivory tower PhD's. 

But to goal for trading is to simply this:  Buy low and sell high.  Sell high and buy low.  Easy!  Right?

The entry method for most retail traders is based on 1) choosing a timeframe, 2) go with trend or counter trend, and 3) enter on a breakout or on a pullback.  Once you're on board, your trading plan should give you an idea of where you decide to take profit, or when to get out when you're wrong according to your risk and trade management parameters. 

For the most part, all systems are essentially a variation of the criteria above.  Learning the basics of trading is relatively easy.  There is no "holy grail" trading system, although I'm confident through my own analysis that there are certain trading setups that have enough edge for retail traders to make a very good living.  And when finding setups with edge, the point K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) is also applicable.  This K.I.S.S. point is also something that makes more and more sense as time goes on.

However, I've realized that once you do achieve a basic nuts and bolts level of trading, the deciding factor between success and failure shifts drastically to your biggest trading obstacle -- your mind.

There is no right or best way of trading
When you follow or read many of the "trading gurus", many express the notion that their way is the best and only way.  That is completely, unequivocally false.  There are trading strategies and timeframes that work best for you.  We're all different.  I believe Dr. Brett Steenbarger's books explained it best.

Whether you're a macro / Fibonacci / chartist / volume profile / Market profile / volatility breakout / Elliot wave / DeMark / trend follower / channel trader / scalper / swing trader / or whatever type of model / system / indicator / methodology you prefer, successful traders have a certain setup that resonates for them (i.e. aligns with their strengths).  

I've found that the successful traders tend to have a way to "tell a story" about the market based on the construct that works best for them.  And more importantly, they have the discipline to execute their methodology consistently over the long term.

Finding your "style" is key, it's only a matter of time and/or luck
As rare as it is, some are fortunate to meet and marry their high school sweetheart and live happily together for the rest of their lives.  Some will be unfortunate to never find their better half.  Many think they found their soulmate, only to eventually get divorced.  I found this analogy similar to trading success stories.  The Market Wizards book series gives great examples of how successful traders all took different paths and approaches to become successful traders.

There are a very lucky few who find a trading method that suits them from nearly the beginning of their careers, and end up as successful traders for the rest of their lives.  Most do not (or can not) continue to put in the enormous effort hitting brick wall after brick wall, trying to find that trading strategy which ultimately suits their personality.  They end up as part of the 90+%, quitting before they find what works for them, with enormous psychological and/or financial deficits.

I've been there, chasing success by looking for one trading method after another, seeking a shortcut to a hot streak of winning trades that will finally help me get out of the psychological and financial hole, to vindicate me as not just another loser, but that as a fleeting winner.  This gambling mentality is not the best approach to long term success. 

However, this experience of chasing methods has exposed me to many trading systems and methodologies.  And this has helped me to learn what works for me and what doesn't, as well as gaining more knowledge about trading.  On a good note, it has considerably reduced my "upgrade-itis" desires to look for that brand new and shiny trading system.  Every time I look into something "new", it's like I've been there, done that.  I've become somewhat jaded of systems, which is good.

I've always known that the "holy grail" system of trading doesn't exist.  But after overturning so many rocks, I finally believe that it doesn't exist in the form we all seek.  There's a big difference between knowing and believing.

So the ability to pace yourself, so that you don't lose all your money or your psychological capital before finding your style, is critical to success.  However, how quickly you find "your system" that fits "your style" and personality can involve some luck.

Managing and exiting a trade is arguably more important than entry setups
Most new (and experienced) traders find it much more exciting to hear about a great system / model / indicator / methodology / holy grail that gets you long at the lows and short at the highs.  So how exciting is it to learn about where to put your stop losses, or how to scale out?  When you're starting off, you don't really think of how much you can lose, only how much you can win.  And scaling out?  Doesn't that mean you don't make as much money when you are right? 

Well, FuturesTrader71 promotes a coin toss SIM exercise where you enter long or short trade based on a coin toss, and then manage your trade according to predefined stop loss and profit scale outs.  He makes the point that the focus on entry setups are overrated.

As you adjust the stop and profit targets over various iterations of your experiment, you will become enlightened to the powers of what trade management can do to your bottom line results vs. an all-in all-out type management, even if the entries are based on a random coin toss. 

If you're not yet a consistently profitable trader, don't be surprised if you find that the coin toss experiment generates better results vs. your current trading.  Sad but true (don't as me how I learned, haha). 

You'll also see that trade management of your stops and profit targets are just as important (or more so) vs. your entry signals.

Risk management is key
For the beginning trader, discussing risk management is a BUZZ KILL.  The last thing you want to do when you're starting to trade is to limit your risk, because that will get in the way your huge profits!  But as time goes on, we all learn that this is mindset is the wrong approach for long term success.

If you don't have an edge, like gambling at a casino, they the best strategy is to bet all you have for just one play.  Then quit, because the more you play, the odds will eventually work against you.

But if you have a trading strategy with an edge, risk smaller per trade so that you can stick around around for the long haul.  Because even high probability strategies can have several losses in a row.  Therefore, if your per trade risk as % of portfolio is too high, you could eventually suffer a business ending drawdown, even with a solid high accuracy trading system.

The next post in this series is:  LESSONS LEARNED (Part 2 of 3): THE LEARNING PROCESS

Does your trading have an edge? Here's how to find out.

How do you know if your trading system has an edge or whether it's just random luck?

One way I learned was from Adam Grimes' book, "The Art and Science of Technical Analysis."  As I mentioned in the prior post, I consider his book a must have for traders.

In Chapter 12, there's a section called "Statistical Analysis of Trading Results" which discusses "deriving the p value, which is a significant test (one-tailed t-test) for the mean P&L being > 0."  The table on page 389 Adam used as an example looked similar to this (but without the t-value column):

The chapter didn't go into the calculation details, but with some helpful guidance that Adam emailed me, I was able to dust off  the cobwebs and think back to my college statistics class.  You can find out more about p value from here and here.

HOW DO YOU CALCULATE IT?

The steps are simple from within Excel.  Take each individual trade P&L and figure out: 1) the average P&L per trade, 2) the number of trades, and 3) the standard deviation.  If you use Tradervue, Greg will be rolling out the p value soon (if not already) within the reports section.

Then plug in the #'s above into a Excel spreadsheet with the formulas below.  This then calculates the t-value so that the p value can be derived.  It can all be in one formula, but I broke it apart to make it easier to read.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

A lower p value is better.  The lower the p value simply means that based on the series of trades analyzed, the results are less likely due to random chance or luck.  In general usage, a p value of < 0.05 is often considered to be statistically significant.

If you have a higher p value, that means your trading results, even if very profitable, could be likely due to random chance or luck vs. having some sort of edge.

For example, if your p value is 0.01, that means based on the data set analyzed, there's a 1% chance of seeing the analyzed results due to random chance or luck.  If your p value is 0.50, then there's a 50% chance your results are based on luck (i.e. not much of an edge).

CAVEATS

Like any calculation used to measure trading or investment performance, whether it's a straightforward % gain on portfolio, win/loss %, profit factor, average profit per trade, or more sophisticated calculations such as Sharpe, Sortino or Sterling ratios, there are pros and cons for each type of measure.

And if your risk based on account size varies per trade, analyzing the trading results based on an R-Multiple or %R should also be highly considered.  Adam Grimes discusses on page 392 that "standardizing for risk removes the position sizing effect" so that it could reveal that a system or trader via the p value could be "trading with a clear statistical edge, even though it was completely obscured by his position sizing decisions."

The p value has its fair share of criticisms, so it's just a reminder that one measure shouldn't be the ultimate judge.  It's best to look at trading results from multiple perspectives and take a holistic approach.  And of course, always use some common sense.

Using Tradervue for analysis of autotrading The Lincoln Million

Although it has been a while since my last in-depth reviews about Tradervue, Greg Reinacker has continued to build it into one of the premier trading journals.  It is elegantly designed and for all that it's capable of doing, it remains surprisingly user friendly.

Here are a few highlights of the improvements I've personally found valuable over the past year:

• Import trade data from more brokerages
• Calculate your performance statistics based on R-multiple and net of commissions
• Improved statistics (e.g. standard deviation, MFE and MAE calculations)
• Support for forex and options
• Ability to handle multiple accounts
• Even better tag based analysis and reporting
• Improved editing/admin tools...and lots more

For anyone who is serious in improving their trading performance, maintaining a trading journal is not an option, it's a must have.  And I believe Tradervue is one of the best out there.

USING TRADERVUE TO ANALYZE AUTOTRADING BY THE LINCOLN MILLION

Over the past several months, I've started to focus primarily on swing trading, which means collecting a meaningful population of trade data for analysis takes a lot longer (vs. daytrading).  And as I wrote in the prior post, I'm also focusing more on autotrading a large portion of my account.

Recently, I've gained enough data from autotrading The Lincoln Million (TLM) to perform an analysis.  TLM is a swing trading service where Doug has gained an impressive return on his own account, and one of a few services being autotraded in my account.

I've taken the The Lincoln List's Champ Camp trading course (worth it, recommended), and have seen Doug in action live within The Lincoln List and The Lincoln Million trading rooms (both daytrading and swing trading).  He has been very consistently profitable, but how would the autotrading results compare?

REPORTS AND CHARTS FROM TRADERVUE

Here are the actual results of The Lincoln Million's autotrades from January 1, 2013 through April 11, 2013 generated from Tradervue.  Although I've been autotrading the service since November, my $'s allocation per trade were not quite consistent and locked in until the beginning of this year, so I excluded that group of trades.

Positives:

High winning %  (82%)
Solid profit factor  (2.10)

Potential concerns:

Average winning trade smaller vs. losing trade ($89 vs. -$414)

Average hold time of losers much greater than winning trades (26 days vs. 5 days)

The report below displays a graphic summary of the Win/Loss ratio as well as the P&L and drawdown curve:

The report below represents another view of the how long winning trades are held vs. losing trades:

One interesting analysis method within Tradervue is the ability to analyze your stop locations.  I didn't expect the chart below to so clearly delineate a potentially more advantageous stop location:

INITIAL THOUGHTS ABOUT AUTOTRADING THE LINCOLN MILLION

The past 5 months represent my first experience into autotrading, so I really didn't know what to expect other than mostly hands off approach, like a mutual fund.  There are some other services I'm also autotrading which are based on writing options credit spreads and each service has their own pros/cons.  I'll likely write about those in the future once I have more data.

With regards to autotrading via The Lincoln Million, here are a few thoughts:

• There have been a decent number of trades that The Lincoln Million alerted and got filled on his own account, but were not filled via autotrading.  As expected, nearly all the missed trades were winners
• Primary reasons for no fills: short shares no longer available, signal to execution time lag (generally takes 3-10 minutes for autotrade order to arrive at my broker via Global Autotrading), and impact of orders on thinly traded micro and small cap stocks resulting in slippage
• Unlike trading the very liquid ZB or ES (T-bonds or S&P e-mini futures) products where you can put on large size per trade ($1 million/trade is nothing), trading microcap stocks often have a much greater issues with liquidity.
• Therefore, actual results from autotrading is likely <= 50% of posted results
• However, if you are following the chat room alerts in real time and manually trading, I believe it's possible to achieve performance 75+% of posted results
• Better yet, once you learn the setups, you can probably do very well trading your own stocks, which is what Doug ultimately wants you to accomplish

I admit, I've experienced frustrations watching unfilled trades become winners, getting bad slippage on fills, experiencing underwater trades that are held multiple times longer than winning trades, and simply seeing average winners be smaller than average losers.  My initial expectations on what the returns from autotrading TLM should be were extremely high, and they were not being met.

But when I started to review the trading results via Tradervue and started looking at the results from various perspectives (not simply total % gains), there was definitely a high level of consistency that needed to be respected, even when the autotrading execution was less than ideal.

STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The final sense of a-ha was when I ran the trading results through a significance test (one-tailed t-test where mean P&L > 0).  I learned the method of determining whether you have an edge from Adam Grimes' book "The Art and Science of Technical Analysis" within chapter 12 (highly recommended, it's a keeper).

Even with all the slippage and missed trades, the p-value was 0.07 for The Lincoln Million autotrades, which means there's a 7% chance the results are random.  Lower p-value indicate the results are more statistically significant (better) and p=0.05 is a commonly used guideline for a significance level. 

This is an indication that even with all the challenges from autotrading, this system still has a solid edge based on the current data set.  

Assuming future improvement of missed trades and/or reduced slippage, or perhaps greater success from manually executing the trades, the statistical significance can potentially drop well below the p=0.05 significance level, further reinforcing the notion that this method has an edge.

And what if I take his published results over the same period and perform the t-test?  The resulting p-value is less than 0.01, which means there's less than a 1% chance his results are random or due to luck based on the particular set of data analyzed.  Doug's trading method definitely has an edge.

ADVANTAGES FROM AUTOTRADING

Perhaps the The Lincoln Million autotrading doesn't align perfectly with my personality (but then again, would any system you did not create yourself?), which is why having it autotraded without my biases or intervention has worked relatively well to date.

That's one reason why I'm approaching autotrading as a way to diversify my overall trading portfolio by 1) utilizing historically profitable trading services that 2) I couldn't execute consistently on a long term basis.  In essence, it's like I'm selecting and hiring traders with various trading methodologies and styles, and having them each trade a portion of my account.  And if I don't like how they're performing or how their performance blends with the other traders (services), I can easily "fire" them.

 So far, here's one of the biggest benefits from autotrading The Lincoln Million -- I have continued to track and follow the trade alerts with a much greater level of focus and involvement since I have "skin in the game."  I believe that has enabled me to learn this method much faster vs. a passive approach, and to discover certain Lincoln Million setups that resonate very well with my personality.

NEXT STEPS

• Since I only have around 30 trades for observation, which is barely the minimum data set required for a statistically significant test, I will continue tracking the system to see how well it continues to perform
• Continue to monitor the number of missed trades/slippage to determine how much of an impact it has on overall results
• At a certain point, I might consider manually executing the trading signals instead of autotrading to see whether I can obtain better execution, but having the time to trade is currently a constraint
• Keep track of what happens if a trade is closed out when it's at a loss > $400 (based on current trade allocation level) vs. letting it ride hoping for a recovery.  This will be easy to track within Tradervue using the tag feature and the MAE metric
• And finally, this exercise has reminded me of how I need to step up my trade journaling.  I know the more I leverage the power of Tradervue, the faster my trading will improve