Support for TradeStation has always been a frequent request from users and we’ll have support very soon.  TradeStation users will enjoy some very nice integration with StockTickr.  Once configured, TradeStation will essentially keep your trading journal for you automatically in REAL TIME.

Whether you’re a strategy trader or a discretionary trade, you’ll also have access to the best performance analysis statistics available that go far beyond what’s available within TradeStation.

You won’t have to lift a finger.  This will be some of the nicest integration of any broker we support.

Do you auto-trade?  You’ll be able to get a real time view of the trades your TradeStation automated strategy has taken from any web browser.  Imagine if you’re away from your trading computer and you want to check how your ATS is doing.  You can just log into StockTickr to see how it’s performing.

Are you interested in beta testing?  In exchange for your help you’ll get access to StockTickr at a significant discount.  Please contact us using this form and include the type of instruments you trade, whether you hold positions overnight, and whether you do any auto trading.

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One of the most popular features of StockTickr is the Bulk Import.  Instead of adding your trades manually one at a time, the StockTickr Bulk Import lets you import tons of trades at once using an export file from your broker or trading platform.  Traders like it because it saves a bunch of time and prevents data entry errors.  We’ve recently added support for more platforms:

• MB Trading and any other broker that clears through Penson
• Schwab
• Interactive Brokers
• Terra Nova
• NinjaTrader
• Create your own CSV file for importing

As the executions go into your journal, StockTickr automatically translates them into actual “trades”.

So for example if you’ve got a list of executions like the following:

Buy 200 AMZN at 91.18 at 9:43AM
Buy 300 AMZN at 91.21 at 9:43AM
Buy 500 AMZN at 91.50 at 9:50AM
Sell 400 AMZN at 91.83 at 9:55AM
Sell 600 AMZN at 91.99 at 10:03AM

StockTickr knows the difference between getting filled for one order at different prices and scaling in or scaling out.  So these executions go into StockTickr as:

Open trade: Long 500 AMZN at 91.20 at 9:43AM
Scale in 500 AMZN at 91.50 at 9:50AM
Scale out 400 AMZN at 91.83 at 9:55AM
Close trade: Sell 600 AMZN at 91.99 at 10:03AM.

StockTickr handles this automatically and also assigns your default tags and calculates and assigns commissions if they’re not included in the export file.  The time savings is immense - one client says this saves him 30 minutes a day compared to the manual record keeping he was doing.

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We’ve recently added a great feature that will help new users get started right off the bat.  You can now import your trading history into StockTickr using a simple form.  If you’ve neglected to keep a trading journal this is a great way to catch up and access all the eye-opening reports that are available in StockTickr.  Here’s how it works:

1. Export your trades from any Penson based broker (CyberTrader, MBTrading, many others) or Interactive Brokers using their simple and quick reporting sites.
2. Go to the Bulk Import page in StockTickr and point to the file you generated.
3. Specify the account value and risk numbers you used for your trades and click Upload Now.

The process is really simple and works very well.  Here are some benefits:

1. StockTickr matches your “executions” into “trades” and knows which executions correspond to different order types: Buy, Buy to Cover, Short, Sell, Scale In, or Scale Out.
2. StockTickr automatically determines which trades you have already entered in your journal and imports only the new trades (even if you’ve opened a position in StockTickr and haven’t closed it yet).
3. StockTickr gives a reasonable default stop value based on the parameters you enter on the initial import screen.
4. You can specify tags for each trade or use the default tags that you specify in your StockTickr Profile.
5. Most of the StockTickr Broker Plugins can access only your most recent trading day’s executions - the Bulk Import tool can be used to import your entire trading history.
6. The StockTickr Chart Review is generated for each trade so you can see your entry, stop, and exit points plotted right on the chart.

Your imported trades are assigned the “import” tag so you can easily identify them within StockTickr, so you can include them or exclude them in any reports you run.

Update: I was reminded by a subscriber that we forgot to add a link for it. We just added one here in the reports section:

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Do you use Real Tick or MB Trading as your broker?  If so, we’d love to have you test out the StockTickr plugin that we created that supports these two brokers.  You’ll get an extended free trial to StockTickr and a very significant discount off the standard subscription rate.

The StockTickr Plugin does the following:

• Automated Record Keeping - the plugin pulls your executions from your trading platform and inserts them into your StockTickr Trading Journal
• Trade Type Recognition - the plugin automatically determines the type of trade you made - buy, sell, scale in, scale out, sell short, or buy to cover.
• Intelligent Default Stops - the plugin uses an algorithm to determine a default stop based on recent trades in your journal.  Of course, you can override the suggested value.
• Duplicate Trade Avoidance - the plugin queries your journal and avoids entering duplicate trades.  This allows you to run the plugin more than once a day.
• Default Tags - you can customize the default tags that are applied to each trade in your journal.
• StockTickr Chart Review - StockTickr will generate charts for all your trades with your entry and exit points plotted right on the chart.
• Saves You A Lot of Time - you know how important keeping a trading journal and capturing charts of all your trades is - StockTickr does this for you automatically!

The StockTickr Plugin for Real Tick adds the following feature:

• Optionally enter your entire trading history, not just the most recent day’s trades.

If you’re interested in testing these plugins for us with Real Tick or MB Trading, use the contact form and select Beta Program from the drop down.  Include which broker you use and a brief description about yourself and we’ll send you the links for the plugins.

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Data entry is boring and error-prone - wouldn’t it be nice to be able to pull your trade executions right from your broker into your journal automatically? That’s exactly what you can do if you’re a CyberTrader client or now an Interactive Brokers client.

One StockTickr Pro subscriber says with this plugin along with automatic chart review that he’ll save 30 to 45 minutes every day that he used to spend manually keeping records.

Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up for StockTickr Pro if you’re not already.
2. Download and install the StockTickr/IB Plugin.
3. When you’re ready to upload your trades to StockTickr, simply start the plugin from your start menu.
4. Click Logon to connect to TWS and StockTickr.
5. Click Load Executions to load the executions into the plugin window.
6. Click Send to StockTickr to automatically send your executions into your journal.

The plugin will automatically compact your executions into trades. For example, let’s say you put in a trade of 200 shares and got filled for 100 shares at 50.10 and the other 100 shares at 50.12. The plugin automatically determines that was a single trade and loads 200 shares at 50.11.

There’s a free trial for StockTickr Pro, so sign up today.

Here’s a screenshot of the plugin in action:

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A few subscribers have already noticed, but I added some “R tables” to each entry in your StockTickr Journal. The reason I added them is because I use R values as a guide for moving my stop. For example, when I reach 1R of profit in a trade, I’ll move my stop to breakeven. As my trade reaches 2R, I’ll usually move my stop again. How far I’ll move it depends on a few factors, but these whole number R thresholds are where I make my decisions.

I used to compute these numbers in my head and write them down on a sticky note when it looked like my trade was approaching 1R. The math is not hard, but I don’t like doing even simple things that could be more easily done by a computer. This is why I added the tables to the StockTickr Journal. Now, I enter my trade into the journal as soon as I make it and this R table is immediately available without my human error factor.

Just hover your mouse over the green dollar icon in the journal next to the ticker symbol to see the R table.

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We’ve been quietly working on a new feature that integrates StockTickr with one of my favorite tools that I use every day that I trade: Trade-Ideas. It’s available now to StockTickr Pro subscribers (signup here). Here are some FAQs if you’re ready to start using it and here’s where you can configure your rules. Read on for more of an explanation.
Read the rest of this entry »

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StockTickr is getting a lot more useful. In addition to the stocks that users submit to keep track of in their own watchlists, there are several lists that get programatically entered into StockTickr that you can use in your own trading. You can always track these in your RSS reader using the RSS feeds that are available for just about everything in StockTickr.

For example, we’ve been entering stocks that have hit new highs (RSS) or new lows (RSS) on above average volume for some time now. It’s funny how these stocks are always popping up on the best performers list.

Recently, Richard from Move the Markets has been putting several of his lists into StockTickr. His weekly Best Stocks to Day Trade (RSS) list is now in StockTickr. Also, his daily near 20 day highs (RSS) and near 20 day lows (RSS) are being added nightly as well.

The High Alpha list (RSS) that Ugly likes to trade is now in StockTickr as well.

Here’s a couple interesting lists that Eric over at DeepMarket is adding using the StockTickr Email API. The top 10 Head and Shoulders Patterns (RSS) and Inverted Head and Shoulders Patterns (RSS) are being added at the end of each trading day. I asked Eric to explain a little about how his process works:

As an experiment I am trying simple correlation to help bring up a list of “possible” head and shoulders patterns. I describe it in more detail in my articles Oversimplified Method for Finding Patterns in Stock Charts and Correlation Pattern Matching Explained. The process is very simple and the results are mediocre at best - I get a lot of nasty email from technicians - but very little insight about how they find them. I standard case of “I know it when I see it” syndrome. What I was trying to do is show how programs can help humans reduce their work load (looking for patterns), but generally it is still up to the humans to determine if the patterns are valid or not.

My pattern matching process is written in Java, so I just used the Java mail API to construct an email with the top ten symbols (sorted by correlation) and then send them to StockTickr using the StockTickr Email API. I had not used the Java Mail API in years and had an awful time trying to connect to any of my normal emails accounts, but I finally got it working with GMail.

Do you have suggestions for other lists that you’d like to see in StockTickr? Let us know or go ahead and start using the StockTickr Email API.

Also, look for an announcement in the coming days about how you can seamlessly integrate these lists and any stocks in StockTickr into your trading workflow.

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I’ve added another report that’s available to StockTickr Pro subscribers for getting the most out of their trading. It’s called Performance by Price Range and it shows how well your system performs based on the price of a stock. For example, does your system perform better with lower priced stocks or higher priced stocks?

Here are the results for about three months of my trading. For some reason, it looks like $40 stocks are my sweet spot. As always, comments and analysis are welcome.

Performance by Price Range

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StockTickr Pro users have the ability to start their own investment club or advisory service right within StockTickr. Let’s say that I’m a super-duper stock picker and that every stock I select turns to gold (not the case for me!).

If I wanted to let only certain people access my picks here’s how I’d do it:

When you add a stock to StockTickr, StockTickr Pro users have the ability to mark a trade as “private”:

Marking a trade as private prevents anyone else from seeing that trade - unless you add them as one of your “subscribers”. To do that, go to your subscribers page and add their username.

Any users that you add will be able to go to http://www.stocktickr.com/private/ and see all private picks from any user that they are subscribed to.

All your private entries will appear with a lock beside them in your list:

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